Retail’s Experiential Offerings Brings Exciting Possibilities

With great possibility brings great challenges because without performing a comprehensive evaluation of local demographics, economics, and consumer demand, a wonderful idea might not survive the execution.

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LAS VEGAS—The role of retail centers is increasingly based upon giving consumers what they demand – entertainment-focused, immersive experiences that they can’t get through simply accessing their phones, tablets, and other devices. Those thoughts are according to Martin Zurauskas, managing director for nFusion.

Zurauskas tells GlobeSt.com that new and existing retail centers are diving into opportunities to diversify far beyond shopping, dining, and traditional entertainment tenants such as movie theaters and bowling alleys. “New experiential offerings bring exciting possibilities to draw traffic both short term and long term, requiring developers to respond to new challenges in their real estate development.

The planning process is critical to ensure a successful result, he adds, including meeting the reality of height- and capacity-constrained real estate, as well as thoroughly evaluating demographic demand. “Many retail destinations are driven by frequent repeat visitation and it is critical to make sure the mix of entertainment offerings are highly repeatable.”

Consideration of how such venues are programmed and master planned for a mix of pop-up, semi-permanent and permanent activations is critical, he says. “This requires pro-active curation of the mix to be relevant to market demographics and positioning of the center.”

Examples of entertainment tenants gaining popularity? He points to full-body virtual reality concepts like The VOID, artist-curated immersive experiences like Meow Wolf, and edutainment concepts like KidZania, where children enter a miniature ‘city’ with its own currency and economy.

“Since these experiences require high capital costs to develop, landlords often want these tenants in place and generating revenue quickly,” he says. “That said, without performing a comprehensive evaluation of local demographics, economics, and consumer demand, a wonderful idea might not survive the execution.”

For instance, he notes that not all virtual reality endeavors can secure and afford top-tier intellectual property partnerships, which contributes significantly to the appeal of experiences like The VOID. “Simply offering a generic VR experience is likely not enough to drive sustained traffic, so in these cases, an alternative element that offers a unique and localized appeal must be identified.”

Further, he says, there are many creative and immersive options to utilize other emerging smart technologies. For example, he says there are installations that allow guests to participate and interact with the experiences on their smart phones, both while they are there and after they leave.

Another component to ensuring high ROI is overcoming the challenge of sustaining foot traffic throughout the week and all hours of the day, he tells GlobeSt.com. “This is why experiences like KidZania can do very well—in addition to attracting families on the weekend, KidZania’s educational components attract school groups during the week to help offset slower times.”

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