Shopping malls are becoming things of the past – so say the pundits and that too with an abundance of confidence. In fact, according to Business Insider, the mall scenario in the USA is not a good one at all. Approximately, 15 per cent of the shopping malls present in the USA are predicted to either fail completely or get transformed into non-retail space!
Although, yet to make its appearance in India, the concept of self-checkout is telling a completely different story when it comes to the popularity of shopping malls. Put simply, as the name implies, self-checkout means that a person will scan the purchased goods and pay without a cashier being present.
The grass root reality from the Indian perspective is that the future of shopping malls is absolutely safe in the years to come.
The standpoint of the consumer is one of the primary reasons for the ‘future’ being a safe one! His perception has shifted from purchasing products to purchasing experiences.
As Roberto Fantoni puts it in his write-up, The Future of Shopping Malls:
“When today’s consumers’ visit malls, they are looking for experiences that go well beyond traditional shopping.”
This brings us to the question: What factors are at work behind a mall becoming a success story?
The answer rests in the words of Al Taubman – A builder, real-estate developer, and a marketing impresario – Taubman says that having a good architecture is the first stepping stone to success for any shopping mall. However, what matters the most is a complete ease-of-access for the shopper to the merchandise. Dubbed, the threshold resistance, this philosophy of Al Taubman convincingly answers the question in an interview held at the Taubman Asset Group, Bloomfield Hills, Milwaukee. A transcript of the same has been given here.
In addition of Taubman’s viewpoint, there have been a large number of perceptions and interpretations that have each chalked out an answer each for the question put forth here. According to Live Mint, there are seven considerations that have to be kept in mind while developing a success story. They have been given below.
- A good location
- A comprehensive understanding of the customers present in a neighbourhood
- A consumer- and retailer-friendly design
- A centralised system of mall control
- An optimum tenant mix of the three, primary attributes of any shopping mall: retailers, services and entertainment
- A proper maintenance to ensure a healthy footfall
- A parking space capable of parking a large number of cars
Read the full article here: http://bit.ly/1JsX9cw
To sum up, the future of a shopping mall is a splendid one, simply because the awareness and corresponding implementation of Taubman’s threshold resistance and many other philosophies.
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