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Return-to-office (RTO) mandates are once again the talk of the town, with growing numbers of employers requiring workers to move back closer to the office and come into the office more frequently. Despite employee pushback, the trend is leaving its mark on everything from downtown retailers to local housing markets.
But how is the RTO push impacting office attendance? We dove into the data to find out.
In June 2024, visits to offices nationwide were just 29.4% below June 2019 levels – and the highest they’ve been since before the pandemic. June’s strong year-over-year (YoY) showing is particularly impressive given the fact that June 2024 had one fewer workday than June 2019 (Juneteenth was declared a federal holiday in 2021).
Digging down into regional data shows Miami continuing to lead the office recovery pack, with June 2024 visits down just 9.8% compared to the equivalent period of 2019. New York was once again close on Miami’s heels – driven in part by strict RTO policies on Wall Street. Atlanta, Dallas, and Washington, D.C. also outperformed the nationwide baseline, while Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Houston, and San Francisco took up the rear.
A look at regional YoY visitation patterns offers additional insight into each city’s unique office recovery trajectory. Houston, which was hit hard by inclement weather in May 2024, suffered an additional setback in June – with tropical storm warnings and extreme heat waves likely inducing many locals to stay home.
Atlanta and Boston, on the other hand, experienced their busiest in-office month since the pandemic – with respective June 2024 YoY visit increases of 10.0% and 10.3%. Atlanta, which has been outperforming nationwide averages for some months now, has seen an accelerated recovery fueled by accumulating RTO mandates. And in Boston, too, growing numbers of companies are calling on employees to put in more face time.
San Francisco, meanwhile, surrendered its YoY visit growth lead, even as the San Francisco Federal Reserve president urged tech companies to tighten their in-office policies.
The new hybrid normal may be firmly entrenched – but foot traffic data shows that the RTO story is still very much ongoing. How will office visits continue to shape up as the year wears on?
Follow Placer.ai’s data-driven analyses to find out.
Movie theaters, among the hardest-hit industries during the pandemic, have faced challenges in foot traffic recovering to pre-COVID levels. However, the release of major blockbusters including Barbie, Oppenheimer, Spiderman: No Way Home, Top Gun: Maverick, and others, led to dramatic surges in movie theater visits, proving that the silver screen can still draw crowds.
While some of these films shattered box-office records upon release, the recently premiered "Inside Out 2" – an animated coming-of-age film – is poised to exceed even those impressive metrics, setting a new benchmark for success.
Expectations for the new Disney-Pixar powerhouse sequel “Inside Out 2” were high long before its theatrical premiere on June 14th, 2024. Fans and critics alike were eagerly anticipating the return of Riley and her emotions. But even among these high expectations, the film’s effect was astonishing, becoming the fastest-ever animated feature to surpass the billion-dollar mark.
And the film's huge success is only further emphasized by foot traffic data of major movie theater chains across the country. On the week of June 10th, when the film was released, AMC theaters, Cinemark, and Regal Cinemas saw remarkable respective visit peaks of 76.7%, 70.5%, and 83.2% compared to the previous week.
But the momentum didn’t stop there. Theater visits continued to surge into the second week following the film’s release, driven by the ongoing hype surrounding "Inside Out 2." Week over week, AMC theaters, Cinemark and Regal Cinemas experienced respective visits increases of 14.8%, 18.2%, and 14.3%.
The "Inside Out 2" visit effect was not only impressive on its own but also remarkable when compared to other major blockbuster films released in the past two years. Visits to the three biggest theater chains nationwide saw extraordinary upticks ranging from 67.5% to 72.6% compared to the weekly average of the second quarter of 2024. The closest comparable accomplishment in the past two years was the release of the “Super Mario Bros. Movie” in April 2023, which generated theater visits between 32.2% and 35.8% higher than the weekly average visits for that quarter.
The visit surge brought on by "Inside Out 2" highlights the movie’s massive draw and sets a new industry benchmark, solidifying its place as a monumental success in recent cinema history.
Theater chains know in advance that a highly anticipated Disney-Pixar film will fill their theaters with the joyful squeals of little ones. However, family films don’t just attract families; they also draw visitors from a wider range of socioeconomic backgrounds, all eager to enjoy a much-talked-about film and an affordable outing for the entire family. This was especially true for "Inside Out 2," which premiered just as a record-breaking heat wave hit the country, driving millions to seek refuge in an air-conditioned movie theater.
Indeed, analyzing the captured markets of the most-visited AMC, Cinemark, and Regal Cinemas during the week of the film’s release showed that not only did they attract a higher percentage of visitors from households with children, as anticipated, but they also drew more visitors with lower household incomes. This influx significantly lowered the median household income of the theater’s captured markets, highlighting the film’s broad appeal and its ability to provide accessible entertainment to all.
The impressive visit surge from the release of "Inside Out 2" highlights the still-strong demand for out-of-home entertainment and the staying power of the movie theater industry. And with a lineup of highly anticipated releases this summer, theaters are poised to continue satisfying the demand for in-cinema entertainment well into 2024 and beyond.
Will major blockbuster films continue to be the main factor driving the movie theater industry forward? Can the industry maintain strong visit volumes between top releases?
Visit our blog at Placer.ai to find out.
How did Petco and PetSmart, the two big-box leaders of the pet sector, fare in early 2024? We dove into the data to find out.
In recent months, Inflation and sagging consumer confidence have taken their toll on the pet supplies industry, which relies at least partially on discretionary spending, and in its Q1 2024 earnings report, Petco reported a minor YoY drop in revenue. But while Petco saw YoY visit dips in January and April – softened by minor upticks in February and March – visits increased 3.7% YoY in May.
PetSmart, for its part, experienced even more consistent YoY visit lags in early 2024. But like its competitor, the pet supplies giant also saw signs of a potential softening or even reversal of this trend in May. And for both chains, May’s positive showing may be a sign of even better things to come heading into summer.
But while Petco led PetSmart in YoY visit performance in early 2024, PetSmart hasn’t relinquished its position as the most-visited pet store chain in the country. Between January and May 2024, 62.1% of total foot traffic to the two chains went to PetSmart, compared to just 37.9% for Petco, and PetSmart was the top-visited chain in most regions nationwide.
Still, drilling down into statewide-level data reveals a more complex picture. In New England, Petco was the dominant player in early 2024. And in the Pacific region, the two chains were neck in neck.
PetSmart’s visit share lead is partially driven by its larger fleet. But foot traffic data shows that other factors are likely at play as well.
Indeed, though both chains boast loyal visitor bases, PetSmart customers generate more repeat visits than Petco ones – a factor likely further contributing to PetSmart’s increased visit share.
