Shopping malls are launching loyalty programs. This is why (includes examples)
Mall owners are pushed to offer more value, attract and retain tenants and explore new opportunities to maintain successful partnerships, increase footfall and boost sales – and loyalty programs are clearly an attractive opportunity.
Let’s dive into what shopping mall loyalty programs are, why they are important, their benefits and key features, and 4 good examples across the globe.
What are shopping mall loyalty programs?
Shopping mall loyalty programs unite different brands and create a common loyalty program with interdependent point earn-and-burn mechanics among shopping mall tenants. Shoppers can earn points when they buy in-store or use services inside the mall, such as restaurants, beauty services or entertainment options – and then use these points to redeem partnership rewards or take advantage of joint offers.
Why shopping malls need a collaborative relationship with their retailer tenants?
The enormous amount of online spending shows that consumers have their shopping needs covered online, resulting in less frequent visits to their local shopping mall. Also, mass marketing is costly and increasingly ineffective, and a lack of customer insights limits the opportunities to communicate relevant messages to customers.
Many shopping malls today are challenged by decreased footfall, customer engagement and retention rates. They also suffer a decrease in tenant turnover.
These challenges have serious consequences, resulting in shops and even entire shopping malls closing down across the globe.
A collaborative relationship between mall owners and retail tenants is mutually beneficial. Mall owners must work harder than ever to prove their value in a demanding and competitive market. Mall owners are becoming creative, so they can offer more value, attract and retain tenants and explore new opportunities to maintain successful tenant partnerships.
Shopping malls, who have yet to adjust their marketing strategies to allow for the use of data-driven tactics, must find new ways to add value to their retail tenants, to ensure an ongoing win-win relationship.
Benefits of shopping mall loyalty programs
Loyalty programs bring enormous benefits to shopping mall owners and tenants.
They can become an all in one package where customers can consult their point balance and participate in cross-brand events and discounts. In addition to the rewards, they can provide tons of innovative time-saving features that make each visit to the mall worthwhile. They can also provide marketing teams with relevant data on customer behaviour and the performance of their offers and discounts.
Benefit #1: Getting to know today’s shoppers and mapping customer behaviour
Create a unified 360º customer view that creates an accurate picture of the transactions, behaviours and interest of shopping mall shoppers.
Benefit #2: Ability to wow customers
Create a thrilling shopping environment through a personalized shopping experience based on historical purchase data, behaviour, interests and more. Engage customers with game-based initiatives such as challenges, contests and experiential rewards.
Benefit #3: Adding value to tenants in a cost-effective way
Build strong and long-lasting relationships with the mall’s stores and brands
Benefit #4: Increasing footfall, sales & revenue
Identify new monetization opportunities and invest your strategic development efforts where they matter most
Main elements of an engaging shopping mall loyalty program
- Make it easy for shopping mall customers to enroll
- Offer a branded, modern and user-friendly loyalty app
- Create a satisfying shopping environment
- Communicate the convenience of the “mall experience”, with a comprehensive offering of favourite brands, restaurantes, supermarkets and entertainment
- Include gamification with cross brand contests, in-store treasure hunts and more
- Make sure points can be earned and burned in real time, so shoppers get the immediate gratification of using their points and redeeming rewards in their next purchases
- Offer an attractive coalition rewards catalog and joint deals that encourage shoppers to try new brands, spend more and return more often
- Easily access reports with tenant performance, points allocation, reward redemption, returns and more.
4 examples of shopping mall loyalty programs (TOP PICKS)
Dubai Mall – Emirates Skywards
The Dubai Mall shopping mall loyalty program has partnered with an already established rewards program with the famous UAE airline, Emirates.
Catering to tourists, The Dubai Mall allows shoppers to earn Emirates Skyward Miles when they purchase. These miles can be used to shop at retailers present in the mall itself, and all around the world with participating brands.
Additionally, the loyalty partnership allows customers to access travel-centric perks such as airline class upgrades, rental cars or hotel discounts.
The Dubai Mall loyalty app provides some extra convenience with an interactive map and a visit planner.
CapitaStar
CapitaStar is Singapore’s leading lifestyle and shopping rewards program.
Customers can earn STAR$® on their shopping and dinning across Capitaland Malls and Workspace Properties.
These rewards can range from redeemable vouchers to discounts at participating shops and even free meals at the restaurants in the mall.
They can go cashless and pay with eCapitaVouchers across more than 3,000 stores, enjoy free parking, redeem exclusive rewards and perks and much more. CapitaStar partners with American Express, DBS and other cards to accelerate point accumulation.
Harrod’s Rewards
The world-famous London department store proposes a tiered loyalty program that focuses on providing its most loyal customers with luxurious rewards.
Harrod’s rewards provide a big appeal: These advantages increase with the yearly amount spent, starting from standard discounts and to luxurious perks such as personal shoppers and free and guaranteed parking. This is an incredible advantage for a busy city like London, where downtown parking spots are practically non-existent.
Westfield Rewards
The Westfield group operates across the globe, with shopping malls in the US, EU and Australia.
This loyalty program allows shoppers to directly link their credit cards to the loyalty program. This way, every time they make a purchase in any of the shops, loyalty points are automatically added to their account. It’s a great feature that reduces the inconvenience of having to present a QR code at the register or scan the receipts after purchase.
These rewards can range from redeemable vouchers to discounts at participating shops and even free meals at the restaurants in the mall.
Their loyalty app complements the program perfectly by allowing customers to consult their point balance and find the best deals to use them. Also, loyalty members can use the app for its smart parking feature. By signing up with their license plate, they can reserve a spot before visiting and be let in automatically.
Conclusion
Whether you’re looking to achieve better footfall or optimize your marketing efforts, with modern consumer behavior, it is important such efforts begin with knowing your customer and personalizing the shopping experience. Loyalty programs can be the key to ensure just that.
Shopping malls can use a loyalty program to stay competitive, add value to brands and shoppers alike, and shape customer behaviour while nurturing loyalty.
If you’re manage a shopping mall and are interested in discussing the opportunities available to you through a loyalty program or loyalty app, please get in touch with our team – we’ll be happy to show you examples or talk through your company’s unique challenges.
