Malls Afford Convenience and Little Else, says Survey

DDI: 128

Shopping malls, once a mecca for bargain hunters and big-chain anchor stores, are now perceived to be mere gathering spots for browsers to congregate, grab a meal, haircut, and watch a movie, according to this survey by the International Council of Shopping Centers. The study fails to attribute this shift to the encroachment of online retailing on in-store profitability. That's where I think the media covering these data have not done their homework. While malls continue to afford shoppers the convenience of one-stop shopping, the same luxury is embraced by online shoppers, which clearly has cannibalized revenues of brick-and-mortar establishments. Marketers considering newspaper campaigns that attract Sunday shoppers to local malls need not worry about the impact of this study and should continue to consider customized digital campaigns as cross-selling, multi-channel revenue growth strategies.