E-commerce, Experience and the Role of the Mall

Online shopping changes which visits customers need to make. A mall’s commercial response should be grounded in the needs it can serve well: access to relevant brands, services, dining, leisure and convenient collection or returns where those functions suit the occupier.

Owners should assess the role of each use within the catchment and the wider destination. A leisure-led visit, a service appointment and a product collection create different requirements for access, parking, circulation and time spent in the asset.

For retailers, the physical location may support product discovery, advice, service and fulfilment as well as transactions completed in store. The relevant combination depends on the business model. Leasing discussions should establish how the proposed unit will function and what infrastructure it requires.

Technology is useful when it supports that role, improves the customer journey or solves a defined operating problem. Investment should begin with the problem to be addressed and the measures that will show whether the solution is working.

Experience should be assessed with the same discipline. Dining, entertainment and events need an identifiable audience, a workable operating model and a commercial role within the mix. Adding activity without those conditions can increase cost without strengthening relevance.

The question for each asset is which customer needs it can serve effectively, how its occupiers will operate across channels and what that means for the development, leasing and operating plan.