Each week, we bring you a brief profile on one of our fantastic readers. Should we be writing about you? Let us know.

Name: Michelle Moffitt
Title: Marketing Manager
Property: The Chimes Shopping Centre
Location: Uxbridge West London, UK

How long have you been at this center?
I have been at The Chimes for just over 3 years.

How many years of experience do you have in the retail industry?
I am in my 10th year of working in the fashion and retail industry. Having started in FMCG, moving into wholesale fashion and then retail.

What have you found to be the most effective strategies to promote new retailers?
With few retailer changes we have had limited exposure to promoting new retailers. On the few occasions we have had new stores, we focused on the PR angle: linking with media partners on large value prizes backed by strong in-centre and digital exposure. Effectiveness can often depend on the retailers resources but we add value and promote as actively as we can.

Do you more actively promote new retailers in certain categories (e.g. apparel, footwear, food)? If so,which categories?
We try a more holistic approach for our marketing of the centre – we see ourself as a destination, hence we focus on our key strengths of fashion, food and entertainment – and this works well. We generally push the destination on all larger brand formats and then promote the three separately in our digital and DM communications.

Do you promote new specialty retail tenants (kiosks, RMUs) as well as in-line tenants?
Demand for our scheme has been consistently strong – so retailer changes have been very minimal. The majority of our budget is spent on our main tenants but to keep customer interest and show them we have new concepts we have begun to promote our kiosks, this allows us to keep fresh. We are always looking for reasons to invite our customers to revisit and reappraise our centre

What is your primary marketing goal for The Chimes this year?
To stand out from the crowd and be desirable.

What is your biggest challenge this year?
Our competitive landscape has changed drastically over the past 12 months so our challenge has been repositioning ourselves and finding our place in the market. We are now reaping the rewards from this hard work.

Can you offer one tip to other mall marketing professionals?
Be bold and try new things. Take risks, calculated of course, and push the boundaries – then you will stand out.

Thanks Michelle!

Name: Loren Moss
Title: Specialty Leasing and Marketing Manager
Property: Santa Rosa Mall
Location: Fort Walton Beach/Destin, FL (USA)

How long have you been at this property? Since May 1, 2009.

How many years of experience do you have in the retail industry?
I have nine years of experience in retail real estate. Prior to that, I ran a technology firm serving the retail/restaurant industry for five years.

What are the main strategies that you use to promote your specialty leasing program?
Direct prospecting is best, face to face with prospective retailers. A big part of what I do is simply letting independent retailers know that there is space for them at the mall. Before joining Jones Lang LaSalle, I spent most of my real estate career representing retail tenants and most small operators have no idea that there is a way to operate in a mall without a long-term commitment and a multi-million-dollar balance sheet. It’s an easy sell once you successfully get your message out.

Which retail categories have been the most productive for specialty leasing?
The most productive have been apparel (independent retailers), furniture, computers and accessories. The furniture and computer categories have been a surprising success.

How much do our center’s in-line tenants use specialty leasing space? For what purpose for they typically use this space (e.g. Liquidation of stock, new product promotion, seasonal marketing, extra shelf space during inventory turnover)?
In our instance, the primary purpose for in-line tenants using specialty-leasing space has been either storage or using vacant kiosks for promotional advertising.

What is your primary marketing goal for the properties this year?
Incubate seasonal operators into year-round operators and the more successful specialty retailers into permanent tenants. Specifically for this year we want to fill some gaps in our retail lineup. For example, we want to broaden our holiday toy and children’s apparel offering.

What is your biggest challenge this year?
I relocated to this mall from Ohio and our GM is also new to this property, so we have to ramp up very quickly in establishing relationships. I especially have to get a feel for the market. We are just outside of a large military base and in a tourism-oriented area. It’s very different from the malls outside the large metro areas I had in Ohio and Indiana, a very different region of the country. The markets, consumers, even real estate laws are very different here, so there is a learning curve.

Can you offer one tip to other mall-marketing professionals?
Remember that it’s a sales job. Whether you are selling retail space to tenants or selling the mall as a destination to the public, don’t forget that you are selling something. You need to believe in the product (in our case retail space, a venue or a shopping destination) to be effective and enjoy what you do.

Thanks Loren!

Each week, we bring you a brief profile on one of our fantastic readers. Should we be writing about you? Let us know.

Name: Monique Hester
Title: Marketing Director
Property: Cortana Mall
Location: Louisiana, USA

How long have you been at this property? Two-and-a-half years.

How many years of experience do you have in the retail industry?
I have an extensive 20-plus year background based in the fashion retail industry. I switched to shopping center marketing about seven years ago and loved it!

As a mall marketer, you’ve been through two hurricanes—Katrina and Gustav. How has that affected your approach to crisis management at the mall?
I’ve learned that, regardless of what your role is in the crisis plan, you need to be prepared to assume other duties, be flexible with your hours and learn to be resourceful with what little is available to you (e.g. staffing or supplies or equipment).

Is your marketing department involved in the elaboration of Cortana Mall’s crisis management plan?
Yes and my major responsibility in the crisis plan is internal and external communications.

How much does your mall rely on technology in the delivery of its crisis management plan (e.g. e-newsletter, mall Website, blog)?
During Hurricanes, a lot of modern day technology is not accessible so I kept in contact with the press, TV and radio stations to deliver the most current status on the mall’s closing and opening.

