Nostalgia

Lately I have been thinking about my life as a teenager and the experiences I loved. Many of those experiences involved hanging out at a mall in Minnesota somewhere in the suburbs of St. Paul. It has recently come to my attention that teenagers don’t like malls anymore. They find them boring and useless due to technology. This brings up an important issue and one I feel will continue to make the impacts we are seeing in the retail world. Social media has destroyed social interactions. Malls have become the rotary phone to a new generation and this needs to change.

Malls have to reinvent themselves in order to be destinations again. Shopping centers need to think about how to get teenagers off social media and into their environments. They need to give people a reason to go out of their way from their busy lives and spend money by visiting stores in person. The truth is malls need to react to changing times or they will become future wastelands. You all know that as we are seeing it happen. Stores are closing their doors every day.

There is a shopping center I frequent that HAS. Gone are the 1990 color schemes and cheesy food court. Its perception is considered upscale, but in reality, it is just BECOMING the perfect retail mix where it meets the demands of at least four generations of customer. Its adapting. The mall is divided out from luxury brands on one side to budget conscious brands on another. They attract retailers that are nowhere else in the region and draw in new brands that have less than 40 stores across the country. It has become more of a boutique atmosphere than a shopping center. It has successfully immersed itself into the surrounding community by hosting events, supporting local/national charities and providing access to farmers markets. It has become a need and a desire. In this reality, the center isn’t depending on anchor retailers alone to be successful, but the guts of the center to build its reputation. Which brings me to my point on this topic.

Now that retail meccas are finally starting to figure it out, the stores inside need to provide some sort of longevity to keep customers shopping. Stores need trained people to exist. A no brainer, right? However, competition from online retailing has forced companies to find ways to be profitable and, of course, payroll is always the first operational expense to cut. It is the easiest and will make a store more profitable than high gross margins. Not rocket science info, right? Unfortunately, it is also the bread and butter of any store. Again, not rocket science, right? Teams in stores are what keeps a customer coming back.  However, due to payroll constraints; low pay, long hours and ridiculous expectations are making tenured employees move on. So, as a manager, what can you do about it?

Make every second of the day count towards making an impact on your people. It’s that simple. Get out of the back office and engage with your people and customers. Your customers want to feel connected to a brand and they do that through you. You need to ask yourself why should a customer leave their homes to shop? What kind of impact will you make with your teams to ensure they do? Does your store share a pride in its environment that attracts customers? What have you done to promote a healthy environment with your team? Are your 4 walls representative of an image that social media has determined it to be?

I know you have heard these a million times before, but it is all missing. Customers don’t like shopping anymore. They feel unimportant (especially teenagers). They are ignored. Their concerns go unnoticed. They go into stores looking for the negatives instead of experiencing the positives. You have the power to change this perception. YOU HAVE THE POWER. Payroll or no payroll, you set the tone. One positive experience with a customer can change the reputation of your store in an instant. Customers will want to come back and maybe they will bring a friend to share in the experience.

I love shopping in person. I want to see the employee’s interactions with others, touch the product and experience the brand with my own eyes. Social media has been an eye-opening experience for all brands. It can make a store magical and become an obsession for some (teenagers), but now you have to live up to its expectations. Now YOU need to adapt. Stop blaming poor results on payroll. It only takes one person to make a positive impression. Shouldn’t that begin with you? Shouldn’t you be the experience in your stores. Your management style needs to reflect that.