There’s not much landlords can do to stop the trend of shoppers going online. Mall operators are traffic aggregators and they will continue to look for ways to drive traffic into their malls. The new American Dream Meadowlands is a good example. Instead of being a shopping mall that also includes entertainment features, it’s an entertainment park that also includes shopping. Traffic for the sake of traffic does retailers no good. Food courts, waterparks and skating rinks are all well and good, but retailers need to provide shoppers with reasons to visit their stores, and not just rely on mall walkers to stumble upon their stores.

Personally, I think it’s too soon to tell. There are a lot of forces at play here. The goal is for the retailers to do their part and make their stores more shoppable, and the mall operators to do their part and make the mall a place shoppers would like to go to.

I just think a year or so into this new era is early to declare victory or defeat. There are a LOT of extraneous forces at play.

Great discussion topic, George! My concern with any of the infotainment or other traffic-drawing efforts by retailers or malls is that they are pigeonholed as a separate entity. Integration here is key.

What might it look like if the food hall staff were given the hottest, trendiest clothing by the surrounding apparel retailers to wear during their shift? Or the gifts or gadgets were on display on the tables of the hall for guests to touch and interact with? Doing something together is always better than going it alone.

This is where retail theory has gone wrong. In theory, enabling opportunities in shopping centers for human beings to congregate (food halls and co-working) is a no-brainer, until we profile the young freelance graphic designer who is utilizing the co-working space, and not purchasing new clothing. If not for sustainability reasons alone, landlords have to attract (fashion) e-commerce marketplaces to open up shop, get closer to customers, reduce waste, and be a return/exchange fulfillment point.

I believe that malls need to entertain their guests and food is a big draw. Food court fare is not going to draw people with significant disposable income so it’s important to offer a range of entertainment options such as fast casual and fine dining.

Another idea is to look for non-traditional anchor concepts like the Wegmans in the Natick, Massachusetts mall. A multi-story gem that replaced a Sears location.

Shopping is theater and even the best estimate has 70 percent of shopping still happening in a store so retailers need to be more creative with their entertainment approach.

Are there any malls that track food hall comp sales relative to apparel retailer comp sales? If the food business is shrinking less than the apparel business, that means people eat and then walk by the apparel stores to go home and shop from their couch. That’s a pretty severe indictment on the kind of storytelling that the mall apparel retailers are executing. Surely there are aspects of “discovery” and “treasure hunt” shopping where the store beats the internet. How about store-only product? How about frequency of fresh deliveries that might incentivize the shopper to visit more frequently out of a little curiosity? How about ANYTHING other than making the % savings a bigger and bigger number?

Malls have typically been the least agile format of retailing. That has to change for them to thrive long term. Be aware of retailing evolution as it happens, or even before it happens, and capture that wave while it is growing.

This is one that I don’t think is entirely on the landlords. The central issue is that fashion has changed so much in the last decade, and especially for most apparel retailers’ target customer, that unless most of them go through a complete metamorphosis their futures are not very bright. Fashion now consists of a cornucopia of new elements/challenges: used product from the past five decades, “hot now” items that go away in a matter of weeks, street wear drops that can virtually eliminate budgets, fleeting influencers, social media cancels and more. Gen Z reportedly buys most of their apparel through Instagram! As has often been said, “retail is not for the faint of heart” and boy, is that true now, especially for apparel’s physical outlets. When you see apparel retailers announce that they’re “changing everything” as some recently have (A&F, Express, etc), that is a very good thing. Having said that, it’s hard to see anything other than a downsizing of the physical footprint and the mall in general in the foreseeable future.

To stop the exodus, landlords and retailers can emphasize what e-commerce lacks: immediacy, sensory and social benefits.

Consumers can immediately walk away with the merchandise, certain that a product fits. By engaging all the senses, physical stores offer a richer customer experience. Shopping with friends or asking associates questions in the moment can make the in-store experience more social and pleasant than shopping online.

Landlords and retailers also need relevant strategies. Younger consumers in particular avoid department stores, as they prefer retailers with a modern approach that adapts to serve consumers’ evolving needs.

