Brian Sozzi Talks About Smart Shopping And Smart Malls

Brian Sozzi of Wall Street Strategies is out with a research report on smart phones, and how they are changing the shopping experience.

In the note, Sozzi writes, "The essence of the smartphone and smart grid is that each has made pre-existing things, well, smarter. Smartphones blow away the technologies that were housed inside of Gordon Gecko's handheld brick. The smart grid's reach has sparked the creation of smart appliances that could be switched off by the grid to conserve power consumption. Better ways to build the same mousetrap, I suppose. Just like its smarty pants friends, the smart mall makes the brick and mortar shrines to U.S. consumerism smarter, or significantly more interactive and efficient. The era of smart malls is upon us, and in all honesty the winds of change had to blow through these buildings if they were to survive in the future...."

He goes on to talk about online shopping, and how strong the growth rates are. He says that online shopping has become one of, if not the major priority for most retailers. They are trying to "increase breadth of assortment and offer a richer user experience." Sozzi says that technology, most notably smartphones are causing change in the sector, and malls are adapting to it.

Sozzi concludes the note by talking about what actually defines a smart mall. He says, "A smart mall is wired up with an array of technologies that are designed to engage the shopper in new ways (proximity marketing) and aid in the better management of the mall itself. I sense that although smart mall technology is still in its infant stages, the speed of evolution is moving very rapidly. Location-based marketing, for example, by a retailer to a person's handheld device was an early arriver on the scene, but now mall owners and tenants are joining forces to market mobile loyalty programs. How clever to alter the tired landlord/tenant relationship by working together to maximize what traffic does show up in the mall instead of the online store or iPhone app. In this structure, a person signs up by giving out personal information and receives instant, tailored coupons. To get into the shopper's head with consistent messages to buy merchandise that is already viewed favorably is powerful, almost drug like."