DMM Retail Industry e-News Issue #162
Retail Crystal Ball – What’s the Mall of 2030 Going to Look Like?
The Jetsons have been promising your humble e-newsletter editor for years that someday we’d have flying cars and simpler food preparation techniques. And though Back to the Future kind of got a few things right (and wrong), we still don’t even have time travel (or do we?). That said, retail experts are always trying to figure out what tomorrow’s malls will look like. Forbes Contributor, Greg Maloney, the President and CEO of JLL’s Americas Retail business, has some ideas. Among them, Maloney writes that retailers must create “instagramable” stores modernizing and updating them to fit today’s consumer. In addition, “stores need to be even more diligent in perfecting their in-store experience for shoppers…by prioritizing people, as a little over 50 percent of shoppers said that skilled customer service associates were a deciding factor in where they shopped.”
Kohl’s to Roll Out Amazon Returns Service Nationwide
One of the ways retail experts suggest retailers differentiate themselves from their online competition is to provide better in-store service, giving customers more of a reason to return and purchase from them. Kohl’s has been taking that to another level at some of its stores, and it’s been working with its chief competitor to do it. It seems returning stuff is a problem for Amazon customers that Kohl’s can make easier. And, it seems, according to Inc.com, it’s worth it to both retailers to work together so that returns are easier for Amazon customers if they also become Kohl’s customers, which, of course, is the hope for the latter. The 18-month pilot program has been so successful Kohl’s is now rolling it out to all 1,100 of their stores nationwide. “Our top strategic priority is driving traffic, and this transformational program does just that. It drives customers into our stores, and we are expecting millions to benefit from this service,” said Michelle Gass, Kohl’s CEO. Maybe the plan will bring happiness to millions of customers, but peace between the online and real worlds? That’s more like it.
American Dream Mall in NJ Gets New Date for Grand Opening
The largest mall in the United States has (yet again) a new opening date, though this time, there’s an actual day instead of a vague time period. Triple Five’s 3-million-square-foot American Dream mall is targeting October 25th as its opening date. The East Rutherford, NJ, destination is slated to include an indoor ski center, water slides, an 18-hole Angry Birds miniature golf course and even an NHL-sized ice hockey rink – oh yeah, and actual retail and restaurants, too (by late October the seasons for the Jets and Giants, the NY metro area’s often-disappointing NFL franchises located close by, already could likely be over). “To assemble one place where you can buy a Brunello Cucinelli sweater and then hop on a Ferris wheel in the same day is impressive—and Triple Five group knows this better than other mall developers,” Justin Fenner of The Robb Report wrote. The mall has been on the drawing board since it launched as Xanadu in 2003.
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DMM e-News - Issue #162