A simpler, short-term solution is partnerships. Apparel retailers can collaborate with food chains to capitalize on mall traffic, such as offering food hall shoppers a discount on apparel purchases.

Is the whole greater than the sum of the parts? This old adage is attributed to many ranging from Aristotle to Helen Keller. But how does it apply to “the mall?” Seems to me that malls are collections of independent, non-related, non-aligned entities where the only commonality is they want your money. “Every store for itself” doesn’t sound like much of a winning formula to me. This is the same problem most organizations have. They are a collection of “departments” each putting itself first and turning a blind eye to another department’s struggles. But nothing in the universe actually works that way. Years ago I was able to get a client to have an annual session where every department had to endorse the goals and strategies of the other departments including any contribution they were able and willing to make to each other’s success. Not only that, they had to do the same thing when it came to allocating budgets. The “greater good” was their driving force. Might a mall be designed and operated in… Read more »

Recently I met with the General Manager of a newly renovated Simon Mall and we discussed what’s ahead. The renovation itself is telling. It includes gathering spaces throughout the mall that encourage relaxation and conversation, while offering discreet charging for devices. VR dining experiences are coming and will appeal to digital natives and entertain digital immigrants, too. With Disruptive Retail, I’m working to bring in pop-ups, certainly at in-line spaces but also in the cart and kiosk areas. This is where retailers can create interactive and engaging online-to-offline retailing that captures shoppers who are in the mall for entertainment or dining. People are looking for connection and the mall offers a community. Integrating online-to-offline retailing is key.

The suggestion that customers are buying apparel online vs. in the store is still way off base. Even with growth of online, over 70 percent of apparel sales are in the store. Level A malls drive plenty of traffic and plenty of transactions. Not sure the survey is causal and as some have already mentioned, many other factors affect the sales numbers for mall stores. Typically customers who are grabbing a meal still have to walk a half mile from the parking lot to reach the food hall – which for most malls is located in the middle of the mall forcing a march with screaming kids in tow past the stores and shops. This is by design at many malls. The shops are getting the visual aids, shoppers see the window dressings, and when possible making a mental note to visit one store or another on the way out. Mall owners need to think broader- The food hall is one element to help drive traffic and certainly not replacing the apparel shopper with food… Read more »

The key point in this article is that, according to Jones Lang LaSalle, shoppers who eat at the mall spend an average of 35 extra minutes browsing stores compared to those who do not eat on their trips. This is an important fact. While extra shopping time may not directly result in increased clothing sales in the mall, what the facts don’t explain is how much that extra shopping time resulted in online sales. Showrooming is very common practice among consumers, especially for apparel. According to research from BRP Consulting, 56 percent of consumers participate in showrooming.

I think food concepts are good for malls, as anything that increases foot traffic is a good thing.

Yes, food will continue to drive traffic at malls. However, retailers have to do their part to embrace omnichannel marketing and enhance their appeal to their target market.

Fully agree with Paula Rosenblum that it’s too early to tell.

That said, those enthusiasts for mixing entertainment and shopping should take caution from what’s being found here. There’s no magic way to add entertainment to your store — especially because it’s impossible for a retailer to create entertainment which isn’t lower grade then pure entertainment.

Truth is, food courts make tremendous sense — and that department stores still struggle. Their issues are outside of what a food court can do and reflect increasing trends hurting the boring middle.

I think it’s too early to tell. Getting traffic in is a big deal. If not, retailers would surely be in worse position. The question probably can be framed better. Is the premium to be in a mall as opposed to outside the mall, is paying off.

I have not seen a well executed coordinated promotions along with mall operator. You can buy a coupon booklet at some malls. Calvin Klein gives some coupons to shop at other brands in the family. But overall pretty lame in terms of making it attractive and Mall-Exclusive promotions. If the mall operator has done enough to attract people to come in, surely the retailers can do their part in convert them.

They have several advantages compared to online. Being able to try, having it in stock, immediate gratification and most importantly, it is not easy to do price comparison on same product, unlike commodity products like electronics. So in that sense, the “Showrooming” effect is less prevalent. On balance, I think retailers can do better at their end.