MAL 41:21 | Page 78

SHOPPING MALLS

A Digital Rescue For Kenya ’ s Struggling Malls

By Mungai Charles

With a highly digital and largely young population , it is not unusual for many Kenyans to spend the whole afternoon and evening at the mall during the weekends . However , they are not just shopping all day long . But have Kenyan Malls figured out what others in the rest of the world have already ?

Future of Shopping Malls
From Brazil to China , Madrid to New York , India to Dubai , Australia to South Africa , people no longer flock to the mall just to shop . They are searching for value . They visit the mall to attend concerts , visit arts centres , spas , fitness clubs , farmer ’ s / Maasai markets , aquariums , theme parks , museum walks , play arcade games , skate , ski slopes , go-karts , balloon rides , bowling , dining or watch movies and while there , do some shopping . Welcome to the world of “ retail-tainment ”. Changing Trends
In a recent interview by McKinsey , asked what are the biggest consumer trends they ’ re seeing ? Alain Bejjani , leader of Majid Al Futtaim Group which owns and operates The Mall of the Emirates and the Carrefour franchise in 38 countries remarked , " the shift in consumer focus from product to experience ".
Herein lies the problem with most Kenyan malls . Their online marketing strategies on their Websites or Social Media are product heavy instead of Experiential . Pushing product selection ( retailers / stores ), offers , sales and convenience of ' all under one roof ' as their value propositions . Sadly , these plus price comparisons and alwayson nature of online are the strong points of E-Commerce . Malls will never be able to compete neither should they try . Market it as a destination
VACANT ! This is a common sight now when you visit many Kenyan malls and around the world too . With dwindling foot traffic numbers , empty parking slots , retailers filing for bankruptcy , product oversupply and the rise of e-commerce squeezing margins .
Times for shopping malls and the major retailers who serve as their anchor tenants have never been tougher , with one in three malls in the US reportedly set to close within the next decade . In the brutally competitive destination and retail business , staying top of mind with consumers is a very difficult challenge .
Develop cross-promotional campaigns
These encourage your customers . For example , you could work with the Movie theatre and Uber to have an offer for Couples . Have a photo booth where the couple can take photos , share the photos and about the offer with friends on social media and leave a review of their experience on the mall ' s Social Media pages . Award them with a Ksh . 500 voucher to use at a participating restaurant at the mall , for every couple they invite to the mall that day .
You could also create a promotion in which a person who is visiting a certain restaurant , receives a 30 % off voucher to use at one of your fan activities such as the gaming centre . This shows that your destination is willing to work together to enhance the experience for all those who visit . These experiences are what people want to see on social media or when they search about your mall . Otherwise posting a mall ’ s opening hours or a map of retail locations doesn ’ t exactly encourage liking , commenting , and sharing .
Bringing Search Marketing into the mix
The primary objective is to make your visitors interested in your location before they arrive using search engine marketing . First some stats ; In the world , Google is the market leader amongst all Search engines with a market share of 80 % and others such as Yahoo , Bing and Baidu etc averaging between 5-10 % market share ; There are 3.5 billion daily searches on Google with over 50 % of all Google searches taking place on smartphones - outpacing laptops , desktops and tablets combined ; In 2017 , 50.3 % of all web traffic generated worldwide was on mobile phones ; A study by Internet Marketing Ninjas found that branded queries have higher CTR ( click-through rate ) however , non-branded queries have a steady decline in CTR . This means that often users will know what brand they are searching for probably from other channels , social and TV etc .
Google My Business : This is a free business listing service on Google that
76 MAL41 / 21 ISSUE