What Makes Up a Relevant Consumer Experience?

What Makes Up a Relevant Consumer Experience?

Chris Harden, Director, Capital Markets Group, Dallas

Posted on 3rd June 2015 –

Center of Retail : Cushman & Wakefield

As you may have noticed
there are less traditional shopping centers being built today than 10
years ago and many are being torn down, back-filled with non-traditional
retail uses or are slowly declining into obsolescence.

What you are witnessing is a major disruption in the retail industry
caused by the internet/technology and demographic shifts. Consumers
today are demanding something different than what the old retail model
provided.

What are consumers today demanding?

They still want the same goods and services but they want to acquire and consume them differently.

As such, shopping centers today have become either 'experientially
relevant' or 'experientially obsolete'. While there are still centers
that are teetering between the two, eventually they will fall into the
obsolete category unless the owner initiates a concerted focus on a
relevant consumer experience.

What makes up the relevant consumer experience?

Firstly, the experience must be positive. A negative
consumer experience will reduce traffic to a shopping center and lower
retailer sales which over time lead to a reduction in rents and higher
vacancies. A positive consumer experience, conversely, will lead to
increased traffic and higher sales, allowing the shopping center owner
to raise rents and maintain a high occupancy well into the future.

Secondly, the experience could be convenient. With the internet taking a more active role in the retailer growth model, brick-and-mortar stores must compete with easy access to goods and services.
That may mean that your shopping center has good visibility of
storefronts and signage and easy ingress and egress from major
thoroughfares. Additionally, high quality service, which includes superior product knowledge and short wait times, is also paramount to (read the complete article)