Market Research Solutions for Better Shopping Center Performance
With retail shopping centers today, every shop, tenant, and marketing program has to be matched into the customer base and demographic. When you achieve that careful balance, you can grow sales turnover opportunity for each and every tenant. That then strengthens the shopping center performance. (NB – you can get our retail and commercial property coaching free here)
A retail shopping center with a good level of sales turnover across the mix will consistently provide the foundations of investment performance and lower vacancy factors.
A successful shopping center of that type has clear advantages for both the tenants and the landlord. This equation of retail performance requires care and shaping over time.
So who controls all of this?
The shopping center manager is the person in the ‘middle’ making all of this happen. To bring all of this together some market research is required into the local area and the customer base. Everything can then be matched in the right way.an be matched actively and successfully, some market research is required into the local are and the customer base.
A retail property with multiple tenants is a special investment that needs care and consideration in an ongoing way. As a year progresses, the various sales seasons change, as does the retail requirements of shoppers for the region or location. The history of sales for the property will give valuable ideas to help you shape the tenant mix and marketing for the property at different times of year.
Here are some ideas to help with that research:
- Area coverage – Where are the customers coming from? Be careful in this assessment to make sure that you are getting a good idea of all types of customers by type and volume; by that I mean locals, transients, tourists, and others from outside of the region.
- Geographic borders – Review the geographic factors that could impact people accessing your property. Roads, rivers, and highways are all things to think about. Look at how many other shopping centres you would have in that zone and consider if they are your competition.
- Time of year assessments – The retail sales figures for the property will change at different times of year. Look into the historic sales results for the anchor tenants and the specialty tenants; soon you will see some averages and indicators of sales activity that will be useful to tap into for the future.
- Competing properties in location and by type – Visit nearby shopping centres that could be a competition for you. Understand if you are competing with them from a tenant mix and customer perspective. Review their trading days during the year to see if your property is more or less active at the same time.
- Tenant mix and offerings – Are you offering a better mix of tenants? Are your tenants well placed in location and proximity to others in the property? You can create a group of tenants into clusters so that you can encourage the retail experience in your property and the zones within it.
