The Internet and e-commerce have placed the world at consumers’ fingertips. With distance no longer a barrier, the consumers are now liberated to shop anywhere and anytime they want. Coupled with the abundance of price and product information available on the Internet, including users’ reviews, consumers today are empowered to make informed choices.

This has resulted in price sensitivity among consumers reaching an all-time high, and customer loyalty sinking to an all-time low. How can malls build loyalty under such circumstances?

Building reach

Landlords can expand their reach by bringing their malls online. They can explore options such as an online or mobile platforms as well as Virtual Reality malls where consumers can shop from the comfort of their homes.

This will bring the physical mall on par with e-commerce, as consumers will be able to browse through retail offerings, make instantaneous purchases or bookmark them for physical inspection in the mall, and complete the purchase online or in-store.

This has been attempted by Westfield, London. Westfield’s website lists products from mall tenants, in addition to the usual information found on the mall’s website. Consumers are redirected to individual tenant’s e-commerce pages to complete their purchases.

To take the shopping experience to the next level, the online mall could coordinate a shopper’s purchases from different stores in the mall, so that they can enjoy seamless shopping with just a single check-out and payment point.

Concierge

The convenience of delivery and returns is the main draw of e-commerce. While such services are increasingly being offered by individual brick and mortar retailers, they have yet to be scaled up to a mall level.

With retailers increasingly integrating their online and offline businesses, it would be advantageous for malls to have in place a concierge service that consolidates purchases for delivery or pick-up, as well as manages returns and refunds on behalf of the tenants.

Consumers are more likely to return to physical malls that offer such conveniences, to which they have grown accustomed and expect as a result of e-commerce.

Rewards programmes

Consumers love to stretch their dollars. A well-curated mall-wide rewards programme can help to develop mall loyalty. The points accumulated through purchases in the mall, which can be redeemed against purchases of goods and services offered by tenants in the same mall, help bind shoppers to the mall and encourage repeat visits. However, bearing in mind today’s empowered customers, the rewards programme should not be too onerous, and redemption must be made as easy and flexible as possible, if they are to be kept engaged at all.

The successful implementation of the above strategies requires, amongst other things, that businesses embrace a sharing mindset. At the same time, mall owners need to assure participating tenants of complete privacy of information and data collected.

These strategies, when combined with a compelling tenant mix, can be the formula for malls to win customer loyalty.

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