March 19, 2009
Simon Says Consumers Will Shop at Malls
David Simon
wants everyone to know that the death of the American mall has been greatly
exaggerated. The chairman and chief executive of Simon Property Group,
owner of 350 malls around the globe, told attendees of a Wharton Leadership
Lecture that malls will survive, although it’s likely that fewer companies
will be managing them in the future as the strong "get stronger."
Mr. Simon said
that malls will change. According to a Knowledge@Wharton report,
he said, "Long-term,
the mall has to become a smarter box."
He
cited his company’s mall in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania as an example. "King
of Prussia has 150 stores. The average consumer goes to five or six. If
we can figure out how to communicate to that consumer as [he or she] walks
the mall, whether it’s ‘Hey, go to this store because you can get free
this with every purchase,’ or ‘New merchandise is in,’ or that kind of
stuff, I think it is going to facilitate loyalty. That’s what we’re working
on."
Mr.
Simon said the volatility of the retail sector has made managing malls
more challenging than ever before. "Seven of the top 10 tenants we
had when we went public are no longer in business today, and yet we’ve
been able to continue to grow our business because it’s the real estate
that retains the value over the long term," he said.
Discussion Questions: David Simon sees small
local malls having a hard time making it while larger regional malls
prosper. Do you agree with that assessment? Mr. Simon talks about ways
for mall to facilitate consumer loyalty. What practical steps can malls
take to be more of prime destination for consumers?
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Count me as one who thinks that the fundamental economics of malls have changed. They remain gathering places, but without the destination that anchor stores once were. So many of the stores are essentially interchangeable from a customer’s perspective.
A telling sign of the future perhaps: in the current economic environment, you can’t get near many of the major malls in the Boston area on the weekend. but walk the mall, and there are very few customers carrying shopping bags. I don’t think it’s just the recession.
Try to get a parking spot at King of Prussia Mall on any given Saturday–and good luck! Oh, and while you’re searching for one spot in the expansive parking lot and garages there, check out all the shoppers coming out of the stores with bags and bags!
That mall isn’t dying anytime soon! That is for certain. And thank goodness for that. It’s a tourist attraction and it offers every shop you can imagine from low-end to high-end.
Like Gene, I agree with Richard Seesel as well. Must also admit here that I am somewhat chastened by having written about the imminent death of the mall, back in 1978.
The long-term prognosis for the enclosed regional mall is mixed. Malls face a couple of distinct challenges:
1. The mall anchor tenant base is in jeopardy. There is only one national “traditional department store” (Macy’s), with JCPenney having a different value positioning and Sears having its own issues. Many malls are anchored by regional department stores in various degrees of difficulty, and the market share of traditional department stores has been declining for years. So the biggest “draw” to the regional mall simply isn’t a great traffic driver any more.
2. Real estate overdevelopment has led to a situation where weaker malls and stronger malls are within a few miles of each other, in healthier communities. At the same time, many older malls have suffered from flight to outer-ring suburbs for many years. I visited Northbrook Court and Old Orchard, about 10 minutes apart in north suburban Chicago over the weekend, and all the customers were at Old Orchard.
These are only two issues confronting the regional mall. What are some of the solutions? There’s a long list, but I would point to the tenant base, to ensure that the anchor mix includes big-box stores and value-oriented retailers where appropriate. (Don’t let all the traffic and frequency flee to the power centers!) I would also make sure that the tenant mix is kept current, including a variety of eating venues to help keep consumers at the mall longer.
Mr. Simon has reason to be optimistic, and not just because he is in the mall business…but not without some serious reinvention of a 50-year-old concept.
I’ll go along with Richard Sessel’s evaluation above but as it relates to David Simon’s claim that larger regional malls are prospering, I have to ponder what Simon’s definition of prospering is.
Like department stores, malls are not dead. As the research points out, consumers visit 5 to 6 stores (except at Christmas time) on a trip to the mall. Three factors must be considered. First issue is the quality of merchandise being offered for sale. For years we were told luxury, high-end merchandise sells independent of the economy. This time, it is not working that way. Thus, a mall with nothing but high-end retailers is likely to have a bad time. Malls with more moderately-priced merchandise are likely seeing a decline, but not a complete drop off.
Second issue is the size of the mall. These extremely large malls are in trouble because consumers don’t want to walk that far for only 5 or 6 stores. The Baby Boomers will shortly not be able to walk these big malls. This may be why the open malls, where one can short-cut the walk, seem to be doing OK.