During the first part of 2024, some 21.1% to 21.8% of PetSmart visitors visited the chain at least twice each month – compared to 18.1% to 19.0% for Petco. PetSmart’s enhanced loyalty may be driven in part by the greater selection in-house pet services offered by the chain.
Pet store visits tend to be seasonal – December is generally the industry’s busiest month of the year, followed by March and July. Do Petco’s and PetSmart’s May upticks herald strong July peaks this year?
Follow Placer.ai’s data driven retail analyses to find out.
Everybody loves ice cream – so with summer underway, we dove into the data to explore the performance of ice cream shops nationwide.
The past couple of years have been all about affordable indulgences – and ice cream chains have been riding the wave. Comparing monthly category-wide visits to a January 2020 baseline shows the industry reaching new peaks each summer, with May 2024 seeing the most monthly foot traffic in 4.5 years.
In June 2024, weekly YoY visits trended upwards even more sharply – as a record-breaking heat wave during the week of June 17th sent Americans nationwide seeking ways to cool down. The scorching temperatures left no doubt that summer had officially arrived, and as consumers fired up their ACs and got their summer wardrobes ready, they also flocked to ice-cream chains to chill out with a sweet treat.
With such strong performance under their belts, ice cream chains appear poised to continue to flourish as the peak summer season wears on.
It’s no secret that ice cream is one of the most seasonal food sectors – and the success of many ice cream chains hinges on their ability to make the most of the summer months, when foot traffic is generally at its highest. But a look at seasonal visitation trends for four major chains – Dairy Queen (focusing on “treat only” locations that do not include a full-service restaurant), Cold Stone Creamery, Carvel, and Ben & Jerry’s – shows that the extent of this seasonality varies among chains – and among different regions of the country.
Visits to Dairy Queen locations in New York, for example, are highly driven by seasonality – with May foot traffic more than 300% higher than that seen in January. Dairy Queen locations in Florida, on the other hand, experience much more subdued summer visit peaks. Similar trends can be observed for the other analyzed chains.
Ice cream’s seasonality impacts consumer behavior in other ways as well. Though there are once again important differences between ice cream chains, all analyzed brands saw visitor dwell time jump during the summer and decline in winter.
In May 2023 and 2024, for example, a respective 49.1% and 48.6% of visits to Dairy Queen lasted more than ten minutes. But between November 2023 and February 2024, less than 40.0% of visits lasted more than ten minutes – as customers likely ordered their ice-cream to go. Visitors to Ben and Jerry’s, on the other hand, are more likely to linger in-store, with over 70.0% of visits lasting more than ten minutes year-round. But like Dairy Queen, the chain also sees a significant jump in longer visits during the summer.
The ice cream industry continues to show strong performance across the board, with indications of an even stronger summer ahead. Are there more visit peaks in store for the category this year?
Follow our blog at Placer.ai to find out.
In recent weeks, we’ve analyzed auto dealers and convenience stores, so we thought we’d extend the conversation by taking a look at the car wash industry. The car wash industry in the United States has been one of the fastest growing retail categories coming out of the pandemic due to the increasing number of vehicles on the road, an increase in average vehicle age, a shift to a membership-based model for many operators, as well as advancements in car wash technology that have made services more efficient and automated. This shift is evidenced by the fact that around 80% of car washes are now done at professional locations, compared to 48% in 1994 according to the International Car Wash Association.
According to car wash trade groups, there are approximately 65,000 car wash locations across the nation. Mister Car Wash is the largest car wash chain in the U.S., operates more than 480 locations across 21 states. However, the category remains highly fragmented, with nearly three-fourths of industry operators having less than 2 locations. This has naturally set the stage for industry consolidation the past several years, with larger companies acquiring smaller operators to expand their footprints. We see the overall growth and consolidation of the category in a visitation trendline of a custom grouping of nearly 60 of the largest car wash chains in the U.S., where total visits have increased by roughly seven times since 2017.
We also see consolidation show up share of visit numbers from 2019-2023, which we show below. Mister Car Wash has remained the largest player in the category with respect to share of visits the past several years by growing both its unit counts (from 322 at the end of 2019 to 482 as of March) and visits per location (up more than 8% over the same time period). There has been movement among the chains ranked number 2 through 6 the past several years, but the group has generally included Quick Quack Car Wash, Take 5 Car Wash, Tommy’s Express Car Wash, and Zips Car Wash. However, the most notable observation from share of visit trends is the tremendous growth in visit share among smaller chains the past several years.
Car washes have been an attractive investment for private equity the past several years, helping to fuel some of the growth of smaller chains. Individual car wash locations generate an estimated $1.5M in annual sales according to industry trade groups–which is slightly ahead of the average unit sales of a quick-service restaurant chain of $1.4 million–while offering lower labor requirements and more predictable results due to the increasing popularity of membership models. In many respects, the growth of the car wash category mirrors the growth we’ve seen across the fitness category the past several years.
Despite the strong industry growth the past several years, Q1 2024 trends were impacted by a number of factors according to Mister Car Wash’s management team, including increased competition and a lower-income customer cohort that's been under more pressure (inclement weather in January across much of the country also likely played a role). Placer data confirms that Q1 2024 was in fact the weakest quarter from a category visit per location standpoint in several years. However, we’ve seen a rebound in Q2 2024 trends so far, with quarter-to-date visitation trends pacing just behind the year ago period with just a few days left in the quarter.
We mentioned that a membership-based approach has helped to drive visitation growth for the category and led to more predictable results, and we see that when we look at visitor loyalty data for Mister Car Wash. According to the company’s most recent annual report, it increased overall Unlimited Car Wash (UWC) monthly subscription penetration to 71% of total wash sales in 2023, up from 68% the year prior. When we look at visits from “casual” (1 visit per month) versus “loyal” (2+ visits per month) customers, we’ve seen a meaningful shift toward more loyal customers the past several years, particularly during peak visitation months in the summer.
Despite a slower start to 2024 due to aforementioned factors, the U.S. car wash industry appears well positioned for continued growth and consolidation due to the continued aging of the auto fleet, population migration trends, the continued shift toward membership-based revenue models, attractive unit economics, and new technological advances.
In June 2024, Placer.ai released three white papers: Unlocking Potential in Underserved Grocery Markets, Brewing Success: Winning Strategies for Coffee Chains, and Advantages of New Players in the Retail Media Space.
Below is a taste of our findings from Brewing Success: Winning Strategies for Coffee Chains – which dove into the data to see how leading coffee chains including Starbucks, Dunkin’, Dutch Bros., and BIGGBY COFFEE are driving coffee visits in 2024.
