Mall Owners Work Hard To Keep Pace With Latest Marketing Techniques
Retail Traffic Magazine 9.8.2010
The decision by the largest regional mall owner in the country to embrace a smartphone application marked a new stage in the rapidly unfolding evolution of mall marketing.
In mid August, Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group joined retailers Macy’s, Best Buy, American Eagle Outfitters and Sports Authority in endorsing an application called Shopkick developed by Palo Alto, Calif.-based developer Shopkick Inc. Simon rolled out the app at 25 of its centers in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago. By the holiday shopping season, Simon plans to have Shopkick available at 100 centers nationwide.
The location-based app goes a step further than what existed before and gives retailers and mall owners the ability to know when a person carrying a smartphone with the app installed crosses a physical threshold, scans bar codes inside stores or malls or does other activities that retailers and mall owners may want to incentivize. In return, users of the app receive “kickbucks”—points in the customer’s account that can be redeemed for rewards. The app currently works solely on Apple iPhones, but a Droid version is in development.
Simon’s move upped the ante considerably in the race among owners to provide tools to consumers that enhance the in-mall shopping experience.
Read more at Retail Traffic!
