What Can US Malls Teach Us About Critical Thinking?

“Nothing!” I’m sure the knee-jerkers are saying. Malls are dead and gone. No one goes anymore…especially Gen Z…Digital First.

Knee Jerk Alert: Critical Thinking requires an open mind…INTEL vs. someone’s idea of data…read on.?

E-commerce and social are actually key catalysts for mall traffic as mall visiting is a key catalyst for digital shopping. What some call Omni-Channel, I call the Omni-Consumer. Using a People First approach, not semantics, makes a huge difference in how you plan and evaluate your sales. Read on…

You see, if you start with channels, you are making assumptions that are no doubt clouded by bias…often analyst-driven if you are a public company…or the expert reports you have read that tell you no one buys in brick and mortar anymore.?

However, if you take the People First approach you start with the notion that you need to be where your consumers are and allow them to make the choices of seeing, trying, and buying as they want.?

I have written over the years about Warby Parker, Casper, Allbirds, and Wayfair to name just a few. They opened brick and mortar stores, in malls and otherwise, despite their original business models of DIGITAL DISRUPTION (none of them actually disrupted anything but do have some good products and service). The decision was driven in good part because their online customer acquisition costs got out of hand…beyond unprofitable. Stores, in the right locations, brought in new and returning customers, helped overcome barriers of buying untried or unseen merchandise, and when customer purchase data was overlaid with geo-distribution data, patterns of buying areas became apparent and stores could be opened as efficient levers for revenue increase…online and off.

Let’s be clear…this isn’t true for all malls and e-commerce, we get that.?

Yet Brookfield Properties reports that traffic and sales are up and that they have a waiting list of tenants in their best locations. Other mall owners report similar trends…like Tanger Outlets whose new center in Nashville, Tennessee is 95% filled up.?

Even the demise of Bed, Bath and Beyond is seen as an opportunity as it opens up space for new and exciting brands to re-energize the shopping experience.?

And let me add that malls have gone back generations and are adding all kinds of experiential draws from games to virtual reality to go-karts to food to swimming and even skiing to create destination FOMO and desire. It certainly doesn’t hurt. And when I say going back…do search history of retail….goes back thousands of years…see the founding of Selfridges in London, and check out Showfields today.?

Perhaps, though, the real block to Critical Thinking is the survey of one…a practice I was warned about in my first-ever training at Y&R…way, way back in the day. The survey of one is when you project your own bias, behavior, or preconception on an issue.?

Here’s a stat from ICSC, a retail trade organization: 73% of Gen Z shoppers said they visited a mall in the past month, compared to only 48% of Gen X. See my point? Who do you think is making the decisions?

A few extra points to consider as you make your own critical conclusions:

• Gen Z are mallgoers.
• Malls are community spaces…human DNA needs…like bazaars, town squares, and fairs of old.
• Malls are evolving, or possibly it's back to the future, but they are far from dead.
• Almost 80% of GenZers and 70% of Millennials follow luxury brands on social media and crave the in-store luxury experience. They research and love the service and well-informed staff who frankly help increase the average sale.?
• Brands can be selective about opening stores using their digital footprint and leveraging the Brand build online and off to their advantage.?
• Social VR…Very Real Community meets digital social and all benefit.?

As always, while I have chosen to use malls, and as always was inspired as I followed some of the latest statistics of malls and Gen Z, my bigger purpose is to use this argument as a metaphor for all strategic thinking.?

Critical Thought. People First. Don’t get sucked in by the braying consultants and discount yourself and your “survey of one” most of all.

“When your mind is full of assumptions, conclusions, and beliefs, it has no penetration, it just repeats past impressions.”?—Sadhguru

Start with the Omni-Consumer and see where it leads you…

What do you think?