Revenue sharing model in retail industry to grow
LiveMint, US
New Delhi: Indian retailers and reality firms are increasingly hopping on to the idea of revenue sharing model to beat the recession blues …

Macy’s tailors stores, including new Fairview location, to match local tastes
Dallas Morning News, US
Terry Lundgren is the guy who took away your local department store, turning it into another link in the Macy’s chain. Now the company CEO wants to give it back with a program he calls My Macy’s …

Marketing to Today’s 65-plus Consumers
AdWeek, US
Stick around for seven or more decades and you’re apt to become the focal point of some stereotypes before you’re done. In the case of today’s 65-and-older consumers, though, the problem is that the stereotypes of frail-and-lonely ancients are more creaky than the people to whom they’re applied …

Retail Owners Look to Fountains to Provide Intangible Gains
Retail Traffic, US
In the race to drive customer traffic in the current environment, shopping center owners are looking for every way they can find to differentiate their centers from competitors’ outlets. To that end, an old standby, mall fountains, are enjoying a resurgence in both indoor and outdoor settings …

Retail sales rise more than expected in May
Financial Post, CA
Canadian retail sales rose much more than expected in May after a surprise drop the previous month, Statistics Canada said Wednesday …

Where Giveaways Are Valued Most
New York Times, US
The toaster at the bank, the unexpected treat before the appetizers come. Marketers know that surprise giveaways go a long way. In a paper soon to be published in The Journal of Consumer Research, three researchers show that reactions vary widely across cultures to this kind of surprise …

Free Retail Training for 1000
The Straits Times, SG
About 1,000 retail staff will receive free training at a new service training centre at the upcoming 313@Somerset mall. The centre, launched on Monday by Australian Trade Minister Simon Crean, is the first of its kind here by a mall landlord …

Aussies spend up
Inside Retailing, AU
Australians are shrugging off fears about the economy, with more than two thirds planning to maintain or increase spending on discretionary items, a new survey shows …

Prime shopping centre vacancy rates drop 25%
Property Week, UK
Prime shopping centres in the UK have seen vacancy rates fall by 25% since January 2009. The research, by DTZ which surveyed a number of the UK’s top 20 shopping centres found vacancy rates have reduced by over 25% to 5.1% on average …

“The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.”
Dorothy Parker
(1893 – 1967)

This weekend, The Brightwater Commons presents Out of Africa, a celebration of African history and heritage.

The South African mall will spend the weekend displaying traditional African art and handiwork – carved masks and instruments, handmade clothing, wirework, jewellery, paintings and more. A market of traders from across Africa will be on hand for shoppers, too.

Out of Africa also has plenty of entertainment to keep shoppers interested. If shoppers want to sit back, relax and enjoy a show, they can check out demonstrations of tribal dance and fashion shows. There will also be dramatic poetry performances by acting duo !Bushwomen, and a jazz performance by African Jazz Pioneers.

And if shoppers want to take a bit more of an active role in the proceedings, they can take part in extreme 4×4 events, soccer games, camel riding, and massages.

To top things off, shoppers can enter a contest for a trip to Zanzibar, to really experience more about their home continent.

There’s nothing like spectacle to bring your mall headlines. Mall of America has just proved that once again with a giant, yellow cupcake.

Blogs and newspapers across the US have been reporting all week on the mall’s 151 pound cupcake. Giant and yellow, it was created by Cakes.com as a tribute to Spongebob Squarepants. And now the Guinness Book of World Records has affirmed it to be the largest cupcake in the world. Made complete with fudge filling and 60 lbs of yellow frosting, the enormous tasty treat has now been delivered to a pig farm as feed. But not before it brought a lot of attention to the Mall of America.

Mall retailers aren’t your only opportunity for profitable partnerships. Australia Fair has partnered with local business Get Hummered to bring more traffic to both.

Shoppers looking for a luxurious day at the mall can contact Get Hummered for a Shop Till You Drop package. The package includes a chauffeured Stretch Hummer drive to the mall, VIP treatment at the mall (without discounts from select retailers, of course), lunch at a mall retailer, and the option of a personal stylist for the day.

The trip costs $150 per person, but making the trip to the mall a real experience? Priceless.