The third issue is the internet. Why walk a large mall when one can get the merchandise delivered to the house? This is especially true if the purchase is a gift that the consumer would have to package and mail. Internet sales will continue to take business away from the stores located in malls or otherwise.
Really, Simon thinks that malls will prosper? Next you’ll be telling me that the CEO of GM says people really want to buy more American cars, or that the CEO of Hearst says that people love the morning newspaper more than ever.
Seriously though, he is absolutely right that the mall box has to change a lot. That’s the only way they have a chance of success going forward. The problem is that no one really knows how to change the box (at least yet). I don’t think that better informing consumers that “new merchandise is now in at store x” or “there’s a discount over at store y” is going to do it!
History buffs know that the rise and the success of shopping malls in America always had everything to do with demographics and generational spending capacity. The Boomers’ parents flocked to the early malls in their new autos and vigorously consumed with a post-war pent up demand as they set up housekeeping in the suburbs and spent to clothe and furnish their Boomer children. Often “going to the mall” was a cherished family day which frequently ended for everybody with a movie at the theater which anchored most malls.
Then, the Boomers continued this spree themselves when, as teens, they bought hi-fi equipment, records/tapes, sports equipment and trendy apparel (and hung out in malls.) Later, as they created successful (often double) careers, this huge swarm of humanity bought ever bigger homes and raised a second mini baby boom generation. Much consumer spending and store development ensued from the confluence of these events. All this kept malls being built and thriving for almost 50 years.
But, if one looks realistically at current and near term demographic trends and future generational spending capacity due to lower average wages, it’s hard to see a great deal of encouragement for operators of large malls. Smaller, focused, and more navigable footprints are where it’s going to be and where I would place my store or investment dollars. Richard mentioned the greater traffic he noted at Old Orchard versus Northbrook (both of which have a number of the same high-end stores). But OO is an open mall contrasted to Northbrook which is a closed multi-level one. (See Frank Dell’s thoughts on that.)
David Simon is into wishful thinking rather than rational forecasting. Fifty years ago lifestyles changed to facilitate the growth of the mall. Unfortunately for malls, lifestyles continue to change. Malls provided people with a destination, with entertainment, with a place to support consumer driven consumption and a place just to while away some time.
All those factors are changing. Shopping is no longer entertainment, nor can it compete with the entertainment technology has to offer. Consumer driven consumption will never return to the level of the past. Shoppers don’t need a destination any more, they have the internet to shop and communicate.
Check out a couple of statistics for today as compared to 20 or 30 years ago. How many more women are in the workforce? How many more teens have part-time jobs? There is very little time to while away.
I wish Mr. Simon luck. I am not even sure that “the mall has to become a smarter box.” Today more than ever, whatever the mall offers to bring shoppers in has to be leagues more powerful than in the past. I don’t know what that could be.
I believe the answer is to look at the malls simply as real estate and to develop multi-use properties that include office and residential development. If you add to that a mass transit hub, you may have a winner.
First, I like to distinguish Malls and Shopping Centers as ‘destination’ or ‘local’ because that truly does make a difference. The destination centers have a few more opportunities at marketing than say, many of the locals. I have seen several great web sites, for example, that work well for destination malls because, someone who may be making more than a 5 mile trip to your mall might very well like to check what’s on sale and/or what’s going on before they make the trip.
Some of these Malls are also doing interesting things to bring in the business like concerts, art exhibits, etc.
I have also heard some interesting ideas about the use of space in major Malls. Like from Paula Rosenblum (RSR Research) who mentioned anchoring with Senior Living Apts. I am so there, in a few more years!
Yet, the issue still lies in communicating to the consumer, once they are in the Center, why they need to come into a store. In my humble opinion, I believe there is a new role for the merchant.
This role is called “know thy neighbor’! That may sound trite but if the tenants were talking to each other on a regular basis and maybe even setting up informal co-branding opportunities, they would then be able to share with their consumers ideas that just might help them close the sale. “With just the right piece of jewelry, the outfit is complete and i know just where you can find it” and all of us in retail know that he/she who buys an outfit is less likely to return it!
How does this work? Get the Center merchants sharing with each other on a daily basis and even offering occasional promotions like stop by between 2-3 on Tuesday (my slow time) and we’ll give you 10%. The tenants will get to know each other, will know when you are having sales, have new merchandise, can recommend you, might enter into a co-brand with you, etc. “Hey I’m going to make Thursday Night Ladies Night at my salon, would you like to come in and do a wine tasting? I’m sure my ladies will buy.”
