Page 52 - December 2020 January 2021

Mall of America
Minnesota, US
The Shopping Mall aMid Covid-19
Over 1,000 malls across the US are currently struggling In the past several years, department stores, once the lifeblood
to re-engage a customer that is bored of the traditional of a mall, have been in a state of transition. There were once seen
shopping experience, worried about the possibility of as the centre of the retail universe and viewed as innovators
infection and distracted by the convenience of digital in merchandising techniques and customer service, but now,
offerings. With the continued growth of e-commerce, their market share has slipped from more than 10 per cent to
along with the increased amount of new purchase paths under two per cent today. The article goes on to state that as
and the obvious changes that have come about because the long-held belief that the department store was the anchor
of Covid-19, mall developers of today are being faced with for a mall’s success has diminished, we have seen several new,
new challenges that have not been seen before. innovative uses replace these fortress stores such as food halls,
In their article within ‘The Edge Magazine, Volume 5’, movie theatres, entertainment concepts and gyms - and grocery
Richard W. Latella, Americas Retail Practice Group Leader stores could be next on the list. This is a natural evolution of the
Valuation & Advisory and Barrie Scardina, Head of Retail, slow but steady shift over the last decade of bringing more food
Americas, both from Cushman & Wakefield, argue that in and entertainment into the mall while reducing the footprint of
the last decade, there has been increased erosion of the apparel given its vulnerability to digital competitors. In terms of
mall experience and that malls have seen thousands of the retail mall of 2020 and beyond, change is now not just an
stores close as consumers further shifted their focus to option, it is a necessity.
experiences over clothes and convenience over community.
However, they suggest that instead of writing retail’s TrendS in 2021
obituary, we should be thinking of the retail marker as Throughout this year, retailers have been split into essential
merely evolving. Successful retail adapts as consumer and non-essential businesses, and many will spend next year
prefere3nces, habits and technology change – and one of trying to decide whether they are in survival, adaptive or growth
the most prominent of these changes has been the shift mode and what this will mean for them moving forward.
to e-commerce. Many brands will have adapted and invested in their digital
The reality is that physical stores that are still doing transformation this year ahead of 2021, accelerating a process
business the same way are no longer convenient in the age that was most likely already underway. Retailers, brand
of e-commerce and that to stay viable, both retailers and manufacturers and ecosystem players such as mall operators
mall owners need to adapt to these fast-changing consumer will be entirely rethinking their businesses and ways of working,
preferences in order to survive and eventually, flourish. which will bring about much change in the months to come.

52 RETAIL & LEISURE INTERNATIONAL DECEMBER 2020 / JANUARY 2021