Mall Marketing Managers Shift Emphasis from Driving Traffic to Generating Sales (8/4)
Aug 4, 2009 2:45 PM, By Elaine Misonzhnik
Come together now
Part of what makes these kinds of campaigns possible is the increased cooperation from the tenants. While mall owners and retailers have always tried to work together to improve shopper traffic and sales, when times were good, retailers could often be less than enthusiastic about participating, notes Faucette. Most of the effort had to come from the landlord. Today, tenants are actually approaching mall owners about new marketing events.
"I've been in the shopping center industry for 25 years and I've never seen more [cooperation] between retailers and landlords," says Faucette. "We have ongoing conversations with our retailers every day, talking about how they can be involved. I think it's becoming an overall partnership."
Macerich, for instance, has started working with the Food Network and upscale kitchen supplies seller Sur La Table at Kierland Commons to produce cooking demonstrations by famous chefs, including Curtis Stone. Macerich uses the events to promote Sur La Table products with special coupons. When Stone served as a guest at Kierland Commons this year, the next day sales at the store went up by $1,200.
In recent months, Forest City Enterprises, a Cleveland, Ohio-based firm with 14.6 million square feet of retail space in its portfolio, has been holding events throughout its 57 centers that were the result of partnerships with at least one key tenant. Last fall, Forest City worked with Macy's at the Shops at Wiregrass in Wesley Chapel, Fla. to bring over make-up artists from Estee Lauder, Clinique and Lancome to give makeovers to women shoppers, according to Nancy McCann, senior vice president of marketing with the firm. As part of the promotion, Macy's provided discounts for shoppers to buy cosmetics at its stores. At another property, J.C. Penney invited fitness experts to talk to mall visitors about the best ways to stay fit. The store then had a chance to promote its new line of exercise clothes.
Meanwhile, when Forest City held an event to benefit the American Cancer Society (ACS) at one of its malls—visitors to the center could purchase a tile with their first name on it, with the proceeds going to the ACS,—the center's retailers donated small goody bags that were meant to encourage shoppers to come by their stores. As a result, the event achieved two objectives at once, in McCann's view. It allowed the center to create a stronger connection with the local community by doing something of emotional significance for those whose lives were affected by cancer. And it drew attention to the center's tenants by directing shopper traffic to participating stores.
Glimcher Realty Trust, a Columbus, Ohio-based retail REIT with a 21.7-million-square-foot portfolio, has instituted a similarly community-minded program at its malls in recent years. Called "Earning for Learning," the program runs during the annual back-to-school shopping season and allows anyone who spends at least $1 at a Glimcher property to nominate a local school as a recipient of a monetary award from Glimcher. Each nomination is worth one point. At the end of the six- to eight-week shopping period, the school that racks up the highest number of points per student wins the grand prize. For example, at Polaris Fashion Place, a 1.5-million-square-foot mall in Columbus, the winner will get a total of $7,500, which it can then use as it sees fit. Runner-up schools also get prizes, ranging from $1,000 to $4,000. Glimcher awarded more than $280,000 to local schools last year.
Cheap thrills
Even a superficial look at all these programs, however, will show that they tend to be less extravagant than the ones that were prevalent a few years back. Instead of free concerts, many centers have instituted free movie nights, which are inherently less expensive and which also give the mall owner an opportunity to steer shoppers toward the center's restaurants for a "dinner and a movie" experience, notes Weber. There have been more and more events featuring partnerships with local and national charities. And though there is still room for more showy events, like celebrity appearances, mall's marketing departments look for ways to make these as cost-effective as possible. Last year, superregional malls, the properties most likely to invest in on-site marketing, spent an average of $0.08 per square foot on promotions and special events, according to the SCORE report from ICSC. Back in 2004, the figure was more than twice that amount, at $0.21 per square foot.
"The way we market has changed a little bit, we are looking for smarter ways to spend our dollars," says Weber.
This July, for example, CBL's Fayette Mall, a 1.2-million-square-foot regional center in Lexington, Ky., invited shoppers to meet and get an autograph from Mario Lopez, the current host of "Extra" and a former contestant on "Dancing with the Stars." Lopez' appearance attracted more than 600 guests, with stores like Sephora, which is geared heavily toward women shoppers, reporting a 15 percent increase in sales compared to a normal day, according to Faucette. But the event was virtually cost-free for CBL. A local television station, WTVQ, arranged the appearance and ran promotional material for Fayette Mall, contributing approximately $25,000 in publicity for the property.
"As an industry, we are leaning more toward that, putting on these events at little or no cost," says Faucette. "We may do the press release and media promotions, but in general, the partners we work with put on the activity."
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