Everybody loves coffee. And with some 75% of American adults indulging in a cup of joe at least once a week, it’s no wonder the industry is constantly on an upswing.
In early 2024, year-over-year (YoY) visits to coffee chains increased nationwide – with every state in the continental U.S. experiencing year-over-year (YoY) coffee visit growth. The most substantial foot traffic boosts were seen in smaller markets like Oklahoma (19.4%), Wyoming (19.3%), and Arkansas (16.9%), where expansions may have a more substantial impact on statewide industry growth. But the nation’s largest coffee markets, including Texas (10.9%), California (4.2%), Florida (4.2%), and New York (3.5%), also experienced significant YoY upticks.
The nation’s coffee visit growth is being fueled, in large part, by chain expansions: Major coffee players are leaning into growing demand by steadily increasing their footprints. And a look at per-location foot traffic trends shows that by and large, they are doing so without significantly diluting visitation to existing stores.
On an industry-wide level, visits to coffee chains increased 5.1% YoY during the first five months of 2024. And over the same period, the average number of visits to each individual coffee location declined just slightly by 0.6% – meaning that individual stores drew just about the same amount of foot traffic as they did in 2023.
Drilling down into chain-level data shows some variation between brands. Dutch Bros., BIGGBY COFFEE and Dunkin’ all saw significant chain-wide visit boosts, accompanied by minor increases in their average number of visits per location.
Starbucks, for its part, which reported a YoY decline in U.S. sales for Q2 2024, maintained a small lag in visits per location. But given the coffee leader’s massive footprint – some 16,600 stores nationwide – its ability to expand while avoiding more significant dilution of individual store performance shows that Starbucks’ growth is meeting robust demand.
Read the full report here to discover more coffee insights. For more data-driven consumer research, visit our resource library.
The dining industry showcased its agility over the past couple of years as it rapidly adapted to shifts in consumer preference brought on by COVID and rising prices. And with a new year around the corner, the pace of change shows no signs of slowing down.
This white paper harnesses location analytics, including visitation patterns, demographic data, and psychographic insights, to explore the trends that will shape the dining space in 2024. Which dining segments are likely to pull ahead of the pack? How are chains responding to changes in visitor behavior? And where are brands driving dining foot traffic by taking advantage of a new advertising possibility? Read on to find out how dining leaders can tap into emerging trends to stay ahead of the competition in 2024.
Comparing quarterly visits in 2023 and 2022 highlights the impact of the ongoing economic headwinds on the dining industry. The year started off strong, with year-over-year (YoY) dining visits up overall in Q1 2023 – perhaps aided by the comparison to an Omicron-impacted muted Q1 2022. And while overall dining growth stalled in Q2 2023, several segments – including QSR, Fast Casual, and Coffee – continued posting YoY visit increases, likely bolstered by consumers trading down from pricier full-service concepts.
Foot traffic slowed significantly in Q3 2023 as inflation and tighter consumer budgets constrained discretionary spending. Overall dining visits fell 2.4% YoY, and full-service restaurants – with their relatively high price point compared to other dining segments – seemed to be particularly impacted by the wider economic outlook. But the data also revealed some bright spots: Fast Casual still succeeded in maintaining positive YoY visit numbers and Coffee saw its Q3 visit grow an impressive 5.4% YoY. As the return to office continues, a pre-work coffee run or lunchtime foray to a fast-casual chain may continue propelling the two segments forward.
Restaurant visitation patterns have evolved over the past few years. Although an 8 PM seating was once the most coveted slot at fine-dining restaurants, recent visitation data suggests that sitting down to dinner earlier is rising in popularity.
But among the QSR segment, the opposite trend is emerging, with late-night visits rising. Analyzing hourly foot traffic to several major QSR chains reveals that the share of visits between 9 PM and 12 AM increased significantly between Q3 2019 and Q3 2023. Even Taco Bell – already known for its popularity among the late-night crowd – saw a substantial increase in late-night visits YoY – from 15.4% to 20.3%.
Who is driving the late night visit surge? One reason restaurants have been expanding their opening hours is to capture more Gen-Z diners, who tend to seek out nighttime dining options. But location intelligence reveals that younger millennials are also taking advantage of the later QSR closing times.
An analysis of the captured market for trade areas of top locations within one of Taco Bell’s major markets – the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI Metropolitan area – reveals a year-over-four-year (Yo4Y) increase in “Singles & Starters.” The “Singles & Starters” segment is defined by Experian: Mosaic as young singles and starter families living in cities who are typically between 25 and 30 years old. As consumers continue to prioritize experiential entertainment and going out with friends, late-night dining may continue to see increased interest from young city-dwellers.
Millennials and Gen-Z consumers aren’t only heading to their favorite fast food joint for a late-night bite – these audience segments are also helping drive visits on the weekends. Smoothie King is one chain feeling the benefits of young, health-conscious consumers.
The chain, which opened in New Orleans, LA, in 1973 as a health food store, has since grown to over 1,100 locations nationwide and is currently expanding, focusing on the Dallas-Fort Worth CBSA. The area’s Smoothie King venues have seen strong visitation patterns, particularly on the weekends – weekend visits were up 3.4% YoY in Q3 2023. The smoothie brand’s trade areas in the greater Dallas region is also seeing a YoY increase in weekend visits from “Young Professionals” – defined by the Spatial.ai PersonaLive dataset as “well-educated young professionals starting their careers in white-collar or technical jobs.”
While some dining chains are appealing to the late-night or weekend crowd, others are driving visits by appealing to sports lovers. How have recent rule changes around student athletes changed the restaurant game, and how can college football teams drive business in their hometowns?
College sports have long been a major moneymaker, with top-tier teams raking in billions of dollars annually. And as of 2021, college athletes can enjoy a piece of the significant fan following of college sports thanks to the change in the NCAA’s Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) rules, which now allows student athletes to sign endorsement deals.
Since then, multiple restaurants have jumped on the opportunity to partner with student athletes, some of whom have millions of followers on Instagram and TikTok. Chains like Chipotle, Sweetgreen, Slim Chickens, and Hooters have all signed college athletes to various brand deals.
How can brands ensure they partner with athletes their customers will want to engage with? Analyzing a chain’s audience by looking at the interests of residents in a given chain’s trade area can reveal which type of athlete will be the most attractive to each brand’s customer base. For example, data from Spatial.ai: Followgraph provides insight into the social media activity of consumers in a given trade area and can highlight desirable partnerships.
