Port City Mall UA

Building a world of indulgence

Today, when consumers visit malls, they are looking for experiences that go well beyond traditional shopping.

The trends helping to create this change include changing demographics, such as an aging population and increased urbanization, which means more people living in smaller spaces and a greater need for public spaces in which to socialize and congregate. In this environment, malls offer a welcome watering hole, especially in cities where other public spaces are not safe. Sustainability concerns are causing some consumers to prefer mixed-us developments where they can live, shop and work all within walking distance - instead of having to get into a car and drive to a crowded suburban mall. The growing middle classes in Latin America and Asia maintain a strong association between consumption and pleasure, driving the need for more engaging shopping experiences.

The most innovative malls today look nothing like their predecessors. Although location remains the key real estate consideration for malls, a differentiated design and structure is increasingly important. Open air malls go a long way toward lending an atmosphere of a town center, especially when they incorporate mixed use real estate. Many of the malls being built in urban areas are open and fully integrated with the landscape.

Better branding

Marketers rely too much on intuition. The key to building brands more scientifically is to combine a forward-looking market segmentation with a better understanding of customers and a brand’s identity.

A few companies have built their brands more scientifically—and in doing so have pushed marketing to new frontiers. The key is combining a forward-looking market segmentation with a more precise understanding of the needs of customers and a brand’s identity.

Ensuring success

Marketers can increase their chances of success by investing heavily to communicate their analyses internally and to show their colleagues why these analyses support proposed initiatives. Pathway modeling can easily sound quite academic; the challenge is to present its conclusions in a way that senior leaders who aren’t marketers can understand and believe. Armed with conviction, the CEO and the business-unit heads can become the chief brand advocates in their organizations—crucial in a world where brand building depends not just on a catchy jingle but on the whole company.

Companies can build better brands for less money with a forward-looking segmentation and sophisticated analytic tools that increase the precision of defining and delivering a brand. This approach requires an open mind and persistence, but it beats placing bets that may not deliver.