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touchpoints including website, mobile app, email and digital signage.
These underwhelming adoption numbers underscore a disconnect between the efforts made by retailers to meet customer
expectations and the investments made by mall operators and owners who are already struggling to stay relevant in a digital-first
world.

Just a trend Or is it here to Stay?
It is clear that omni-channel services have been critical for retailer survival during the pandemic, but the question remains
whether these services will stay in high demand in the long run.
With click & collect/BOPIS adoption expected to reach 90 per cent penetration by
the end of 2021, store pick-up has become a fundamental service for customers,
along with contactless services like curbside and same-day delivery. A recent
eMarketer survey also showed that retailers anticipate that Click & Collect
sales will represent 50 per cent of total revenue in the not-too-
distant future. Additional data suggests that the strong growth
in demand for Curbside Pickup will continue in 2021. The
fact that the demand for Curbside Pickup has continued
to increase even after end of shelter-in-place orders,
suggests that consumers have more fully adapted to
this new shopping paradigm.
If shoppers continue to expect omni-channel
capabilities from retailers and brands, malls must
provide tools and services to support tenant efforts
and optimise the overall mall experience. However,
too many have yet to fully embrace, prioritise and
invest in digital and omni-channel strategies.
In an omni-channel world, mall operators and retailers
must work together to reinvent the mall experience.
They must collaborate on last mall logistics and prioritise
investments in technologies that enable seamless, cross-
platform shopping experiences.
An important lesson that most retailers, brands and mall
operators should have learned by now, is that the ability to
quickly adapt to a changing landscape is key. And that means
prioritising and investing in technologies and infrastructure that
allows them to seamlessly scale and add capabilities without causing
friction to the overall shopping experience.

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