Dwell Time … Sorry Folks - Time to Leave the Mall …

Dwell time is the amount of time a shopper spends in your mall. This is a critical metric that all good mall managers and marketeers should be monitoring.

It’s important to know the dwell time of customers as this is an indication of shopper engagement, however, too long and it becomes a problem.

So, where is the cut off point - from having shoppers exploring, spending money, and enjoying your mall, to the dreaded ‘ice-cream lickers’ who spend hours in the mall but don’t spend?

Firstly, you need to understand the sales ‘spending curve’. This is different in different types / sizes of mall and in different regions, however, generally the spend curve commences after parking (2 - 8 mins) and gradually declines over time. Most customers head for a few already identified shops and go about doing their shopping … the spend curve is high - but after that, this is where it gets interesting.

The spend curve is usually steep in the first 30 - 80 minutes and then steeply declines. This is where a cup of coffee & cake comes in … carefully positioned F&B - a place to rest and recharge, or a comfortable common area seating zone (mostly used by men - a man zone if you like). Some of you may have noticed how much more comfortable these common area seating zones have become over recent years. (it’s not an accident). Once recharged, a customer will head off again and the spend curve continues upwards again, albeit at a slightly slower (flatter) rate.

At about 150- 180 mins, the curve in most malls is steeply down. Time for shoppers to be gently encouraged to leave … YES, leave … especially in peak trading times when car parks and facilities are under pressure. Rather ‘encourage’ a shopper to leave and be replaced with a new customer who will embark on a steeper spending curve, than force new arrivals to endlessly hunt for parking and potentially leave.

How is this done? Well, you may have noticed parking rates – at 3 / 4 hours the parking charges seem to jump up and even look exorbitant. No accident … it’s professional mall managers understanding the dynamics of shopping malls and shopper behavior. Last week I paid AED80 for a 3 hour stay in a community mall. This made me recall this mall management trick that I have implemented in dozens of malls across multiple regions. It works and definitely drives sales.

One common mistake – don’t over charge your customers in the first 2 hours … all this does is push them away and foreshortens the spending curve. This does more damage to your tenants and is not worth the money you may collect from unsuspecting shoppers. Money in your tenants till is more important than driving up parking revenues.

Free is best for the first 2 or 3 hours – just make sure you understand the shopper dynamics before implementing.

The shopping mall business is a lot about human behavioral science and we at Mall Advisory Services offer bespoke asset management / mall manager and leasing staff training to take your team to the next level.

For more information go to www.malladvisoryservices.com or contact us direct on [email protected]