Roger Saunders

Mickey Drexler Takes on Shopping Centers

January 30, 2012

FROM RETAILWIRE:
At Financo's 22nd annual Retail & Consumer Industry Seminar and CEO Event held on the first night of the recent NRF Convention, Mickey Drexler, the legendary apparel merchant, urged shopping malls to "get more creative" to reverse the weak traffic trends amid the increased discounting options at retail and online. What steps should shopping malls be taking to differentiate themselves from heightened discount competition?      [more...]

The culture of mall owners is to see themselves in the real estate business. OK, we all can go along with that thought process.

However, mall owners have to position their thinking along the lines of seeing their business through the eyes of their customers. They have to then see through to their customers' customer -- the end consumer. That has been a challenge for too many mall owners.

In the process, they pay lip service to consumer insights, a pittance to marketing (until they feel the financial pressure), and an inflexibility to adapting to a need to effectively mass-customize centers. Making these centers more than "pieces of dirt" with roads around buildings, mall owners have to follow Michael Gould's thinking, and see themselves in the "theater business."

If malls fail to do that, you see the strong centers get stronger, and the weak get weaker.