Suburban Regional Shopping
Running head: CAN THE MAGIC BE RESTORED?
Suburban Regional Shopping Malls: Can the Magic Be Restored?
Stephanie Austin
Upper Iowa University Suburban Regional Shopping Malls: Can the Magic Be Restored?
Imagine yourself as the manager of a struggling local suburban regional shopping mall. What do you think the mall should do to improve its performance?
According to the textbook, the retail life cycle consists of the introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. (Perreault, Jr., Cannon, & McCarthy, 2011) To keep a local suburban regional shopping mall from reaching its decline, one must spend time and money during the maturity phase to keep with today’s trends.
If a mall is declining, a manager must get more department or anchor stores to draw in business. Fill other spaces with specialty stores, offering products that consumers can’t get anywhere else. Another option for managers is to find a niche in the community that will draw consumers in.
A suggestion that was used in the book was to add entertainment to the center of the mall. The entertainment can be anything from holiday shows, occasional concerts, a playground for kids, or even just an open area with comfortable resting spots where customers can relax and de-stress. A perfect type of idea would be a small coffee house type of area that serves coffee and soda with a waitresses on staff to cater to each patron’s needs. Especially during the holiday season, this would be a great relaxing way for customers to rest their feet and collect their thoughts before heading to the next store on the list.
Another change that would need to be made is changing store configurations, referred to as zonal merchandising. This is where you group together stores that serve the same basic need and draw the same basic shoppers. This will help those shoppers that come to the mall to purchase a specific product. They then will see the other stores that sell similar products to what they are
Suburban Regional Shopping Malls: Can the Magic Be Restored?
Stephanie Austin
Upper Iowa University Suburban Regional Shopping Malls: Can the Magic Be Restored?
Imagine yourself as the manager of a struggling local suburban regional shopping mall. What do you think the mall should do to improve its performance?
According to the textbook, the retail life cycle consists of the introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. (Perreault, Jr., Cannon, & McCarthy, 2011) To keep a local suburban regional shopping mall from reaching its decline, one must spend time and money during the maturity phase to keep with today’s trends.
If a mall is declining, a manager must get more department or anchor stores to draw in business. Fill other spaces with specialty stores, offering products that consumers can’t get anywhere else. Another option for managers is to find a niche in the community that will draw consumers in.
A suggestion that was used in the book was to add entertainment to the center of the mall. The entertainment can be anything from holiday shows, occasional concerts, a playground for kids, or even just an open area with comfortable resting spots where customers can relax and de-stress. A perfect type of idea would be a small coffee house type of area that serves coffee and soda with a waitresses on staff to cater to each patron’s needs. Especially during the holiday season, this would be a great relaxing way for customers to rest their feet and collect their thoughts before heading to the next store on the list.
Another change that would need to be made is changing store configurations, referred to as zonal merchandising. This is where you group together stores that serve the same basic need and draw the same basic shoppers. This will help those shoppers that come to the mall to purchase a specific product. They then will see the other stores that sell similar products to what they are
References: Heller, L. (2011, April 20). The Future of Online Shopping: 10 Trends to Watch. Retrieved from www.Forbes.com: http://www.forbes.com/sites/lauraheller/2011/04/20/the-future-of-online-shopping-10-trends-to-watch/ Perreault, Jr., W. D., Cannon, J. P., & McCarthy, E. J. (2011). Basic Marketing: A Marketing Stragety Planning Approach. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin Company. http://experiencerethink.wordpress.com/2010/09/23/the-future-of-shopping-2020/