How the Traditional Shopping Mall Can Become Relevant To E-shops?
Traditional shopping malls can hardly compete with the convenience World Wide Web offers to customers. They get to shop from their bed or sofa or from anywhere on-the-go, scout around the globe to get a great deal, and offer an extensive range of products, which even the largest mall cannot possibly hold or display.
With this digital era boom and consumers going online to buy merchandise has made shopping malls realize that they need to modernize their strategies. For survival the shopping malls it is necessary to draw an action plan relating to what steps to take and how to keep profit coming.
Consumers today, need their shopping experience to be fun and entertaining. Studio Park is becoming more extensive and diverse. Amenities and events in Grand Rapids offer a relevant, engaging, and social experience.
The physical mall has an edge
Besides the shopping malls need to become more relevant that is to adapt to this progressively digital world. Physical shopping malls have some disadvantages to their online counterparts, but they even have many inherent benefits.
The first and greatest advantage is that the physical mall is ‘real or physical’. The merchandise displayed inside can be touched, heard, and smelt. It is a unique experience, which online shopping cannot replicate.
Online clothes shopping can cause multiple returns, which is a drawback for the biggest advantage called the convenience of online shopping. The same can be said for several things, which can benefit from testing like fragrance, cosmetics, and fresh food. Major investments like furniture, an engagement ring, or a TV is often done in-person. Today, malls are offering more space to businesses dealing with an in-person edge.
Due to increase in urbanization, public places have become limited. Malls offer a meeting place for everyone to meet safely and be entertained as well as fed. Therefore, malls are offering more spaces to watering holes, bowling alleys, food courts, and cinemas. The purpose is to change the average consumer’s mall insight from a destination to purchase merchandise into a location to have fun.
Why not both – offline and online?
The digital era is not the death sentence for shopping malls but is a great opportunity. Instead of blaming digital technology encroachment on their space, embrace it. Choose both – offline and online to improve consumer’s experience. Digitize mall shopper’s experience by engaging with them on social media. Keeping in touch with outside the mall helps to increase brand awareness. Post happenings in the mall and helpful content, which encourages sharing, comments, and likes.
Smartphone apps help to lead to a preferred mall where visitors check car parking free space online or hyper-target promotional offers taking into account every shopper’s preferences. Thus, tech can be used to renew the shopper’s preference for physical malls.