Recent high levels of vacancies and bankruptcies are a sign that shopping mall executives must do a major re-think, and quickly, on how to attract visitors to their retail destinations. Fortunately, the answer may be as simple as mimicking what e-tailers do well: know what consumers want daily.
Today’s executives understand little about shoppers. Yet, even with the limited data they currently have, consumers still spend a whopping $7 trillion every year in malls, which is five times more than the equivalent online spend. Imagine if malls could fully embrace the data from their business. Sales would soar even higher!
What’s holding shopping malls back is they have not developed a platform strategy.
Data silos don’t work.
In recent years, shopping malls have started to become proficient at looking at individual customer touchpoint data from mobile apps, beacons, Wi-Fi networks, Point of Sale systems, and loyalty cards to know where, when, and what people are doing in their stores.
The reality is shopping malls are not doing enough to collect data or connect these data sources. This means that executives cannot create a complete view of a customer’s journey in malls.
Furthermore, and this is a real opportunity for executives, there is limited success in gathering customer profile data to comprehend shopper interests and preferences, including what they have done before and after their visits to brands.
The lack of an online and offline view of customers results from companies using disparate technologies (e.g., customer relationship management, customer experience, customer loyalty, and customer analytics) that are not integrated into a single solution.
This piecemeal approach is common among industry leaders. It inhibits the ability to effectively understand and engage customers – a requirement for delivering a consistent experience that exceeds customer expectations and creates loyal customers.
Getting engagement right directly contributes to business success. According to Forbes, 40% of executives report that their customer personalization efforts have directly impacted sales, basket size, and profits.
A platform for innovation
But there is more to developing a platform strategy than just integrating technology, though this is important. Executives must evolve their business operations and models by establishing a standardized foundation (“platform”) to efficiently run and manage all aspects of customer applications, data, and processes.
In practical terms, this Platform as a Service (PaaS), so new technology capabilities are easily added and removed to quickly respond to market opportunities without high costs or delays.
Once the Platform is in place, shopping malls can create and tap into digital networks centered on serving the needs of multiple stakeholders, making it possible for customers, brands, and other participants to interact and exchange information to create value. A use case is for malls to launch new services, such as selling advertising to companies based on the shopping history and preferences of customers buying items from retail brands.
A platform strategy also empowers executives to deliver a unique and curated brand experience by enabling customers, for example, to search a mall’s website for real-time availability of products sold by brands, reserve these products online for pick-up and facilitate the easy return of purchased products in one mall-wide destination.
By being at the intersection where consumers and brands physically meet, shopping malls have a strategic position to benefit from serving as brokers of new digital networks made possible by becoming platform companies.
So, what’s next?
The evolution to platforms is already taking place, albeit slowly, with forward-looking executives embracing technology and data to help brands reach and engage visitors.
Rapid success will require thinking big and taking risks since there are no predecessors to follow within retail. Still, the rewards will be huge because this story’s value is monetizing customer data for the benefit of shoppers, brands, and landlords.