Examining the trade areas of Chipotle, Sweetgreen, Slim Chickens, and Hooters, for instance, reveals that Sweetgreen’s visitors tended to have the largest share of Women’s Soccer followers. Conversely, Sweetgreen’s trade area had lower-than-average shares of College Football Fans or College Basketball Fans, while residents of the trade areas of the other three chains showed greater-than-average interest in these sports. Leveraging location intelligence can help companies choose brand deals that their customers resonate with and find the ideal athletes to represent the chain.
Finding the right college athlete partnership is one way for dining brands to appeal to college sports enthusiasts. But dining chains and venues located near major college stadiums also benefit from the popularity of their local team by enjoying a major game day visit boost.
One of the country’s most popular college football teams, the Ohio State Buckeyes, can draw millions of TV viewers, and its stadium has a capacity of 102,780 – one of the largest stadiums in the country. And while tailgating is a popular activity for Buckeyes fans, nearby restaurants are some of the biggest beneficiaries of the college football craze. Panera experienced a 235.3% increase on game days as compared to a typical day, Domino’s Pizza visits grew by 283.3%, and Tommy’s Pizza, a local pie shop, saw its visits jump by a whopping 600.9%.
This influx in diners also causes a major shift in game day visitor demographics, as revealed by changes in visitors at dining venues located near stadiums of two of the nation’s best college football teams – the Ohio State Buckeyes and Ole Miss Rebels. Based on Spatial.ai: Personalive data for the captured market of these dining venues, game day visitors tended to come from “Ultra Wealthy Families” when compared to visitors during a typical non-game day in September or October.
The analysis indicates that popular sporting events create a unique opportunity for restaurants near college stadiums to attract high-income customers game day after game day, year after year.
While some spend game day tailgating or visiting a college restaurant, others hold a viewing party – with a six-foot submarine. And the sub’s popularity extends beyond Superbowl Sundays. Sandwich chains including Jersey Mike’s, Firehouse Subs, Jimmy John’s, and Subway (recently purchased by the same company that owns Jimmy John’s) have seen sustained YoY increases in visits and visits per venue in the first three quarters of 2023.
Some of the growth to these chains may be related to their affordability, a draw at all times but especially during a period marked by consumer uncertainty and rising food costs. And subway leaders seem to be seizing the moment and striking while the iron is hot – Jersey Mike’s opened 350 stores in 2023 and still saw its YoY visits per venue grow by 6.6%. And Subway reported ten consecutive quarters of positive sales, a promising sign for its new owner.
The love for a healthy, affordable sandwich extends across all income levels, with all four chains seeing a range in their visitors' median household income (HHI). Out of the four chains analyzed, Jersey Mike’s – which has long prioritized a suburban, middle-income customer – had the highest trade area median household income of the four chains at $77.3K/year. Subway, known for its affordability, had the lowest, with $62.9K/year. The variance in median HHI combined with the strong foot traffic growth shows that when it comes to sandwiches, there’s something for everyone.
Persistent inflation and declining consumer sentiment may pose serious challenges for the dining space, but emerging trends are helping boost some restaurants. Customers seeking out a late-night bite drive visits to QSR chains, and health-conscious diners are boosting foot traffic to smoothie bars and sandwich shops. Meanwhile, sports sponsorships and game-day restaurant visits can provide a boost to dining businesses that take advantage of these opportunities.
“Retail media networks have turned retailers into ad moguls. That’s a huge change and nobody yet understands all the implications of it.”
Constantine von Hoffman, MARTECH
Companies operating consumer-facing brick-and-mortar venues traditionally relied on selling goods and services as their primary revenue stream. But recently, leading retailers such as Walmart and Target have begun to leverage their immense store fleet into a powerful advertising platform.
Online retailers have been tapping into the advertising power of their digital sites for years by relying on various automated tools to show third-party advertisements to relevant consumer segments. But now, retailers with a strong offline presence can also leverage physical marketing impressions and focus their campaigns while reaching consumers at the point of purchase. Retailers have long recognized the intent that drives a store visit, and understanding the full value of leveraging that visit to its full extent is an important new frontier.
Major retailers are continuing to see their physical visits outnumber their online ones.
And in spite of the gloomy predictions regarding the future of brick and mortar retail, major retailers are continuing to see their physical visits outnumber their online ones. Monthly numbers of visitors to Walmart and Target significantly outpace the brands’ online reach, according to web data from Similarweb. So although, up until recently, these brands have focused their media placements on their digital channels, it is becoming increasingly clear that these chains’ physical stores hold powerful – and currently untapped – advertising potential.
Online visitor data source: similarweb.com
And with the recent rise in digital advertising costs, retail media networks are becoming more attractive for companies looking to make the most of their ad budget. Retail media networks can also help brands reach rural communities, elderly Americans, and other consumer segments that are currently underserved by digital advertisers.
This white paper explores several retailers on the cutting edge of the retail media network revolution. Keep reading to find out how advertisers can use retail media networks to promote to hard-to-reach consumers, segment their ad spending, and optimize their campaigns.
Residents of rural areas use the internet less frequently, and have lower levels of technology ownership than their urban and suburban counterparts. As a result, companies that stick to digital advertising may have a harder time reaching rural consumers. Brick and mortar retailers popular in smaller markets can fill in the gaps and help brands promote their products and services to this hard-to-reach audience.
Brick and mortar retailers popular in smaller markets can help brands advertise to hard-to-reach audiences.
Dollar General saw significant success over the pandemic, with the current economic climate continuing to benefit the brand. Between January and August 2022, nationwide visits to Dollar General venues were 35.6% higher than they were between January and August 2019, while the number of visitors increased 25.4% in the same period.Visit numbers aggregate the visits to the chain’s various locations in a given period, while visitor numbers track the number of people who enter the brand’s stores.
The company has also been operating a media network since 2018. The Dollar General Media Network (DGMN) enables advertisers to reach Dollar General consumers across the company’s channels to build awareness both digitally and in physical spaces. Advertisers with DGMN can display in-store bollard, blade, and wipe stand signs, security pedestals, basket bottomers, and shelfAdz to deliver in-store messaging from parking lot to purchase. Recently, Dollar General announced that its ad platform was now working with 21 new advertising partners, including Unilever, General Mills, Hershey’s, and Colgate-Palmolive.
Embracing the Power of the Small Market
Advertising partners can leverage the DGMN to promote their goods and services to harder-to-reach consumers.
Dollar General has been serving rural residents for years, with the majority of the company’s stores located in communities with fewer than 20,00 residents. And while the brand is growing nationwide, Dollar General’s strength is particularly evident in small markets – which means that advertising partners can leverage the DGMN to promote their goods and services to harder-to-reach consumers.
