Future Mall

           Shops, restaurants, entertainment, there are many reasons why we spend a good amount of our time at malls today. They have become such an accustomed part of our lives most of us don’t realize how innovative malls have become. And given the ever-changing behavior of customers, malls are becoming more technology-savvy than ever.

           Thai retailers are starting to be impacted by the growing influence of e-commerce. However malls are not going to wait until they are disrupted. We see malls continuously investing and expanding their business to new locations in multiple cities with a strategy to be a place that offers not just shops, but also a community space where people can hang out, spend quality time together, and enjoy new experiences, something e-commerce can never offer.

           To be more targeted in their service, malls are using Big Data technology to understand their customers better. They use the technology to personalize marketing communication exclusively for each customer, in contrast to traditional mass marketing, and analyze data to improve mall planning, shelf placement, and various other things to further improve customer experience.

           Such changes are global. Malls in the UK are facing a huge 20% decrease in revenue due to online shopping, thus there’s an absolute necessity to redefine themselves and provide unique experiences using modern technologies. One example is Westfield which plans to build a hyper-connected micro-city mall that comes with things like AI-powered walkways that guarantee a better shopping experience, magic mirrors and smart changing rooms to give shoppers a virtual reflection that helps them try on clothes without needing to go into a fitting room, and an item recommendation system that will be activated through the shopper’s iris.

           Although these may sound like something out of sci-fi movies, these innovations are happening in real life. And retailers are not alone in this either, since customer experience has become critical in adapting businesses for survival. If you are not onto it, perhaps it’s time to start thinking too, on how to become irreplaceable…