We all well remember those long months when malls, shopping malls and almost every public place were closed and locked, with no going out and no coming, due to the Corona plague that erupted unexpectedly in early 2020. After the initial rift the shopping malls began to recover and reinvent themselves, with increased digital presence , Making deliveries and more. When the Corona “downshifted”, we were confident that large sections of the public would stay digital, and abandon physical shopping. This assumption may have been too hasty.
“Despite the boom in online shopping and the acceleration of the adoption of digital solutions during the Corona era, consumers missed the physical shopping experience taken from them,” said Guy Even, VP of Marketing, Digital and Innovation at Melisron, which owns Ofer Malls, at the Globes MAD conference at Zappa Park. Joshua, Tel Aviv.
“Along with the noticeable increase in online shopping, there was also a massive increase in mall results during this period, meaning that the public was still looking to go shopping. “Want the physical experience: Want to touch, buy, eat. After all the closures are over, we are showing excellent results even against 2019, pre-Corona.”
Stone declares that the Corona has in fact rapidly accelerated and matured into the beginning of the era of integrated retail, or in other words – the era of the hybrid canyon, which he defines as the “next generation of canyons”. He declares that we are in the days when “we stopped talking about physical versus digital, and we started running the two together; this is the ‘both and’ retail era.
“In the next two years the concept of mall will take on a new meaning. The consumer loves to enjoy both worlds, and the distinct online players understand that too: Amazon has opened a physical fashion store, and Walla Shops is also opening a physical store.”
Stone also spoke about the application of this concept in the company’s 17 malls spread across the country: “How does all this meet us at Melisron? We understand that we must constantly engage in innovation, be relevant to consumers as well as customers, tenants of our stores. We need to take Our main product, the mall, and add to the experience it offers to customers and renters, thus creating the hybrid mall, which provides a perfect combination – both physical shopping, online commerce, logistics solutions and information envelope. We have already developed digital e-commerce assets and digital platforms in our malls , And we recently started a pilot that will allow a person to shop at the mall, at any store, and the products will reach him at home, that day.
It is a process of triangular victory – we as a mall earn the tenants and customers, the tenant earns greater revenue, and the consumer enjoys both ‘and both’ and the improved service. Today we understand that marketing, digital and innovation cannot be managed separately, and everything must be managed together. “
*** Full disclosure: The conference in collaboration with Bank Hapoalim, IAI, Tik Tuk, Melisron (Ofer Malls), Tabula, Lavi Media and the Yifat Group