CREJ - Retail Properties Quarterly - February 2016
For 20 years we have seen the rise of digital media in the world of shopping. In the late 1990s, pundits predicted the decline of brick-and-mortar retail at the hands of e-commerce. No one would ever go to a store again. When that didn’t happen, along came showrooming, where shoppers go touch and feel the product in a local store, but order it online at a lower price. That was replaced by “webrooming,” where shoppers get information to make buying decisions in real time. And while those things and more have happened, none spelled the apocalypse for brick-and-mortar retail. Not even close. Just over 7 percent of all retail sales are done via e-commerce – that’s 7 percent of the entire $4 trillion U.S. retail market, according to the National Retail Federation. It’s held steady for a number of years and while the dollars coming through e-commerce have consistently risen, so have the dollars coming through brick-and-mortar stores. And while the impact of digital media on any legacy business cannot be taken casually, in many ways, digital media is helping improve the in-store experience. Let’s be clear, the mobile device is the real game changer. The mobile device buys time, and shoppers have taken to it in hordes. They check store hours, prices, inventory, product information and reviews. And yes, they do buy things with their phones and they do showroom. But it’s all good, because the multichannel shopper – the one who buys online and in stores – is your best shopper. Shoppers and retailers now are actively interacting over digital media in and around the physical store. We work with over 750 shopping centers providing a digital presence in many forms across Web, mobile and social media. We see over 10 million shoppers each month across our network of shopping centers and almost 70 percent of this traffic is from mobile devices. Almost half of the users are on the go or already at the shopping center and are looking at store and product information. For example, what’s on sale? Is there a Gap here? What time is the event? Shoppers are using an ever-increasing array of online tools to assist them as they shop. There are mobile apps like Retail-Me-Not, Shopular and Shoptopia that connect shoppers to deals at local stores. Many retailers have their own apps. There are grocery and prepared food apps integrated with delivery services. There are beacons and geo-fences. In addition, there is the mobile Web, which is easy to navigate, full of great shopping information and still has lots of traffic. Also, there is social media where shoppers find access to curated deals, products and information from networks of bloggers and self-appointed pundits. And there are emerging apps and services that may be the next big thing. Consumer media consumption will continue to fragment while, at the same time, become more influential on the shopper’s decision-making. So how are shopping centers successfully engaging their shoppers in the digital realm? It starts with mobile. Everything must be optimized for mobile devices because that’s how most shoppers are engaging – even when they are at home. Next, you’ll need to have the right content. What kind of content? Well, let’s start with the basics – hours, directions, directory and, of course, deals – shoppers want to see what’s on sale. We like to add in new products, seasonal offerings and the fashion trend updates gathered from across the Web. The website serves as the core of the center’s digital world. Done correctly, it becomes an information source for the broader Internet. Every night, Web-based companies like Google send out an army of software bots that scour the Web for new information. By structuring the website and all of its content properly, we are able to make Google’s data collection easier so that Google itself can tell someone searching for the Shops at Northfield what time the mall closes tonight. See the example of the content Google for the Northfield website – address, hours and phone. What makes this possible is structuring the behind-the-scenes data in a way that Google can easily read and trust its accuracy. Google puts lots of faith into sites that it trusts, and it’s important that all content on the site be structured in a Google-friendly way. And just because you are the owner of property doesn’t mean you will be Google’s trusted source for that property. This structured content and data approach has the center distributing the same content across multiple digital channels – Web, mobile and social – over a variety of shopper applications. Consumers have a growing number of media and service options, including Apple, Android, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and on and on. No one is on all of them, so finding your customers is key. Making your content accessible across the right services is important. Shopping centers are not standing by as e-commerce retailers serve their consumers conquest ads. Many shopping centers are purchasing online advertising that is delivered into the local trade area across online display networks and social. Companies can integrate offline purchase data to amplify advertising to higher value prospects. Messaging is simple and focuses on the positive aspects of physical retail. Digital has become the primary medium to engage the shopper and promote the center. We are seeing activity from all types of retail properties from malls and lifestyle centers to outlets and power centers that are looking to engage digitally.