Comparing year-over-three-year (Yo3Y) visit change to Dollar General stores in metropolitan and micropolitan core based statistical areas (CBSAs) highlights the company’s success in smaller markets. According to the United States Office of Management and Budget, metropolitan and micropolitan CBSAs have over and under 50,000 residents, respectively. Since January 2022, monthly Yo3Y visit growth to Dollar General venues in select Texas micropolitans has consistently outpaced foot traffic to nearby metropolitan areas. While the Sherman-Denison metro area saw August 2022 foot traffic hit a solid 24.5% increase over August 2019, the Gainesville, Texas micro area – around 35 miles east of Sherman – saw its foot traffic increase 54.5% in the same period.
Dollar General’s presence across a significant number of smaller markets means that advertising partners can use the growing DGMN to increase awareness and drive purchase consideration among these harder-to-reach consumers.
In the digital space, three tech giants – Alphabet (previously Google), Meta (previously Facebook), and Amazon – enjoy over 60% of the digital ad revenue in the United States. This means that companies are competing for impressions on a small number of platforms – and smaller brands geared at specific consumer segments may need to spend significant advertising budgets to outbid the larger players. Retail media networks create additional advertising platforms, and enable advertisers to diversify their ad spend, increase their (physical) impressions, focus on more specialized channels to better reach their audience, and potentially reach customers at their highest point of intent.
Retail media networks create additional advertising platforms and potentially reach customers at their highest point of intent.
Albertsons launched its retail media network, Albertsons Media Collective, in November 2021 with the goal of delivering “digitally native, shopper-centric and engaging branded content to the company’s ever-growing network of shoppers.” Currently, the grocer’s media network is primarily digital, but Albertsons’ head of retail media products Evan Hovorka recognizes the importance of leveraging in-store assets to deliver a unique advertising experience. The company is testing out smart carts that link with “Albertsons for U” loyalty program to display ads to shoppers – and Albertsons is likely to find more ways to reach in-store consumers as it continues to develop its retail media network.
The chain is also one of the most popular grocers nationwide. With the exception of March and April 2022, when inflation and high gas prices temporarily halted growth, the brand’s monthly visits and visitor numbers have consistently exceeded pre-pandemic levels. Monthly visits for Albertsons in August 2022 were up 5.7% and monthly visitors were up 5.4% on a Yo3Y basis. This means that advertisers with Albertsons can increase their reach and grow their physical ad impressions just by displaying their ads in Albertsons locations and tapping into the chain’s growing visitor base.
Looking beyond Albertsons' nationwide average foot traffic trends reveals some important regional differences. Between January and July 2022, visits to the brands increased 4.6% in Wyoming on a Yo3Y basis, while foot traffic to the brand’s locations in Oregon jumped 18.5% compared to January through July 2019. This means that a brand looking to reach consumers in Oregon can contract with Albertsons’ media network to show its ads to a fast-growing pool of visitors.
A larger visitor count translates to an increase in unique ad impressions, while more visits from fewer visitors can drive repeated exposures.
Diving deeper into the data reveals an additional layer of insight. Some states with only moderate visit growth are seeing a surge in visitor numbers, while other states are seeing a drop in visitor numbers but a rise in visits. A larger visitor count translates to an increase in unique ad impressions and more people exposed to the ads, while more visits from fewer visitors translates to more overall impressions that can drive repeated exposure among a smaller group of visitors. So advertisers can use segmented foot traffic data to decide where to focus their marketing depending on the goal of the campaign.
For example, Wyoming's moderate increase in visits hides a significant spike in visitors, which means that advertisers to Albertsons venues in Wyoming can get their impressions before a large number of different potential consumers. Meanwhile, Oregon's 18.5% increase in visits is the result of just a 9.4% increase in visitors – so Albertsons is cultivating an increasingly loyal following in the Beaver State, and the grocer’s advertising partners can expect that the same visitors will be exposed to their brand repeatedly.
So companies that want to increase unique ad impressions and build awareness can advertise to Albertsons customers in Wyoming, where their ads will be seen by a large number of new people. But in Oregon, companies may want to promote a campaign that focuses on moving Albertsons visitors through their funnel.
In order to accurately assess the ad distribution patterns in each location, brands operating retail media networks need to understand both visits and visitors trends in each region and for the chain as a whole.
Advertisers with retail media networks can use foot traffic data to refine their geographic audience by identifying the consumer preferences of a given brick-and-mortar brand on a store or city level.
In August 2020, CVS Pharmacy launched its media network, the CVS Media Exchange (cMx). The company estimates that 76% of U.S. consumers live within five miles of at least one store, and the cMx allows partners to tap into the chain’s reach by giving advertisers access to CVS’ online and offline channels, including in-store ads.
Although CVS has been closing locations recently, the brand is still one of the strongest players in the brick-and-mortar retail space. Its 2022 visit numbers have consistently exceeded pre-pandemic levels nationwide, and data from CVS locations in leading cities shows that its Yo3Y visits per venue and visitor numbers are even higher.
CVS’s nationally distributed fleet means that the brand’s locations in different regions attract distinct consumer bases.
CVS carries a varied product mix of daily essentials in addition to its healthcare offerings, so the brand attracts a wide range of consumer segments. And the chain’s nationally distributed store fleet means that CVS has locations in different regions that attract distinct consumer bases who do not all have the same lifestyle preferences. By using foot traffic data to understand the regional consumer preferences of CVS consumers beyond the store, advertising partners can refine their market and make the most of the cMx.
Different regions have different fitness cultures. Chains catering to health-conscious consumers can use retail media networks and foot traffic data to focus their efforts on areas where inhabitants exhibit a high demand for regular workouts.
Analyzing cross-visit data from CVS locations across five major urban centers in the U.S. shows that the percentage of those who also visited gyms or fitness studios varied significantly across each DMA. In the New York area, 62.7% of those who visited CVS in Q2 2022 also visited a fitness venue during that period, in contrast with only 38.0% of CVS visitors around Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX in the same period. This information can help advertising partners in the health and wellness space decide where to place their campaigns.
Looking at cross-visit data on a city-wide level can provide a sense of the consumer culture in each area, but advertisers that dive into foot traffic data for individual stores can refine their messaging even further.
On average, 43.8% of CVS visitors in the Chicago DMA also visited a gym in Q2 2022. But drilling down to the top CVS locations in the city reveals that the rate of cross-visits varies significantly from location to location. Both the E 53rd Street and W 103rd Street locations have a relatively high share of visitors who visit fitness locations – 52.5% and 49.2%, respectively. Meanwhile fitness cross-visits were at just 36.6% for the South Stony Island Avenue location. Advertisers promoting health and wellness related products and services may want to focus on the 103rd St. and 53rd St. CVS locations.
