Increasing Foot Traffic for Holiday Season
Q: My shopping center tenants are looking forward to the upcoming holiday season, when their businesses typically have more customers—and higher profits, which also benefit me by boosting the percentage rent I can collect. But foot traffic has been slow in recent holiday seasons. What can I do to encourage foot traffic during this profitable time?
A: The winter holiday season tends to be the most profitable time for many centers. That’s because shoppers are already primed to spend more money; many winter holiday traditions involve giving gifts. But although spending is up during this time, owners still should try to boost foot traffic to take full advantage of the situation. Use these strategies to entice customers.
Add Entertainment
In an increasingly “experiential” economy, centers must have some form of entertainment. Shopping centers that devote an area to entertainment are more likely to attract consumers, and are therefore more likely to direct foot traffic into center stores. Lifestyle centers and other forms of open-air centers are incorporating entertainment, as well as dining options, to make their centers recreational shopping “destinations” and to increase the frequency of visits to retailers.
While it may be unrealistic to immediately find a way to offer dining options before this holiday season because it takes time to negotiate restaurant leases and prepare the space for occupancy, you still can try to feature music and other entertainment—even on a budget. If paying for professional musicians or entertainment isn’t in the budget, local schools and organizations may have music groups that will be happy to perform for free.
Start Mall Walker Program
Host a mall walker program to provide free publicity and exposure for your store. Depending on your location, during the fall and winter, people may prefer indoor exercise. Promoting a mall walker program can literally increase foot traffic at your center. Mall walker programs are an excellent way to market stores and have a positive impact on your community. Centers often encourage mall walker programs by helping to organize clubs, offering discounts, and providing health checkups on-site. Offering public services like this is a good way to get people to come to a center.
Use Technology
Make sure that the website for your center is up to date and ask tenants if they feel any information needs to be changed. The website is also a great opportunity to showcase upcoming entertainment and public services like a mall walker program and to give shoppers advance notice of promotions. Consider consulting with a marketing professional, if you don’t already, to find other ways—such as tweets and email blasts to customers willing to give their email addresses—to harness technology for your purposes.
Install Interior Landscaping
No matter how well-planned the center’s exterior appearance is, foot traffic will dwindle if the overall center isn’t aesthetically welcoming. You and your manager probably already know the value of landscaping the outside of your center. But you may not be aware that landscaping the interior of your center is just as valuable—if not more so. After all, shoppers merely pass by exterior landscaping when they enter and exit the center, but they can spend hours surrounded by the interior landscaping. Interior landscaping can distinguish your center from competing centers, enhancing the shopping experience for consumers.
Bulk Up Security
Consumers won’t frequent your center if they feel unsafe. One way to ensure effective security is to set up a rent-free police field office at the center. The police presence will reduce crime and allow a faster police response to crime. By increasing the perception of safety at the center, the flow of traffic to your stores will also increase. And it may also cut down on petty crime like shoplifting and vandalism like graffiti.