Will customer tracking help save shopping malls?




With shopping malls not performing like they used to, facility owners are looking to technology to revive shopper interest. But when it comes to re-mapping the mall to make it more attractive to shoppers, some of the technologies they are using might put some customers on edge.
Some mall landlords have been using smartphone monitoring technology to track shopper behavior throughout the malls they own, according to The Wall Street Journal. Some monitor the amount of time customers spend in the mall and in specific stores to determine where one store should be set up in proximity to another. Landlords also base advertising on location data used in conjunction with social media and email information.
While the Journal article doesn’t detail which specific solutions are used for each example of behavior tracking, it does mention one big U.S. mall owner that uses a tool called StepsAway to push discounts and promotions to shoppers’ smartphones. Shoppers in this case do not need to install an app.
The degree to which customers are said to be comfortable with the use of in-store tracking technology seems to vary from study to study. For instance, a 2014 shopper survey indicated that eight out of 10 shoppers did not want retailers tracking their movements. But a 2015 study by MaxMedia indicated that most customers are okay with anonymous in-store tracking. In that study, almost 50 percent of Millennials said they would tolerate tracking by Wi-Fi, but drew the line at being tracked by camera.
In addition to the “creep factor,” there is, as with all data collection endeavors, the potential concern of how the data is being handled and anonymized internally, and the cybersecurity protocols being taken to keep any valuable and personally-identifying data out of the hands of hackers.
There also remains a question of whether this type of data can be used to redesign mall layouts in a way that will result in meaningful gains in store traffic. Factors other than layout, such as store selection, may be overriding any gains in making malls a popular destination again.
- Shopping Malls Are Tracking Your Every Move – The Wall Street Journal
- Shoppers saying no to in-store snooping – RetailWire
- How steep is the creep factor? – RetailWire
- Why does Gen Z like brick-and-mortar stores but not malls? – RetailWire
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Can malls gain useful insights and become more attractive places to shop using behavior tracking technology? When does tracking shopper behavior go too far in terms of privacy?
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18 Comments on "Will customer tracking help save shopping malls?"
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Principal, Retail Technology Group
While the malls could certainly benefit from tracking customer shopping behavior, the customers should have to opt in to being tracked. Many customers prefer to remain anonymous to all but their favorite retailers and retail environments. That preference should be respected.
Founder, CEO & Author, HeadCount Corporation
Just like retail stores, malls can gain important insights through shopper analytics. And with the general weakening of brick-and-mortar traffic, mall operators in particular should be measuring traffic volume and trends. Tracking shoppers via Wi-Fi signals on smartphones is perfectly fine as long as shoppers have opted in. Just because some segment of the population, like Millennials for example, seem to be OK with being tracked, doesn’t give mall operators the right to infringe on shopper privacy.
Co-founder, RSR Research
I think mall operators know what their problem is — malls have become a pain in the neck, especially the busy ones. Because:
I’m not sure tracking is going to solve any of that and it might actually irritate some shoppers. I don’t think mall re-designs are conceptual rocket science, exactly … but given that they would involve moving multiple stores around, they would be an execution nightmare.
President, Max Goldberg & Associates
Behavior tracking technology without consumer permission crosses a line of privacy, especially when it is used to push offers to consumers. Besides, simply tracking consumer behavior is not going to reverse the slide in mall traffic. Malls need to look at why they exist, what they offer consumers and the benefit to consumers of the overall mall experience.
Managing Partner, Advanced Simulations
Probably not as useful a tool as it sounds. It’s pretty obvious where shoppers shop and don’t shop — and you don’t need high tech to figure that out — just stand there for 20 minutes and watch. No matter how you lay out a mall, some stores are going to be in fringe areas. I don’t think the tracking is ever a threat to privacy IF it’s done anonymously or with the person’s active permission.
Strategy Architect – Digital Place-based Media
Knowledge is powerful and consumer journey mapping can and should bring value to the patron, mall stores and the operator. In particular when the visit can improve the experience of discovery and leisure, while adding to the guests perception of return on time, analytics provide insights into the design of that experience. Privacy is only violated when engagement is imposed on the consumer with limited value to the visitor. And there is the challenge. Consumers don’t like to be treated as a broad demographic. The wider the aperture of distinction, the fuzzier the relevance (and suitability) at the edges.
President, b2b Solutions, LLC
I agree with Mark. Just because Millennials, many of whom share everything with everybody, are willing to be tracked doesn’t mean I or others want to be. I much prefer to remain as anonymous as I can fully realizing that it is impossible on the web.
For those malls and companies that want to track me, my expectation is that the information gained from what happens inside their locations is far more important than what someone does in the mall in general. Retailers know, or should know, what differentiates them from their competitors and their competitors from them.
Independent Board Member, Investor and Startup Advisor
VP of Sales and Marketing
Big Data is everywhere, but how to make it actionable and to make those insights translate into better shopping experiences? Any store in a mall or boutique can get a (Dor) traffic counter and in the retail age of customer analytics, the more data and the more insights the better.
As we enter a retail of connected devices, the loyalty, personalization and location marketing that these tools afford soon will translate into some ROI for store margins. Though probably not enough to save the mall.
Many believe mobile sign-in via QR codes or video and facial recognition are the easiest ways to personalize offers in real-time. It’s only a matter of time before we opt in to such retail environments. All stores will eventually be like Amazon Go mini grocery stores.
As shoppers we want the ultimate convenience, and since our apps already track our behavior — is it really such a stretch to allow stores to do the same?
Retail Transformation Thought Leader, Advisor, & Strategist
CEO, President- American Retail Consultants
The issue here isn’t tracking shoppers … it is about attracting shoppers to malls. Why fight the traffic, parking, and lines, when you have online options that are lower in cost, less hassle, and more inviting? Evolve or perish should be the cry for shopping malls.
Global Retail & CPG Sales Strategist, IBM
Strategy & Operations Delivery Leader
While customer tracking via beacons, and RFID tags can help provide details about the shopping journey, perhaps the most meaningful details to pull from this data, are the points along the experience, where friction, and frustrations occur. Similar to the abandoned online carts scenarios, there are critical points in the shopping journey, where the lack of service, interesting products, or just overall friction, where retailers will literally lose their customers … sometimes for good.
With that said, there needs to be compelling reasons, and incentives established for customers to opt in to be tracked. If it translates into meaningful personalized promotions, appropriate assortment offerings, and the fact that the retailers “get you”, and have the right products, at the right place, and ad the right times. This will remove help mitigate the creep factor. However, the right balance must be put into place, instead of bombarding your customers with endless popup offerings, you need to determine what volume, and types of communications work best.
CFO, Weisner Steel
I’m not impressed. There’s a long history of retail design — as in a century or more — telling us “where one store should be set up in proximity to another,” as well as other things this type of analysis is likely to tell us. In fact, I would go further and say that most things modern technology helps us do have been done for a long time, it’s just easier and cheaper now. (No small thing, of course, but it means there are few really “revolutionary changes” happening.)
And let’s not forget the obvious: there’s nothing to track if the (would be) customers aren’t visiting the mall in the first place!
sales management consultant
CEO, One Door
Probably not. The last paragraph of the article exposes the big flaw in this thinking. What, exactly, will malls be able to do become “more attractive” based on the data they collect? Behavior tracking can traditionally improve conversion rates, but malls don’t have a conversion problem, they have a traffic problem.
President, Ipsos Retail Performance