Diving into a customer’s behavior and preferences outside the store can help retail media network operators and advertising partners find the areas and locations best suited for each type of ad.
Cross-visit data is one way to identify consumer preferences beyond the physical store. Advertisers can also analyze digital preferences of offline visitors to focus their marketing on the most appropriate locations.
Advertisers can also analyze digital preferences of offline visitors to focus on the most appropriate locations.
Over the past couple of years, Macy’s has been finding ways to reinvent itself and optimize its store fleet – and foot traffic data indicates that the retailer's efforts are paying off. In the first half of 2022, Macy’s exceeded its H1 2021 overall visit and average visits per venue numbers and posted a positive year-over-year (YoY) visitor count. In Q2 2022, despite the wider economic challenges, Macy’s visitors, visits, and average visits per venue saw YoY increases of 3.4%, 4.0% and 9.9% increases.
Like CVS, Macy’s launched its media network in August 2020, and by February 2021 the Macy’s Media Network was already generating $35 million annually. In addition to advertising on the company’s digital channels, Macy’s also offers partners the use of in-store screen displays, package inserts, and the brand’s iconic billboard in New York City’s Herald Square.
Advertisers can optimize their advertising by analyzing the differences in consumer profiles between a chain’s various stores.
Advertisers that understand the differences in consumer profiles between a chain’s various stores can optimize their advertising efforts. While looking at variations in cross-visit trends is one way to identify interested brick-and-mortar consumers, diving into visitor’s digital behavior and online preferences can also provide valuable insights.
Tools such as Spatial.ai’s GeoWeb, which tracks online engagement with various trends and topics by neighborhood, can reveal how offline consumers behave online. An index score of 100 indicates that consumers in an area have an average interest in a given topic, while scores over (or under) 100 indicate that consumers are more (or less) interested in the topic when compared to the national average interest.
We used Spatial.ai’s GeoWeb tool to analyze the online behavior of consumers in the True Trade Areas (TTA) of five Macy’s locations in the Philadelphia, PA DMA – and found that residents of the different TTAs stores showed differing indexes. For example, the Macy’s in the King of Prussia Mall location showed a high index of 161 in “Men’s Business Clothes Shoppers,” while the Cottman Ave. location had an only slightly above average index of 102. This means that advertisers of men’s business apparel may see more results by focussing their advertising on visitors to the King of Prussia location.
Advertisers that use retail media networks do a lot more than just reach in-store shoppers. Stores exist in the physical world, so advertisers can also reach passers-by through physical venues’ windows, blade signs – or in the case of Macy’s, through its Herald Square Billboard. Here too, foot traffic data can reveal the consumer preferences of people walking by the sign.
We looked at the online behavior in the TTA around the traffic pin on the corner where the billboard is located (Broadway/6th Ave and 34th Street in New York) to understand which advertisers might benefit most from a billboard at that location. While the “Men’s Business Clothes Shoppers” category was over-indexed compared to the national average, as would be expected in midtown Manhattan, “Women’s Fashion Brand Shoppers” had an even higher index. “Gen Z Apparel Shoppers” were over-represented, but “Leather Good Shoppers” and ”Athleisure Shoppers” were under-represented. So a brand that carries both elegant wear and athleisure may want to display its less casual clothing lines on the billboard.
Understanding how consumers behave both on and offline can help retail media networks and advertising partners promote their campaigns most effectively.
To transform their physical store fleet into a media network, brands and companies need to analyze the reach of each venue. The same chain operating in multiple regions may be reaching different types of consumers in each area, or even in various neighborhoods of the same city. These distinct audiences may have contrasting products, brands, and shopping preferences.
Retailers that leverage their brick and mortar presence can transform the advertisement space as it exists today.
Retailers can also partner with advertising partners who wish to promote goods and services not carried by the retailer. For this to succeed, the retailer will need to analyze how consumers behave outside of its stores. Understanding what characterizes the overall behavior of consumers in each locations’ trade area will allow the retailer to reach a larger audience and truly compete with the digital giants. And by leveraging their brick and mortar presence, brick and mortar retail can transform the advertisement space as it exists today.
Malls have long acted as a gleaming symbol of American retail. Following the opening of the first indoor mall in 1956, and as the American middle class increasingly moved from the city to the suburbs, malls continued to open at a rapid rate. By 1960, some 4,500 shopping centers had opened nationwide, filling the growing demand for “third places” – spaces that allowed the newly suburban populations to gather, socialize, and create community. And while that role evolved over the years, it’s safe to say that malls have played a major part in shaping the American shopping culture.
But malls’ rapid expansion led to an oversaturated market – some estimates suggest that there are approximately 24 square feet of retail space per U.S. citizen, as compared to 4.6 for the U.K. and 2.8 for China. Many began to predict the demise and downfall of malls, and that narrative intensified as online shopping grew in popularity. The rise of big-box stores, a focus on “services, not things,” and COVID-19 only accelerated these trends.
A lot of the doom and gloom predictions tend to de-emphasize the mall's role as a modern incarnation of a bustling downtown shopping area.
But a lot of these doom and gloom predictions focus on malls only as a place to shop, and tend to de-emphasize their other role as the third place – a modern incarnation of a bustling downtown shopping area, replete with shops, services, and places to meet. And after two years of isolation and a new, pandemic-induced wave of suburban relocation, malls’ potential to bring people together is more prized than ever.
So although malls were hit hard during COVID-19, many of them are finding ways to reinvent themselves and stay relevant. Today, more than halfway through 2022, the challenges that malls face continue to evolve and change – but malls are evolving too. This white paper covers a few specific ways that some malls have found to thrive in the new normal. Some shopping centers are turning to entertainment to draw crowds into their doors. Others are focusing on offering a full visitor experience that extends beyond simply grabbing a new shirt or a burger at the food court. Still, more are embracing omnichannel options, offering an integrated on and offline experience to their shoppers. In the face of significant retail challenges, top-tier malls are turning to innovative solutions to stay ahead of the game.
The pandemic posed significant challenges to malls. Although foot traffic to the category rose back up in the summer of 2021, the Delta and subsequent Omicron waves brought visits down once more. And as visit gaps post-Omicron began to narrow, inflation and gas prices put the brakes on any return to normalcy. April and May 2022 saw visits beginning to trend up, though the unrelenting rise of inflation, the highest it’s been in the past 40 years, has slowed that recovery slightly.
Foot traffic data shows that malls are continuing to attract visitors, despite the challenges that seem to crop up weekly.
