ChainXY Team - January 18, 2023

Optimizing shopping center tenant mix with data:

3 perspectives

How to optimize tenant mix with shopping center data

As the world finds its new normal, the retail industry is doing the same.

But now data, analytics, and automation are playing an even bigger role. There are a myriad of data providers in the shopping center space, so it’s important to know what kind of data makes a big difference, and how.

But to better understand what’s happening now, it’s important to remember what has led up to this point. With that in mind…

Let's flashback to December 2019.

Old Town Road by Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus was crushing the charts, but the retail apocalypse had already been crushing brick-and-mortar establishments for over 10 years.

As Business Insider put it at the time,

“From the wide-reaching impacts of the 2008 financial crisis to the meteoric rise of e-commerce, the decade proved to be disastrous for the retail industry.”

The retail industry was on the brink of disaster which soon came in the form of a global pandemic. COVID-19 put the entire sector, its stakeholders, and its employees on the chopping block. There seemed to be no way back to the golden age of mallrats and record revenues for tenants, leasing managers, developers and owners.

But something shifted once the pandemic fog lifted.

Shopping centers and traditional retail tenants are now on the rise

Actually, they’re baaaack – but better, stronger and more innovative than before.

As outlined in a recent Forbes article, mall owners and developers are changing the shopping center game. More entertainment, more family-friendly spaces, more destination food and beverage experiences, and more flexible leasing strategies like pop-up shops have really changed the shopping center game.

In fact, McKinsey & Company surveyed senior merchandising leaders and 46% said that brick and mortar is still a top trend in the retail sector and plays a critical role in a consumer’s shopping journey.

This same study found that 67% of those surveyed believe the use of data analytics, and automation will continue to play an increasing role in merchandising in the next 3-5 years.

So, if shopping malls are here to stay, and data will continue to play a big role in the brick-and-mortar merchandising space, then it makes sense that more shopping center owner / developers , leasing managers, and tenants are turning to shopping center data to optimize the tenant mix in major malls and portfolios across the globe.

Let’s take a look at how each of these perspectives can gain key insights from shopping center data!

Perspective #1: Shopping center developers

The perspective of the shopping center developer is complex.

You need to maximize shopping center appeal for tenants and customers alike – that’s a tall order! So, if you’re building a new retail destination or working with an existing mall, how can shopping center data actually help you attract the best retailers and customers for your trade area?

We're glad you asked!

It’s a critical mission to assess the current tenant health status for your assets as well as local competitors who share a similar demographic trade area. When you evaluate retail void analysis, segment your available data, and analyze key anchors like grocery stores, big box retailers, and mass merchants, you get a better idea of a tenant’s potential sales in your specific shopping center.

With these tools and more available in CenterXY powered by ChainXY data, you can assess your assets and those of your competitors with ease. That means you can quickly run reports to understand which tenants have favorable co-tenancy relationships and how to diversify your tenant listings.

What it really means is peace of mind for the developer looking to either bolster an existing shopping center or create THE next retail, restaurant, and experience destination in their market.

Perspective #2: Shopping center leasing managers

This perspective is a bit stuck in the middle – you want to facilitate a fantastic relationship between the owner and the tenant while showing that you’re helping both make a profit. Easy, right?

Well, the right data and platform can definitely help. Shopping center data helps you manage the health of the shopping center as a whole while you monitor tenant strength across all chain categories at the same time.

Ultimately, you’re the contract master, right? You know the mall like the back of your hand and can keep track of the comings and goings of your major tenants in the building. But sometimes those outlier buildings can sneak right past you.

That can get pretty tricky when it comes to lease exclusivity contracts – you need to know before a new tenant is signed if that brand can move into that storefront in the mall or in an outlier building. Is it too close? Is it the right size? Are they allowed to actually move anywhere on the property?

CenterXY can help. We track the retail, restaurant, and service brands on the whole property, not just the mall. That means you’ve covered your bases before that new tenant tries to slide into their new home base.

Perspective #3: Shopping center tenants

Finally, this perspective is key. Tenants are really the lifeblood of leasing managers and owners. Afterall, without you, they wouldn’t exist! That’s why it’s so important for them to make you happy.

But you can’t take everyone at their word. Before you seriously consider a particular shopping center or the storefront within it, you need to do your homework.

No one knows your brand’s favorable co-tenants better than you. Conversely, no one better understands the brands that can actually hurt your own. Good quality shopping center and chain location data can help you find your best new location with co-tenancy evaluation. You can easily find which centers meet your criteria when it comes to your neighboring stores and automatically veto the ones that don’t match that criteria.

The only thing worse than putting you up directly against your competitors is finding yourself in a dead mall with unfavorable tenants across the board. CenterXY can help here too!

We track everything shopping center and chain location so you don’t have to take their word for it – you can check for yourself. You can review the below categories and more so you can make an informed decision that positively impacts your brand:

• First appeared
• Last seen
• Latitude and longitude
• Shopping center level
• Outbuildings
• Footprint square footage
• Gross leaseable areas (aka GLAs)
• Geofences
• Tenant profiles

Conclusion

Whether you’re a shopping center tenant, leasing manager, owner or developer, you need accurate, high-quality data that is up to date on everything shopping center. Bottom line? We’ve got you.

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