So that is where I’m coming from and we at TheRetailTradeCenter.com have put this application together and are signing Centers up to give it a try. Sorry; had to put in a shameless plug because, this is what “Social Shopping” is all about…Nikki! Ha
I can’t really say that I agree or disagree with Mr. Simon. What I do know is that I likely fell into the camp that said malls were on the dying side of their life cycle. I am not so sure of that today. Somehow, retailing seems to re-invent itself in ways we haven’t imagined.
I visited the local mall (I guess you could call it regional; it’s the larger and newest of the two in my area) on New Years’s day this year to go to a restaurant, not to shop. The mall itself was open, however, the retail stores were all closed. There were three restaurants open and a theater. Even so, I didn’t expect anyone to be ‘in the mall’. It was crowded! Surprised? I was. What in the world would lead folks to go to closed mall?
Malls still spur surrounding development. Demographics change and ‘local’ malls do become irrelevant over time. Even so, people seem to still want a ‘town square’ atmosphere even when their isn’t a town. Malls might be different but I’m leaning towards they will be here for the foreseeable future. His real estate is probably good for now.
The regular, every-day run-of-the-mill mall is having–and is going to have–a rough go of it. They will need to change to stay relevant and to some degree, they continue to be made more irrelevant every day as large shopping centers become homes to home improvement stores (Lowe’s or Home Depot) a Best Buy, a Kohl’s, a Target, etc continue to take over.
Large “regional malls” that can offer somewhat of a different experience will likely continue to do “OK” and survive. These large centers can offer a slightly special experience by including a Neiman’s, Saks, or in some cities a Nordstrom, as well as a collection of unique smaller stores, possibly an IKEA, while also including all the regulars.
Let’s face it–Consolidation has hurt in this respect.
Remember when Nordstrom was exciting and surprising? Now they have become the ubiquitous specialty store (I can’t call them a department store, although most probably would). 10 years ago I would have made it a point to go, if I knew I was in proximity, but today I am likely to discount it and say, well I need this but I will go next week–in Merrick Park, or Northbridge, or Pentagon City…etc. I think they are fantastic but they are everywhere now.
We used to be over stored–and I believe we still are–but it is with fewer “companies” and nameplates so that sameness is a REAL problem. I also believe that we are “over malled” and that many older and in many cases, dead malls will require complete re-working or more likely, be torn down, as they simply no longer have a purpose.
Different locations and cities/towns also offer very different experience. Of course, King of Prussia is fantastic and a total success but America is a big country. There are many other success places which will thrive–Oakbrook, Old Orchard, Lenox Square, Aventura, Beachwood, Tysons Corner, Short Hills, North Park, to name a few–but there are MORE places where there are dying, sad locales. Any city in the Midwest has at least one, if not several, dying malls with no reason for existence. I sadly think this will continue and worsen. To a degree, this is being driven by the industry itself, and will worsen if America maintains the slight change in its shopping habits which we see presently. The answer requires a multi-faceted vision and approach.
As a retailer in both malls and high traffic tourist areas, I feel that the mall business will see a decline in size and hopefully become more specialized. What worked in the past was one stop shopping and now we have to think outside the box. I feel we need the concept of smaller areas with convenience and possibly having a added staple such as a grocery store.
Malls are an endangered species in the long term, however, they will adapt. With travel costs, running costs of a car, better education in online shopping, the outlying mall will be a thing of the past, like in old Europe and Mediterranean and Eastern countries, the covered souk or shopping area in the town centre will become the model. A place where people can use the space as a town centre, meeting, entertaining, and shopping experience all with direct public transport.
Public transport will evolve too so that it will be able to transport home large shopping items. People will travel less for more, they will be able to access better and more informative options on the internet and will need a local place to gather, rather than an empty oblong box set out in the sticks.
When enclosed malls started springing up around the country in the 70s, they provided an opportunity for the shopper to quickly move from one retail store to another in a climate controlled environment. And at the time, most households had a single source of income. A spouse had time to spend.
So what’s changed? First, most shoppers today do not want to spend the time to shop that they once did. With both adults working and a house and family demanding their time, most shoppers look upon the experience as another task instead of a leisure activity. Second, while W. Frank Dell II, President, Dellmart & Company makes reference to the Internet, no one has addressed the changes in technology and its impact upon shopping destinations.
