From personal to community appeal, retail owners, operators & occupiers look to leverage experiences, services and, of course, places to rise above the competition.
Oh, won’t you stay just a little bit longer? For retail owners to get consumers to stay on property more, they must identify and establish differentiators in their centers. To get that zing, you must do the fresh thing.
Despite major industry and economic disruptors in recent years, retail by and large has forged ahead. What keeps locations relevant in a time of such shifting demands and needs?
Writing in RE Business Online, Barry Caylor, vice president of business development at Outside the Lines Inc., recommends “leaning into what attributes make [retail owners] different. By continually supplying the market with fresh concepts and new ways of presenting them, landlords can keep consumers coming back again and again.” The result is greater foot traffic and increased sales for tenants, as well as enhanced ROI for investors.
Are You Experiential?
“There’s no place like home when you’re this far away,” sang the late, great Jimmy Buffett. Not that retail lifestyle centers are akin to far-off tropical destinations, but they should offer, beyond goods and services, a standout experience and unique sense of place. Yes, e-commerce has become indispensably convenient, but people still need to get out of the house, especially those of us who work, sleep, eat and parent there.
“There is simply no comparison between clicking a few boxes on a screen and visiting a beautifully designed retail center with artfully displayed merchandise that can be tried on and touched,” Caylor asserts. “Adding gourmet food and beverage options and a wealth of enjoyable activities to pass the time in between browsing and buying further enhances the overall experience. The first is purely functional, while the second is a feast for the senses.”
When sales growth and brand loyalty are on the line, retail centers and their tenants must go beyond filling a one-stop need, the mere tick on the shopper’s checklist (which e-commerce typically covers). Attractive outside gathering spaces, interactive elements, live entertainment events and retailer activations appeal to the senses and people’s social nature, adding beyond fun and stimulation a communal component and, of course, keeping visitors on site for hours at a time, thus boosting the sales of tenants.
Service – Upfront & Personal
Need that in a different color? Want to check to see how this fits? Open to alternative suggestions based on your budget concerns or even facial expression? Yeah, chatbots got nothing on in-person service.
While daily-needs retail, including service offerings, have always drawn consistent customer traffic — and investor attention — lifestyle retail centers can take that amenity to a new level, as Caylor puts it, from valet parking to foot massages and coffee. As the saying goes, people may forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel. A big differentiator in today’s retail world can come from creatively “pampering and delighting” customers with a personal touch that they obviously can’t find online.
“We love that new school of retail design thought that shifts the focus from spaces to environments, customers to communities and communications to conversations,” said Marcia Homer, infinitee’s Director of Brand Management. “Our team’s belief in great ideas, personal touch and endless possibilities dovetails with that placemaking philosophy and the focus on experiences, quality services and delightful gathering places. If a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well — and fresh.”
