Free car service to and from malls. Personal shoppers to help you choose the right items. Donating a portion of what you spend to your favorite charity.
These are all enticements that U.S. retailers and mall owners are using to get shoppers in the door this season. Seeking an alternative to the heavy discounting that characterized last year’s holiday push, shopping centers are touting convenience and special events. They’re also aiming to use the human touch as an advantage in an age when customers can buy gifts with a few mouse clicks.
After an improving job market and falling fuel prices have put more money in shoppers’ pockets, retailers are expecting their best holiday sales in three years. Still, stores aren’t taking customers for granted during the two-month shopping blitz, when the industry books about a fifth of its annual revenue. For some malls that means sprucing up the traditional Santa with a “Frozen”-themed ice palace.
“We’re in a commodity business, and to survive and thrive you have to differentiate yourself — and you do that by offering different experiences,” said Rick Caruso, chief executive officer of Caruso Affiliates, which owns the Grove mall in Los Angeles and the Americana Brand center in Glendale, California.
From Black Friday through Christmas Eve, the Grove and Americana Brand are offering free Uber service to and from the malls to anyone who spends more than $450 during his or her visit. Customers can reuse the service during the holiday season as many times as they want, provided they spend $450 each time they’re driven to the malls, each of which has about 40 stores, in addition to restaurants and movie theaters.
Parking Alternative
The partnership with Uber may also help reduce parking jams at the Grove, which is considering renovating and expanding its garage space.
“That’s still important, but I thought we should also figure out how to get customers here who wouldn’t have to park,” Caruso said.
Such perks are more common at upscale malls such as the Grove. The King of Prussia Mall, a high-end shopping center in Pennsylvania, also courts shoppers with extra services, such as a free personal shopper. Lower-end malls can’t typically offer shoppers the white-glove treatment, and some are struggling to stay open at all. About a third of U.S. malls are rated a “C” or a “D” and will probably have to be significantly revamped if they hope to survive, according to Green Street Advisors.