Description
Malls Should Use Omnichannel Solutions To Improve Their Customer Experience
The COVID-19 crisis and its aftermath have led to dramatic shifts in consumer behaviour. A few years back, a customer’s journey used to be a single trip to the store, but things have changed now. The future of shopping is here. Customers expect malls to cover their needs, irrespective of the channel that they use.
For shopping centers, this results in a specifi c need for action through the expansion of their off erings to online channels and via the combination of all brick-and-mortar and digital channels to provide an omnichanneling experience. All the progressive malls have already adapted to the increasing changes in customer preferences and are now recording sales that equal almost their pre-COVID numbers. The malls have started putting more money into their digital presence. Curbside pickups are also benefi cial for malls, retailers and customers. Even malls are putting a lot of money into social media marketing and infl uencer marketing to increase their reach, especially amongst the tech-savvy Millennials.
Being always ahead of the curve, we had predicted in 2017 that Omnichannel was going to rule the roost in coming times. Now it is more pertinent than ever to finally move the mall businesses toward an omnichannel route to increase the profi tability for all the stakeholders involved. Services such as Click & Collect or Click & Reserve can be converted into brick-and-mortar purchases and, thus, into additional turnover.
One crucial factor is that today’s shopping centres already meet the requirements for transformation into omnichannel platforms: a broad range of products and assortments, an established partnership with brickand- mortar retailers, the physical vicinity to customers, a good connection to city transport networks, and existing logistical infrastructure. For shopping centers, this results in a specifi c need for action through the expansion of their off erings to online channels and via the combination of all brick-and-mortar and digital channels to provide an Omnichanneling experience.
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