In a Retail Rebound, Visitation to Shopping Centers Up 19% Despite Challenges

This June, Near Intelligence, Inc., a Pasadena-based leader in privacy-led data intelligence on people, places, and products, released a report, “Commercial Real Estate Trends to Revitalize Shopping Centers,” which identifies five top trends to help shopping centers draw in more visitors and adapt to changing consumer preferences in the face of a looming recession.

Despite economic concerns, when looking at the performance of shopping centers overall, in Q4 of 2022, visitation increased 19% from Q4 in 2021. This growth shows the increasing eagerness of consumers to return to normalcy when it comes to shopping, dining, and entertainment.

The study emphasizes that to thrive in the new world of consumer behavior, malls must offer unique dining, retail, entertainment, and other experiences that shoppers cannot find just anywhere.

“If there’s any one constant when it comes to consumer behavior, it’s change. The trends that are resonating now are likely to be different in a few years, or even a few months. In order to be future-proof, malls and shopping centers must leverage data analytics to personalize the shopping experience and create engaging and convenient experiences that keep customers coming back for more,” said Cate Zovod, VP of product and industry marketing at Near.

“Eatertainment” keeps customers onsite longer
While casual dining chains have struggled, “Eatertainment,” defined as guest experiences that involve food and/or beverage dining before, after, or during other activities, has thrived thanks to more upscale menus and a focus on the experience.

The Report identifies five trends to revitalize shopping centers and adapt to changing consumer preferences; entertainment, food & mixed-use developments draw more visitors

• Consumers spent longer in Eatertainment anchors than any other type, spending a median of 60 minutes in an Eatertainment venue.

• Meanwhile, big box and grocery anchors had roughly half that dwell time, as consumers hurry to finish their errands. Consumers also prefer staying longer at mixeduse developments

The study found that mixed-use developments had visitors spending a longer time there than other types of malls.

• The median dwell time at mixed-use malls in Near’s study was 60 minutes, higher than any other.

• This could be partially explained by how many multi-use developments are planned to create a community feel, with open park-like spaces creating an experience for residents and visitors alike to linger and enjoy.

Unique experiences expand reach
Shopping centers offering interactive experiences and entertainment help to increase visitation from a wider geographical area.

• Seismique, an interactive art exhibit that features 40,000 square feet of Instagram-friendly art installations, replaced a former big box retailer in a struggling center.

• Upon opening it, a boost of visitors traveled a median distance of 28 miles to get to the attraction - far beyond the trade area for the rest of the mall.

Consumers travel for healthcare
Having medical offices and “medtail” in malls offers several opportunities for both the medical industry and mall owners.

• Medical offices can bring additional foot traffic to malls, potentially leading to increased revenue for mall owners and other retailers.

• Among the malls in the study, healthcare anchors drew visitors from the farthest median distance - 13.6 miles - even surpassing experiential anchors.

Centers engage directly with customers
While shopping centers have traditionally left retailers to handle direct interactions with customers, malls are increasingly connecting with customers across social media, loyalty programs, livestreaming, and more.

• Westfield Group allows their mall loyalty program customers to link their credit card to their account, automatically adding loyalty points with each purchase, offering appealing rewards from discounts to free meals.

• The Westfield Garden State Plaza location attracts two to three times more visitors than other shopping centers in the area, who spend an average of 58 minutes at Westfield versus 36 minutes for the average shopping center in the region.