[ad_1]

Mall of America last week announced the debut of its first e-commerce website where customers can shop local inventory from various retailers located at the mall.

Browsers head to shop.mallofamerica.com and browse “thousands of in-stock items from your favorite stores at Mall of America,” according to Shop MOA microsite. Shoppers use a single checkout and pick up their purchases at a designated spot near a mall entrance. Home delivery is available for customers within 15 miles of the Bloomington, MN mall.

“Skip the Line. Buy Online,” states Mall of America’s marketing copy on the Shop MOA microsite. “Be totally prepped for the holiday, with gifts in hand and peace on earth. MOA has made it even easier to shop our in-store offerings, totally online! No out-of-stock surprises or shipping delays.”

Only about 70 of Mall of America’s over 520 stores are so far participating in the program. Beyond the logistics of in-store pickup or ship from store, one challenge is continually updating in-store inventories to the website in real time.

Only a few other malls offer localized online selling.

In September 2020, Centennial introduced its “Shop Now!” e-commerce platform in seven U.S. markets. In June 2021, Florida’s Bal Harbour Shops launched an online marketplace for its upscale tenants.

Centennial said online sites can be beneficial to mall traffic as customers can pre-plan their in-person visits.

A mall’s online site can also foster discovery to complement in-store browsing. On the Shop MOA site, shoppers can filter down searches by newer items, sub-categories, store, color, sizes, price and occasion. Mall of America marketing VP Grant Buntje, told Twin Cities Business, “We’re thinking about the power of shopping versus buying.”

Bal Harbour Shops’ online site is designed to reach clients who are out of town or otherwise can’t make it to the mall. However, the site’s curated selections and extensive style guides and other content are ultimately designed to encourage in-person visits.

Matthew Whitman Lazenby, president and CEO of Whitman Family Development, Bal Harbour Shops’ owner, told WWD, “We are not trying to compete with Farfetch or Mytheresa. This is very much Bal Harbour Shops-centric.”

[ad_2]

Source link