Mall 2.0: Using Retail Tech to Spur Engagement
Data and repurposing space are making a difference for shoppers, landlords and tenants.
The post-pandemic retail landscape has changed dramatically, as physical retail activity grapples with the rise in consumers’ e-commerce habits.
In this new era, mall operators and tenants are finding more uses and greater results by analyzing data about their properties and tenant customers.
Cecilia Li, SVP, Chief Information Officer, Urban Edge Properties, was part of a panel at the Blueprint conference last week in Las Vegas.
“Understanding operations data is helping teams to budget better, by using it in business intelligence-based programs,” she said. “Operators are also making better use of foot traffic data, measuring the customer flow and their overall journey, so tenants can optimize the customer experience.”
Li said she sees the long-standing often combative relations between tenants and landlords improving.
“Both are realizing, ‘You can do better, together,’” she said.
Both are spending more time “walking the floors” of their spaces to get a better understanding of how they can service the customers.
“From this, they are embracing more customer loyalty programs based on the data, offering their most frequent customers a VIP treatment,” Li said.
Charlie Miller, VP Innovation, Brookfield, said his company is building connected communities, a positive evolution given the reduction in department stores and wasted expansive parking lot areas.
“You have these sometimes-vast parking lot spaces that can be repurposed to create more of a customer experience,” he said.
Stefan Martinovic, Special Advisor, Unacast, said the number of customers going to malls isn’t necessarily changing, but their demographics are, such as shifts to and from older, younger, and teens.
David Fuller-Watts, CEO, Mallcomm, said Texas and North Carolina have less regulation tied to development and are better markets for adding malls and shopping areas near new homes.
They added that NYC continues to have an issue with return-to-office tracking stabilizing at what are lower levels than pre-pandemic.