Retail Management : How An Apple Store May Boost Your Mall Sales

We discuss a lot in this blog about category management, and how to add customer value by providing the right response to shoppers' needs. But in the same sens, retail and mall management are crucial. Indeed, the mall business has been declining due to 2 main factors:

• The raise of online sales
• The multiplication of malls and stores which create a tough competition, and too many square meters compared to peoples' needs.

Therefore it is important to make the right choice in the boutiques your mall may propose. I read an interesting article about how Apple stores allow to malls to lift their sales by 10% on average.

To me, there is two reasons about that:

• Apple has a strong brand equity, and it brings added value and traffic to your mall.
• Apple has a clear concept with a premium price, which helps to lift the prices of the malls;

But when you have such an impact on a mall revenues, you understand the reason why Apple negociate so well its leases, especially in this tough economy.

I believe that the ability of one mall to propose the right mix in terms of boutiques is a key factor of success and a driver of foot visit.