Teens to 30 somethings are today married to their smart phones. And the apps available from Apple’s APP store for the iPhone give a whole new meaning to the phrase, “Let your fingers do the shopping.” With programs like TheFind on your phone, you don’t have to physically enter numerous stores to locate a desired product. With the help of 3g technology, online inventories, and software programs like TheFind, you can locate THE store carrying the product you seek from your smart phone with instock information, pricing, and mapping provided to direct you to their location with exact miles, travel time, and gas consumption necessary per the gps in your phone.
Retailers today must be concerned about getting their inventory out on the Internet. Only then will they be able to begin to compete.
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Count me as one who thinks that the fundamental economics of malls have changed. They remain gathering places, but without the destination that anchor stores once were. So many of the stores are essentially interchangeable from a customer’s perspective.
A telling sign of the future perhaps: in the current economic environment, you can’t get near many of the major malls in the Boston area on the weekend. but walk the mall, and there are very few customers carrying shopping bags. I don’t think it’s just the recession.
Try to get a parking spot at King of Prussia Mall on any given Saturday–and good luck! Oh, and while you’re searching for one spot in the expansive parking lot and garages there, check out all the shoppers coming out of the stores with bags and bags!
That mall isn’t dying anytime soon! That is for certain. And thank goodness for that. It’s a tourist attraction and it offers every shop you can imagine from low-end to high-end.
Like Gene, I agree with Richard Seesel as well. Must also admit here that I am somewhat chastened by having written about the imminent death of the mall, back in 1978.
The long-term prognosis for the enclosed regional mall is mixed. Malls face a couple of distinct challenges:
1. The mall anchor tenant base is in jeopardy. There is only one national “traditional department store” (Macy’s), with JCPenney having a different value positioning and Sears having its own issues. Many malls are anchored by regional department stores in various degrees of difficulty, and the market share of traditional department stores has been declining for years. So the biggest “draw” to the regional mall simply isn’t a great traffic driver any more.
2. Real estate overdevelopment has led to a situation where weaker malls and stronger malls are within a few miles of each other, in healthier communities. At the same time, many older malls have suffered from flight to outer-ring suburbs for many years. I visited Northbrook Court and Old Orchard, about 10 minutes apart in north suburban Chicago over the weekend, and all the customers were at Old Orchard.
These are only two issues confronting the regional mall. What are some of the solutions? There’s a long list, but I would point to the tenant base, to ensure that the anchor mix includes big-box stores and value-oriented retailers where appropriate. (Don’t let all the traffic and frequency flee to the power centers!) I would also make sure that the tenant mix is kept current, including a variety of eating venues to help keep consumers at the mall longer.
Mr. Simon has reason to be optimistic, and not just because he is in the mall business…but not without some serious reinvention of a 50-year-old concept.
I’ll go along with Richard Sessel’s evaluation above but as it relates to David Simon’s claim that larger regional malls are prospering, I have to ponder what Simon’s definition of prospering is.
Like department stores, malls are not dead. As the research points out, consumers visit 5 to 6 stores (except at Christmas time) on a trip to the mall. Three factors must be considered. First issue is the quality of merchandise being offered for sale. For years we were told luxury, high-end merchandise sells independent of the economy. This time, it is not working that way. Thus, a mall with nothing but high-end retailers is likely to have a bad time. Malls with more moderately-priced merchandise are likely seeing a decline, but not a complete drop off.
Second issue is the size of the mall. These extremely large malls are in trouble because consumers don’t want to walk that far for only 5 or 6 stores. The Baby Boomers will shortly not be able to walk these big malls. This may be why the open malls, where one can short-cut the walk, seem to be doing OK.
The third issue is the internet. Why walk a large mall when one can get the merchandise delivered to the house? This is especially true if the purchase is a gift that the consumer would have to package and mail. Internet sales will continue to take business away from the stores located in malls or otherwise.
Really, Simon thinks that malls will prosper? Next you’ll be telling me that the CEO of GM says people really want to buy more American cars, or that the CEO of Hearst says that people love the morning newspaper more than ever.
Seriously though, he is absolutely right that the mall box has to change a lot. That’s the only way they have a chance of success going forward. The problem is that no one really knows how to change the box (at least yet). I don’t think that better informing consumers that “new merchandise is now in at store x” or “there’s a discount over at store y” is going to do it!
