The past few years have been tough on big name retailers that set up shop in malls. With the ease that comes with shopping at online retailers and through companies like Amazon, in-store retailers have taken a huge hit. Stores like Macy’s and JCPenney in the US have seen major dips in their sales and have cut back and closed numerous locations to keep afloat.

The recent decline of Sears shows us how once mighty giants fall if they don’t an eye on how people vote with their consumer dollars.

Not all is lost; these retail stores are learning to adapt to the ever-changing market by utilizing digital marketing trends. Trends in spending can be fairly easy to predict. Retail stores have started to use these predictions by adapting their online resources to get people to come into their stores.

What Are the Biggest Trends Being Utilized?

While shopping malls themselves are continuing to stay relevant by other a more engaging experience to visitors, such as adding features and hosting events, the shops within them have to go a slightly different route to stay in the game. To keep up with the digital world, these retailers have been using specific digital marketing strategies.

They are extending their experience with their customers.  Before the digital age, your mall experience was contained to just the time you spent at the location. Now it’s important for malls and retailers in malls to extend their experience with customers to before and after their visit. Social media plays a big role in current marketing trends.

Retail stores are using their social media to create buzz around new store openings and to interact with their customers to see what they want in stores. Using this strategy in tandem with the use of features like loyalty programs ensures customers returning to the store again and again.

They are creating a more personalized experience for their customers. While shopping malls try to appeal to visitors by offering the most to the most people, retail stores need to create personalized experiences for each customer. The biggest reason people tend to online shop is that the experience is totally unique to them in that many retail websites can tell your preferences based on your internet history and past buying history with them.

It’s impossible for brick-and-mortar retail stores to compete with that but they can offer customized offers and personal gift ideas on their websites and social media to entice customers to visit stores.

They’re using video advertising to attract potential customers. The use of video has been a major trend in both content marketing as well as advertising. They tend to be more effective than other forms of advertisement. While there are many ways of creating a successful video advertisement, the most important takeaway for retailers is just utilizing it in general and using their social media to show their products.

The Bottom Line

Although the retail world is changing drastically, there is still a place for the shopping mall as it still plays an important social role for many. While individual shops continue to struggle, the mall will always be there. For the shops within, it’s important to remember to utilize all possible avenues to get customers into the store.

At Brant Instore we assist companies with identifying the digital marketing trends that fit with their business and that allow for success in the realm of eCommerce as well as in a brick-and-mortar mall setting.