Still, foot traffic data shows that malls are continuing to attract visitors, despite the challenges that seem to crop up weekly. And while they may no longer play the central role they once did in Americans’ shopping routines, malls still serve as indoor community hubs where friends and family can come together for diverse food, shops, and entertainment options. This could explain why top-tier malls keep on coming back despite the seemingly constant obstacles.
Comparing monthly visits from January 2022 through July 2022 to the same period in 2019 highlights the significant difficulties facing the sector. Indoor malls, open-air lifestyle centers, and outlet malls alike saw marked lags in foot traffic as compared to three years ago.
Monthly year-over-three-year (Yo3Y) foot traffic comparisons also highlight mall resilience.
The monthly year-over-three-year (Yo3Y) foot traffic comparisons also highlight mall resilience. Following an Omicron-plagued January, the visit gaps narrowed in February 2022 to less than 5% for all the segments. And although the increase in gas prices and inflation brought visits down in March, malls quickly bounced back in April 2022, with indoor malls seeing only 1.8% fewer visits than in 2019 and open-air shopping centers down only 4.8% Yo3Y. Foot traffic fell again in May and June as consumers tightened their budgets in the face of rising prices, but consumers appear to have quickly made peace with the new economic reality. By July 2022, visits to indoor malls and open-air lifestyle centers were only 3.5% and 2.7% lower than they had been in July 2019.
COVID didn’t just impact visit numbers – since 2020, mall visits have also gotten shorter, likely a result of pandemic restrictions and a general desire not to congregate any longer than necessary. And although 2021 and 2022 saw a slight uptick in time spent at malls and shopping centers – from 60 minutes in 2020 to 62 minutes in 2021 and 2022 – the median dwell time is still significantly lower than the 70 minutes median dwell time of pre-COVID 2018 and 2019.
Shorter visits are not necessarily a bad thing – intent-driven shoppers may simply be doing more research ahead of time and less in-mall browsing.
Shorter visits are not necessarily a bad thing in and of themselves – consumers today are highly informed, so many intent-driven shoppers may simply be doing more research ahead of time and less in-mall browsing. But shorter (and fewer) visits do mean that malls must focus on giving shoppers a reason to visit. We explore some successful strategies below.
Malls have long integrated entertainment into their overall experience in the form of arcades, movie theaters, and even coin-operated animal rides. Some malls, however, are taking their entertainment offerings to the next level.
In August 2021, CBL Properties, a Tennessee-based property developer, announced the opening of the Hollywood Casino by Penn National Gaming in the York Galleria Mall in York, Pennsylvania. The 80,000 square foot casino, which boasts 500 slots and 24 live-action table games, opened in the mall’s lower level. The space was occupied by a now-closed Sears department store, and the entertainment venue now functions as a new anchor to draw customers in.
The casino’s opening has had a dramatic impact on the mall’s foot traffic. In a year-over-three-year (Yo3Y) comparison, July 2021 saw 2.4% fewer visitors than July 2018. But when the casino opened in August 2021, visits to the location jumped to 31.4% Yo3Y. This increase is all the more impressive considering that the casino opened on August 19th, with only 12 days left in the month.
The mall, which had seen negative Yo3Y visit numbers until the casino’s opening, has sustained the positive visit trend through July 2022 – a testament to the appeal of in-mall entertainment.
Another mall betting on indoor entertainment is the Pierre Bossier Mall in Bossier City, Louisiana. In April 2022, Surge Entertainment opened a child-friendly space, which includes zip-lining, bowling, laser tag and arcade games. The Surge Entertainment chain is co-owned by Drew Brees, the former New Orleans Saints quarterback, and has 15 locations around the country. The Pierre Bossier Mall branch is filling the space vacated by Virginia College, which closed its doors in 2018.
Since Surge Entertainment opened its Bossier City location, the mall has seen a dramatic increase in average dwell time.
Since Surge Entertainment opened its Bossier City location, the mall has seen a dramatic increase in average dwell time. Between July 2021 and March 2022, median dwell time hovered between 51 and 58 minutes. But following the center’s opening, median dwell time jumped to 78 minutes. Since then, the median dwell time has remained consistently elevated: In the four months since the Surge Entertainment opening, median dwell times did not drop below 75 minutes.
Brick-and-mortar retailers once viewed online shopping as a threat – but now, mall owners and operators are increasingly turning to digital channels to complement existing approaches. COVID-19 and the surge of online shopping further fueled malls’ digital progress. Over the past two years, large malls and suburban shopping centers across the country have been rolling out various online and social shopping options and adopting omnichannel strategies.
In September 2020, Centennial, a real estate investment firm with many malls and mixed-use entertainment centers in its portfolio, launched a chain-wide omnichannel platform called Shop Now!. The app allows consumers to shop across all Centennial malls the way someone would shop on Amazon.
The first phase of the program, which launched in October 2020, allowed users to browse an AI-powered search engine connected to the inventory of all of the stores operating in their mall of interest. In February 2022, Centennial debuted phase two of the program at its Santa Ana, CA based MainPlace Mall. It allows customers to consolidate orders from several stores into a single cart, get the order fulfilled by personal shoppers, and have the orders ready for same-day delivery or on-site pickup.
The e-commerce app could have detracted shoppers from physically going to the mall – but instead, the program increased both monthly and loyal visitors.
The app allows consumers to browse and shop from the comfort of their phones. It could have detracted shoppers from physically going to the mall – but instead, the program has increased both monthly and loyal visitors. In the months following the launch of the second phase, MainPlace Mall saw its loyal visits increase by 5% (from 46.2% in February ‘22 to 51.3% in June ‘22), while overall monthly visits in April ‘22 increased by 5.5% when compared to 2019. The digital investment also helped the mall make sales that could have been lost to other e-commerce platforms. The mall’s brick-and-mortar success following the addition of a digital channel highlights how malls can rise to the top by embracing an omnichannel strategy.
Continuing its innovative streak, the MainPlace Mall recently added an experiential component with the opening the American Ninja Warrior Adventure Park in July 2022 in the place of four former retail stores. During its first month of operation, the park drove the mall’s share of loyal visits up by 13.4% compared to the previous month while boosting Yo3Y monthly visits by 18.0%.
The difference in impact between the online platform launch and the opening of the American Ninja Warrior Adventure Park indicates that malls can enjoy both gradual gains over time as well as jumps in foot traffic and loyalty, depending on the strategy they adopt.
