Intelligent Data at the Mall: How Mall Owners and Retailers Are Using Data to Boost the Bottom Line

The biggest challenge facing the retail mall owner isn’t found

within the mall’s physical corridors, retail spaces, or food courts. It isn’t occupancy rates, aging facilities, or security. Instead, for commercial real estate owners, the single biggest threat to the mall experience – and the bottom line – is online shopping. How can mall owners and traditional brick-and-mortar retailers combat the ease of shopping in your pajamas, then having the merchandise delivered right to your front door?

To remain competitive and viable, mall owners and retailers

must entice consumers to get off their couches. Owners must

embrace mobile and social channels, while courting higher-quality retailers that provide a destination experience designed to attract the modern shopper. And owners and retailers must work together to increase both traffic and consumer spending.

Sounds good – but how to achieve those goals? At SAP,

we think the opportunity lies in harnessing intelligent data

for mutually beneficial results.

Optimizing the behind-the-scenes performance of the mall

property is also critical. To save money, retail owners

and operators need to understand and predict energy consumption and maintenance needs. Owners can use intelligent data to monitor the performance of electric meters, lights, boilers, and climate systems, helping the mall run smoothly and minimizing disruptions – for example, avoiding the failure of a mall’s HVAC system on a hot day. And leveraging intelligent data to optimize energy usage and efficiency lowers the cost of operations and

improves ROI.

Building relationships, driving satisfaction,

and improving retention

Commercial real estate owners can use technology to provide tenants with information that helps build relationships and drive satisfaction and retention. Mall owners can, forexample, use mobile and social technologies to engagewith shoppers before, during, and after their visits, and topromote mall-wide events that drive overall traffic. Insightinto mall traffic patterns and other intelligent data can helpretailers connect with consumers and offer compellingproductsor services. It won’t be long, in fact, until retailers expect accessto such technology as part of their tenancy.

Is it possible for intelligent data to benefit mall owners and

retailers alike, driving bottom line improvements for both?

SAP will pose the question at ISCS RECon in Las Vegas, May 18 to 20 –the annual gathering of shopping center industry leaders.

While attendees are busy networking, negotiating deals, and

brushing up on industry news, SAP will be on hand with

our Big Data Express – giving you a firsthand view of how

SAP is using real-time data to enhance the retail experience

and boost the bottom line. Visit our Executive Briefing Center

to learn how SAP Big Data solutions can help both owners

and retailers uncover critical needs and opportunities; create

new business models and revenue streams; and enable you

to transact, analyze, and act on in-the-moment insights to

increase revenues.