What is your primary marketing goal this year?
My primary goal is to increase gift card sales

What is your biggest challenge this year?
Mall sales because the recession has customers hesitant to shop as much as previous years.

Can you offer one tip to other mall-marketing professionals?
Allow me to give two tips about Hurricane survival:
1) You can never have enough ice!
2) Keep two cell phones—one with a local area code and the second with an out-of-state area code—so that you can communicate with the corporate office and relatives if the local telephone service is knocked out.

Thanks Monique!

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Name: Bianca Xoyamayagua
Title: Common Area Coordinator
Property: Highland Mall
Location: Austin, Texas

How long have you been at this property? Two years.

How many years of experience do you have in the retail industry? Two years as well.

How do you promote your mall gift cards onsite?
We have year-round core collateral, including 22×28’s, tower signage, window clings, table tents and banners that are incorporated throughout the mall in high traffic areas.

How often do you incorporate the gift cards into your special events and mall promotions?
Gift cards are an excellent incentive for customers to shop the mall and spend above and beyond the gift card amount. I like to incorporate mall gift card giveaways in each promotion because customers are excited about the prospect of getting some extra spending money.

Do you ever use your tenants’ gift cards as part of your sales promotions?
We always encourage retailers to provide retailer prizes and giveaways, such as gift certificates, merchandise and samples for mall events and promotions. Tenant gift cards and giveaways are a great way for retailers to receive product exposure.

What percentage of your gift card promotional efforts are corporate-driven, as opposed to bring mall-based?
A large portion of our gift-card promotional efforts is corporate-driven. Our GGP properties have had several gift-card incentives recently to stimulate traffic and sales. Members of The Club, a membership-based marketing program, were recently rewarded with a free $10 gift card via e-mail. Research showed that because of the offers many shoppers made unplanned purchases with their gift cards. Theses types of programs address customers’ need for value.

What is your primary marketing goal this year?
To create shopper affinity, traffic, and sales for our retailers. With the current economic crisis, malls are having to compete heavily with the “value” retailers for our share of the customer dollar. Through our Website, Club membership and in-mall promotions, we are able to create a complete shopping experience with an emphasis on the customer value received.

What is your biggest challenge this year?
Creating marketing programs with reduced budgets. One of the best ways to counteract this is to work with our retailers, leverage their events and partner with them to make their events and promotions successful.

Can you offer one tip to other mall-marketing professionals?
Think outside of the box! Partner with retailers and third parties to create value-added events/promotions and give customers a reason to shop.

Thanks Bianca!

Each week, we bring you a brief profile on one of our fantastic readers. Should we be writing about you? Let us know.

Name: Misti Dullard
Title: Marketing Manager
Property: Queen Victoria Market
Location: Melbourne, Australia

How long have you been at this property? Four and a half years

How many years of experience do you have in the retail industry? About eight years.

Which tools do you use to monitor the traffic on your market’s Website?
We use Google Analytics and receive a monthly report of traffic statistics.

How often do you review the site’s traffic?
We review at least on a monthly basis to compare with the previous month and see where our dips and peaks have been. The process is stepped up during a campaign.

How do you use this type of analysis to plan or manage the site’s content?
Being able to view where people are heading on the site (and where they are not heading), where they are spending more time, where they are leaving the site all helps determine the direction we take with future Website decisions and aligned advertising/marketing strategies.

Which type of content is viewed most often on your site? How do you turn that interest into more business for your market?
Details of our trading hours, our location etc. are always popular, as are our event pages and information about our offers. Because we know that people are interested in these areas, we also highlight them through other advertising and marketing mediums.

Do you normally do your online marketing work in-house or do you hire a Web development firm?
We have a Website development company which worked with us on building www.qvm.com.au, and it also provides site maintenance. However, the site was designed in a way that enables us to make the majority of changes and updates in-house. We are currently in stage II of our Website project with the end result intended to provide Queen Victoria Market patrons (and lovers of all things Markets in general) with an interactive, directional and informative experience to which they will want to keep coming back.

What is your primary goal this year?
To build on our current subscriber list (you can join up at www.qvm.com.au)! We have an e-newsletter that currently gets distributed to more than 7,000 subscribers and details everything from what’s happening at the Market and new product arrivals to what’s in season and trader tidbits. It’s very much about highlighting the Market as more than a shopping experience—it’s a lifestyle experience. And, of course, another big goal is to convert our Web traffic to foot traffic in our center.

What is your biggest challenge this year?
We are in a unique position of being both a retail center and a tourist attraction. Obviously, with the current economic crisis and competitors with much bigger budgets and marketing levies, it’s always a challenge to ensure that the Market remains a relevant part of people’s lives. We are very lucky that, given our 130-year history and the fact that many of our traders (over 800) are third and fourth-generation retailers, locals feel a passionate sense of ownership of the Market. This passion, together with the Market’s unique shopping experience, is what attracts tourists into the Market and seals Queen Victoria Market as a major tourism attraction for Victoria.

Can you offer one tip to other mall-marketing professionals?
Only that you cannot be afraid to try new things, monitor and use current trends to your advantage, and work with your community.

Thanks Misti!

Each week, we bring you a brief profile on one of our fantastic readers. Should we be writing about you? Let us know.