Smart Shopping
A bricks-and-mortar mall gets Web savvy; a B2B site offers cool online wholesale showrooms
The art of getting consumers connected with exactly what they want—at the best prices—has never been the same since the advent of the shopping mall. Indeed, just entering a mega-mall can cause some to forget what it was they set out to buy.
One might even speculate that this architectural overstimulation is deliberately intended to confuse, confound and disorient, bringing consumers in contact with products they might not otherwise have considered for acquisition. Shopping should be, it could be argued, an orchestrated experience.
But smart shopping—now fully in the hands of the consumer armed with the technology of the Information Age—has some new and tantalizing advantages.
Los Angeles’ Beverly Center, one of Southern California’s most prestigious malls, has launched a Web site [www.beverlycenter.com] that functions magnificently for the shopper intent on a clear personal agenda.
Augmented by a personalized e-mail bulletin, the site offers constantly updated information regarding upcoming sales. In what is dubbed “precision shopping,” the consumer is informed of sales on specific requested merchandise categories by brand and/or store and/or item type.
Here is how it works: You sign up for the e-mail newsletter on the Web site and ask to be alerted every time, say, angora sweaters go on sale. You receive notice of when and at what store(s) the goods are being offered, just in advance of the sale(s).
“This is about saving time and money,” said Barbara Bach, Beverly Center’s marketing director, in a recent press release. Additionally, the customized e-mail service can be set to alert consumers of upcoming birthdays and other holidays—just in time to shop.
The visually appealing Web site offers a wealth of information that goes beyond its compelling display of the current week’s sales. Information about every retailer in the center is meticulously posted, and although the center’s site does not facilitate direct online sales, a growing number of retailers with active e-commerce-enabled sites are linked—expanding the ultimate retail reach of Beverly Center’s bricks-and-mortar reality.
Community pages also offer announcements of public events featured at the center—and prompt citizen/neighbors to have a stronger voice in City Hall by joining with other concerned and interested citizens in the development of the Mid-City/West Community Council. (Is the Beverly Center really on the verge of becoming a new electronic town hall?)
Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based Taubman Centers Inc., owner/manager of the mall and dozens more throughout North America, developed the site and companion e-mail bulletin based on research that tracked 18,000 Internet users in its markets. In addition, the company conducted 36 focus groups aimed at designing the ideal Web site for a mall.
The Beverly Center site is now a model for sites being developed for all of Taubman’s shopping centers. Access to the site includes an interface specifically designed for wireless personal digital assistant devices, based upon projections that wireless access to the Web may actually surpass wired access within a few years. A B2B for You?
Many designers cite an inability to showcase and sell their merchandise to a broad base of retailers due to insufficient sales channels and limited targeted-marketing options. Stylesmart [www.stylesmart.com] is one of a few Web sites addressing this industry-wide challenge.
The company has constructed an e-commerce-enabled online showroom for participating designers to showcase their product lines and reach new customers.
Founded in May 2000, Stylesmart features the collections of international and domestic women’s apparel and accessories designers Buzz by Jane Fox, Mac Millan, Sarah Shaw Handbags, Brooke Scott, Cristina Ruales, Piscotta Cashmere, Espoga-Chicago and Mandala NYC, among others.
In addition to its Web-based showroom, Stylesmart provides Seattle-based retailers with the convenience of a physical showroom where wholesale buyers can browse and buy the designs featured online.
