DMM Retail Industry e-News Issue #213

From our Follow-up File…

You may recall earlier this year we did a story about the Wonder Woman sequel, Wonder Woman 1984, and its big action scene that took place in a mid-80s era shopping mall. Well, DIRECTV has parodied that scene in their new commercial with tennis legends Serena Williams and John McEnroe. Whether they feature an Amazonian Princess or Tennis Champs, TV and movie scenes in a mall are always giant aces with us.

Despite Advancements in AI, Human Touch Still Required for Retail Sales Analysis

We’ve heard a lot lately about sophisticated algorithms, artificial intelligence, and robots helping people make their choices in what to buy. Even our phones are either listening to us talk or following our browsing habits to show us ads and encourage us to buy things. Douglas Bennett is the Senior Managing Director of A&G Real Estate Partners, and he wrote an article recently for Chain Store Age emphasizing the human touch in retail sales. Bennet noted how lots of data points drives sales, but it’s not perfect, and modeling doesn’t always perfectly predict performance. “It’s not about blindly feeding as much data as possible into an analytics engine; it’s about using an intelligent and informed conversation as the foundation for further analytical work. A good analytical team will want to meet with c-suite executives to gain a solid understanding of their real estate goals, ideal demographics, target markets and more. That conversation should then continue with detailed drilldowns involving the finance and real estate groups,” Bennet wrote.

Target to Add More Than 100 Disney Shops to Stores

The number of Disney shops within Target stores is expected to triple by year’s end. The retailer has been adding Disney stores-within-stores in its locations since 2019, and they hope they’ll drive more foot traffic as the holidays near. MyTotalRetail.com’s editor-in-chief, Melissa Campanelli, noted the move isn’t surprising, since toy sales have been growing at Target of late, and the competition has also shown a key interest in toys. “Macy’s announced [recently] that it struck a deal with Toys R Us to open shops inside of more than 400 of the department store chain’s locations and online,” Campanelli wrote. Along with Disney, Target is also partnering again with FAO Schwarz for the second consecutive year. They’ll have a pop-up shop in FAO Schwarz’s New York City location in Rockefeller Plaza, and Target will have an exclusive, 70-piece FAO Schwarz toy collection featuring Barbie and Paw Patrol.

Case Study: Two Malls, Two Routes to the Future

In Delaware, there are two different malls that are moving in very different directions. The former Tri-State Mall in Claymont, 535,000 square feet it was once the state’s fourth-biggest mall, with approximately fifty shops. It closed in November 2015, but is currently on a path to be replaced with a logistics warehouse. The Concord Mall in Wilmington, and over 803,000 square feet, has brought in a bunch of new businesses in just the past few months, including a Malaysian restaurant called Rasa Sayang, and new eateries Snack Shack and O My Smoke BBQ. It’s anchored by Best Buy, Boscov’s, and Macy’s. General Manager Tom Dahlke told DelawareOnline.com that their “goal has always been to rebuild the community within the Concord Mall. We want to ensure both our current tenants and our community members that we are committed to once again making the mall a destination for our town, as well as those that travel here for our tax-free shopping.” The article also charts the future for Christiana Mall in Newark and Dover Mall in Dover.