History buffs know that the rise and the success of shopping malls in America always had everything to do with demographics and generational spending capacity. The Boomers’ parents flocked to the early malls in their new autos and vigorously consumed with a post-war pent up demand as they set up housekeeping in the suburbs and spent to clothe and furnish their Boomer children. Often “going to the mall” was a cherished family day which frequently ended for everybody with a movie at the theater which anchored most malls.
Then, the Boomers continued this spree themselves when, as teens, they bought hi-fi equipment, records/tapes, sports equipment and trendy apparel (and hung out in malls.) Later, as they created successful (often double) careers, this huge swarm of humanity bought ever bigger homes and raised a second mini baby boom generation. Much consumer spending and store development ensued from the confluence of these events. All this kept malls being built and thriving for almost 50 years.
But, if one looks realistically at current and near term demographic trends and future generational spending capacity due to lower average wages, it’s hard to see a great deal of encouragement for operators of large malls. Smaller, focused, and more navigable footprints are where it’s going to be and where I would place my store or investment dollars. Richard mentioned the greater traffic he noted at Old Orchard versus Northbrook (both of which have a number of the same high-end stores). But OO is an open mall contrasted to Northbrook which is a closed multi-level one. (See Frank Dell’s thoughts on that.)
David Simon is into wishful thinking rather than rational forecasting. Fifty years ago lifestyles changed to facilitate the growth of the mall. Unfortunately for malls, lifestyles continue to change. Malls provided people with a destination, with entertainment, with a place to support consumer driven consumption and a place just to while away some time.
All those factors are changing. Shopping is no longer entertainment, nor can it compete with the entertainment technology has to offer. Consumer driven consumption will never return to the level of the past. Shoppers don’t need a destination any more, they have the internet to shop and communicate.
Check out a couple of statistics for today as compared to 20 or 30 years ago. How many more women are in the workforce? How many more teens have part-time jobs? There is very little time to while away.
I wish Mr. Simon luck. I am not even sure that “the mall has to become a smarter box.” Today more than ever, whatever the mall offers to bring shoppers in has to be leagues more powerful than in the past. I don’t know what that could be.
I believe the answer is to look at the malls simply as real estate and to develop multi-use properties that include office and residential development. If you add to that a mass transit hub, you may have a winner.
First, I like to distinguish Malls and Shopping Centers as ‘destination’ or ‘local’ because that truly does make a difference. The destination centers have a few more opportunities at marketing than say, many of the locals. I have seen several great web sites, for example, that work well for destination malls because, someone who may be making more than a 5 mile trip to your mall might very well like to check what’s on sale and/or what’s going on before they make the trip.
Some of these Malls are also doing interesting things to bring in the business like concerts, art exhibits, etc.
I have also heard some interesting ideas about the use of space in major Malls. Like from Paula Rosenblum (RSR Research) who mentioned anchoring with Senior Living Apts. I am so there, in a few more years!
Yet, the issue still lies in communicating to the consumer, once they are in the Center, why they need to come into a store. In my humble opinion, I believe there is a new role for the merchant.
This role is called “know thy neighbor’! That may sound trite but if the tenants were talking to each other on a regular basis and maybe even setting up informal co-branding opportunities, they would then be able to share with their consumers ideas that just might help them close the sale. “With just the right piece of jewelry, the outfit is complete and i know just where you can find it” and all of us in retail know that he/she who buys an outfit is less likely to return it!
How does this work? Get the Center merchants sharing with each other on a daily basis and even offering occasional promotions like stop by between 2-3 on Tuesday (my slow time) and we’ll give you 10%. The tenants will get to know each other, will know when you are having sales, have new merchandise, can recommend you, might enter into a co-brand with you, etc. “Hey I’m going to make Thursday Night Ladies Night at my salon, would you like to come in and do a wine tasting? I’m sure my ladies will buy.”
So that is where I’m coming from and we at TheRetailTradeCenter.com have put this application together and are signing Centers up to give it a try. Sorry; had to put in a shameless plug because, this is what “Social Shopping” is all about…Nikki! Ha
I can’t really say that I agree or disagree with Mr. Simon. What I do know is that I likely fell into the camp that said malls were on the dying side of their life cycle. I am not so sure of that today. Somehow, retailing seems to re-invent itself in ways we haven’t imagined.
