This morning while watching CNBC I saw a segment featuring Rick Caruso, who heads one of the largest private real estate companies in the United States. According to Caruso, American malls are facing a rebirth, and without a complete reinvention, they will be extinct within 10 to 15 years.
“At one point the indoor mall may have met the developer’s needs—and even for awhile, the consumer’s needs—but it has outlived its usefulness,” Caruso said in a keynote address Sunday at the National Retail Federation’s annual convention in New York.
“In order to compete with the growing presence of online retail—which, according to comScore, saw desktop sales increase by 10 percent this holiday—physical stores need to focus on delivering an experience that customers cannot find on the Web,” Caruso said.
What’s more, physical stores cannot only consider themselves to be in the retail industry, but need to embrace the hospitality industry as well.
I think it’s easy to get distracted by the relentless conversation of the online versus brick-and-mortar shopping, but now more than ever I feel what everyone needs to do is focus on what has always been and what will always be essential to our customer!
That means creating an experience that is exceptional, creating an experience that is memorable and hassle free.
In today’s competitive landscape, I think you need to deliver exceptional experiences regardless if you are in retail or manufacturing or anything in between!
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