Omnichannel strategies can also revitalize food courts hit hard by the pandemic. Arundel Mills Mall, part of the Simon Property Group, began offering online orders in February 2022 via a platform called Snackpass, allowing users to use the app at various eateries around the mall. Snackpass, launched in 2017 as a food ordering app on the Yale campus, facilitates group ordering and includes various social features. Its current iteration allows customers to pre-order food, skip lines, collect rewards, and engage with friends. It also offers discounts on group orders, in an effort to promote social dining.
Since the beginning of the Snackpass partnership, the shopping center itself is seeing more visitors – many of whom are coming from farther away.
Since the beginning of the Snackpass partnership, the shopping center itself is seeing more visitors – many of whom are coming from farther away. In the five months following the app’s launch, Arundel Mills saw an overall increase of 15 square miles to its True Trade Area (TTA), and an increase of 29.5% in visits per sq. ft. – The consistent increase in TTA and visits per sq. ft. are a testament to the power of innovative dining partnerships to draw traffic to top-tier malls.
With many retailers reducing their on-mall presence, empty brick-and-mortar stores have attracted plenty of negative attention. But now, malls are increasingly repurposing vacated spaces in new, innovative ways that resonate with local communities and can fill their evolving needs.
At the Ocean County Mall in Toms River, NJ, Simon Property Group repurposed the huge space left by a former Sears store and turned it into a lifestyle center, with stores opening throughout 2020. The space is now being used by a number of highly popular chains such as LA Fitness, Ulta Beauty, HomeSense, and P.F. Chang’s and also includes a children's play area.
This pivot seems to be working. Median dwell time to the mall has increased from 53 minutes to 56 minutes, a significant change when considering that a majority of malls have recently seen their dwell times drop.
The center has also seen the median age for its trade area decrease from 40.5 years old in the first half of 2021 to 37.2 in the first half of 2022, a dramatic shift in visitor demographics. Yo3Y visits are strong as well – July 2022 were up by 17.1%.
In a similar tale of a closed Sears turning into a lifestyle center, the Northshore Mall in Peabody, MA turned the space vacated by the department store into a mixed-use center. The most significant anchor is now the high-end Life Time Fitness Center that offers cardio, weights, and functional training rooms, and includes yoga, pilates, and cycling studios, indoor and outdoor pools, basketball and pickleball courts, saunas, and a bistro.
As soon as the health club opened its doors in July 2021, visits to the mall increased – significantly outpacing the levels seen when Sears was still open.
As soon as the health club opened its doors in July 2021, visits to the mall increased – significantly outpacing the levels seen when Sears was still open. Both Yo3Y and year-over-four-year (Yo4Y) foot traffic numbers were impressive, with July 2022 seeing 17.2% more visitors than three years prior.
As visits to malls become more focussed, selecting the right tenant has never been more important – and that may mean looking at unconventional occupants to draw in customers.
In one example of tapping into local needs, the Westfield Oakridge shopping center in San Jose, CA, opened a specialty grocery store on its premises. 99 Ranch Market, one of the largest Asian supermarket chains in the U.S., began operating its first mall location in March 2022. The location includes classic grocery store items such as produce, meat, and seafood sections, and also boasts a dining hall, tea bar, and bakery.
Its opening day saw lines snaking out the door, as excited locals queued to sample the store’s delicacies. And the crowd-drawing hype seems to be more than a flash in the pan – the months following the opening were the mall’s strongest in the past year and a half. Yo3Y visits were up by 10.1% in July 2022 , with some shoppers reporting that the addition of the grocery store had turned Westfield Oakridge into their all-in-one stop shop.
Although the area was not lacking in grocery options, retail foot traffic data indicates that the new 99 Ranch Market at Westfield Oakridge Mall still filled a void.
Although the area was not lacking in grocery options, retail foot traffic data indicates that the new 99 Ranch Market at Westfield Oakridge Mall still filled a void – the new grocery store’s trade area has only minimal overlaps with the other trade areas of the nearby 99 Ranch Markets locations. This means that most of the new 99 Ranch Market’s customers were not being well-served by the existing locations of the chain.
Westfield Oakridge is not the only San Jose mall turning to food to attract the crowds. On June 16th 2022, following much hype and a pandemic-related delay, Eataly, the all-in-one Italian market, restaurant, and cooking school opened its first Northern California location at the Westfield Valley Fair in Santa Clara, CA.
Prior to the launch, the Westfield Valley Fair mall was already one of the more successful malls in the country – but the opening of Eataly seems to be driving even more foot traffic. Yo3Y visits to malls during Eataly’s opening week exceeded 20% for the first time in months and have since remained consistently elevated, with visits for the week of July 25th up 27.7% relative to the equivalent week in 2019.
In March 2022, regional department store Von Maur opened its doors at The Village of Rochester Hills, an open-air lifestyle center in Michigan. The retailer, which has 36 locations throughout the Midwest, took over the space left vacant by Carson’s, another Midwest-based department store.
What may be the first new department store in the Detroit metropolitan area in over a decade is driving visits to the shopping center.
What may be the first new department store in the Detroit metropolitan area in over a decade is driving visits to the shopping center. Von Maur’s March 2022 opening pushed Yo3Y visits up by 16.9% compared to the mere 4.3% Yo3Y increase the month before.
Part of the secret to Von Maur’s success lies in the psychographic characteristics of residents within the mall’s trade area. Using Spatial.ai’s GeoWeb data, a tool which tracks online engagement with various trends and topics by neighborhood, we found that the TTA surrounding The Village had an index of 131 for department store shoppers. In other words, people in the mall’s trade area exhibited heightened interest in department stores – they engaged with department-store-related content at a rate that was 1.3 times higher than the national average – which helps explain why Von Maur is thriving in this specific location. And in another testament to the strength of immersive retail experiences, Von Maur, which focuses on curating a unique shopper journey and features a pianist at all of its locations, has been ranked the top department store in America.
The addition of Von Maur is not the only change that The Village is implementing – the mall has continued adding new stores and will be opening more throughout the year. These, too, will likely boost foot traffic to the lifestyle center.
The mall’s ability to select tenants that cater to, and reflect the needs and behaviors of its consumers is likely to continue driving success. By drilling down into the nitty-gritty details of who comes to shop, where they come from, and what shops they enjoy frequenting, mall management can tailor the shopping center to meet the needs of its base.
The “death of the American mall” has been predicted for years. The reality, however, is much more nuanced than that – like many other sectors, malls are undergoing a shift to help them better serve evolving customer needs and survive and thrive in an ever-shifting retail landscape.
The malls featured in this white paper have found ways to consistently attract visitors despite the various obstacles faced by the category over the past two years. By understanding that the American mall must evolve along with the consumers, mall owners can successfully revitalize their retail spaces.