I visited the local mall (I guess you could call it regional; it’s the larger and newest of the two in my area) on New Years’s day this year to go to a restaurant, not to shop. The mall itself was open, however, the retail stores were all closed. There were three restaurants open and a theater. Even so, I didn’t expect anyone to be ‘in the mall’. It was crowded! Surprised? I was. What in the world would lead folks to go to closed mall?
Malls still spur surrounding development. Demographics change and ‘local’ malls do become irrelevant over time. Even so, people seem to still want a ‘town square’ atmosphere even when their isn’t a town. Malls might be different but I’m leaning towards they will be here for the foreseeable future. His real estate is probably good for now.
The regular, every-day run-of-the-mill mall is having–and is going to have–a rough go of it. They will need to change to stay relevant and to some degree, they continue to be made more irrelevant every day as large shopping centers become homes to home improvement stores (Lowe’s or Home Depot) a Best Buy, a Kohl’s, a Target, etc continue to take over.
Large “regional malls” that can offer somewhat of a different experience will likely continue to do “OK” and survive. These large centers can offer a slightly special experience by including a Neiman’s, Saks, or in some cities a Nordstrom, as well as a collection of unique smaller stores, possibly an IKEA, while also including all the regulars.
Let’s face it–Consolidation has hurt in this respect.
Remember when Nordstrom was exciting and surprising? Now they have become the ubiquitous specialty store (I can’t call them a department store, although most probably would). 10 years ago I would have made it a point to go, if I knew I was in proximity, but today I am likely to discount it and say, well I need this but I will go next week–in Merrick Park, or Northbridge, or Pentagon City…etc. I think they are fantastic but they are everywhere now.
We used to be over stored–and I believe we still are–but it is with fewer “companies” and nameplates so that sameness is a REAL problem. I also believe that we are “over malled” and that many older and in many cases, dead malls will require complete re-working or more likely, be torn down, as they simply no longer have a purpose.
Different locations and cities/towns also offer very different experience. Of course, King of Prussia is fantastic and a total success but America is a big country. There are many other success places which will thrive–Oakbrook, Old Orchard, Lenox Square, Aventura, Beachwood, Tysons Corner, Short Hills, North Park, to name a few–but there are MORE places where there are dying, sad locales. Any city in the Midwest has at least one, if not several, dying malls with no reason for existence. I sadly think this will continue and worsen. To a degree, this is being driven by the industry itself, and will worsen if America maintains the slight change in its shopping habits which we see presently. The answer requires a multi-faceted vision and approach.
As a retailer in both malls and high traffic tourist areas, I feel that the mall business will see a decline in size and hopefully become more specialized. What worked in the past was one stop shopping and now we have to think outside the box. I feel we need the concept of smaller areas with convenience and possibly having a added staple such as a grocery store.
Malls are an endangered species in the long term, however, they will adapt. With travel costs, running costs of a car, better education in online shopping, the outlying mall will be a thing of the past, like in old Europe and Mediterranean and Eastern countries, the covered souk or shopping area in the town centre will become the model. A place where people can use the space as a town centre, meeting, entertaining, and shopping experience all with direct public transport.
Public transport will evolve too so that it will be able to transport home large shopping items. People will travel less for more, they will be able to access better and more informative options on the internet and will need a local place to gather, rather than an empty oblong box set out in the sticks.
When enclosed malls started springing up around the country in the 70s, they provided an opportunity for the shopper to quickly move from one retail store to another in a climate controlled environment. And at the time, most households had a single source of income. A spouse had time to spend.
So what’s changed? First, most shoppers today do not want to spend the time to shop that they once did. With both adults working and a house and family demanding their time, most shoppers look upon the experience as another task instead of a leisure activity. Second, while W. Frank Dell II, President, Dellmart & Company makes reference to the Internet, no one has addressed the changes in technology and its impact upon shopping destinations.
Teens to 30 somethings are today married to their smart phones. And the apps available from Apple’s APP store for the iPhone give a whole new meaning to the phrase, “Let your fingers do the shopping.” With programs like TheFind on your phone, you don’t have to physically enter numerous stores to locate a desired product. With the help of 3g technology, online inventories, and software programs like TheFind, you can locate THE store carrying the product you seek from your smart phone with instock information, pricing, and mapping provided to direct you to their location with exact miles, travel time, and gas consumption necessary per the gps in your phone.
Retailers today must be concerned about getting their inventory out on the Internet. Only then will they be able to begin to compete.