Retailers Are Not Able To Realize Experiential Shopping Only By Oral Services.

From virtual reality to indoor parachute and immersive dining experience, shopping centers are undergoing tremendous changes.

Imagine seeing the latest movie with your family and friends, sitting on a comfortable deck chair, and serving you a menu designed by Michelin star chef. You can enjoy the five star food and wine on the menu. This is a far cry from eating low-end food drinks on a narrow seat in other places.

In the world, visionary shopping centres will launch this luxury service. And this is just the beginning of "experiential" entertainment.

New shopping center

Over the past twenty years, the number of shopping centres has decreased. One of the main reasons is that the traditional "shop to shop" has been gradually replaced by online ordering, especially for the millennial generation and the "digital aborigines" of the Z generation.

Obviously, you can let your daily necessities, clothes and even entertainment services (such as Netflix (291.57, 2.00,0.69%)) be transported to your home. Why do you need to challenge the shopping center long queues?

The good news is that if shopping centers can find new ways to persuade people to visit physical stores instead of staying at home for online shopping, they will be able to beat online shopping. This rapid development is subverting the definition of shopping centers.

Over the past twenty years, online shopping has been developing steadily.

Taking leisure industry as a pillar

The main purpose of patronizing shopping centers is no longer to buy one season's fashions, but to socialize entertainment.

We clearly see the trend that shopping centers allocate more space for leisure places. In fact, about 1/4 of the shopping center's construction area is occupied by catering and entertainment industry. We expect this proportion to rise to 1/2, especially in new shopping centers.

A report by JLL, a commercial real estate brokerage firm, shows that Americans spend more on food and drink than they do in daily grocery stores.

Globally, 40% of consumers choose to go to shopping centers because their restaurants are 35 minutes longer than customers who do not eat.

If the restaurant is a new driving force to attract customers, it is not fast food and chain stores that are really popular with customers. As emphasized by the Research Institute of Jones Lang LaSalle, customers are looking for real experiences, such as immersive restaurants, concept restaurants or famous chefs.

The retail business in the United States occupies the largest area.

　 Let experience become valuable.

When we design and develop products, we realize that we can further promote the development of core entertainment products and make them unique.

VIP cinema is a good example of this trend. They are based on the simple and popular experience of watching movies, creating a different environment from traditional movies and video streams, thus upgrading the grade - providing private places for you and your family and friends. You can sit on comfortable seats, enjoy the delicious food, quality drinks and customized services.

Personalization also promotes the development of existing products. VOX cinema allows you to book your favorite movie themes and seats online, and customers can even order snacks they like. The entire transaction can be completed online, whether you use mobile phones or phone booths.

Although the trend of development is usually summarized through investigation and research, customers play an extremely active role in designing their own experience. For VIP cinema, we recently invited a group of customers to taste the menu we developed jointly with Michelin star chef Gary Rhodes (Gary Rhodes). According to their feedback, we asked Gary chef to adjust the menu before holding the second taste meeting to ensure that we correctly understood the customer requirements. The result is that customers are happy because they feel that their opinions are being valued.

Feedback loop

There is no doubt that customers' tastes are changing in personalized service. That's why Majid Al Futtaim shopping center receives guests' feedback every day through the net recommended value system (NPS).

This not only ensures that we achieve our desired goals, but also enables us to flexibly adjust and actively respond to customers' suggestions. Since the launch of NPS at VOX cinema, we have received 350 thousand feedback. This is a huge and valuable opportunity for us to learn and grow.

However, if an enterprise can not make bold adjustments to feedback, it is meaningless to ask customers for feedback. Shopping centres and tenants should constantly explore the needs of potential customers and discover more influential trends.

For example, the demand for Arabic films in the Middle East and internationally is increasing. After clarified the market vacancy, we found that there was still a lack of short-term solutions, so we decided to work together with the production company MBC and Image Nation to produce arabic movies. In this way, Majid Al Futtaim's urgent task is to invest in the production and distribution of local Arabic films to meet the growing demand, which also brings opportunities for them.

Sharing experience

Another trend we found is that people tend to visit scenic spots that they can enjoy with their friends, rather than enjoying them alone.

In a survey conducted jointly by YouGov and us, 9 of the 10 UAE residents said that "spending time with relatives" can give them great personal satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment. The study also asked respondents: there is an activity, if you share experience with friends, you have to pay the full amount, but if you experience it, you can pay half price, how to choose in this case, and 2/3 of respondents choose a more expensive sharing experience.

Ideally, the destination of the trip should provide something similar to the whole family's view of Disney (137.96,5.00, 3.76%) paradise, which makes people feel high without flying long distances. Virtual reality and augmented reality technology can provide immersive immersive experience, but we need to improve the sharing experience, not just let people wear VR headsets.

Love, but not like.

Retailers can not experience shopping only by oral service. They must set goals for customers to love, not just like shopping centers, cinemas, retail outlets and entertainment places. Investing in the right activity experience, listening to customers' opinions and actively responding to customer focused businesses will be a great success.