Shopping center audit
Richardson Square Mall is retail shopping center which was opened in 1977 and was initially located in Richard, Texas. It is currently located as an outdoor retail center in its place Richard Square. The revitalization of City of Richard has seen few expansion of retail business with the new Richard Shopping center, where more than 10 retailers having been remodeled, redeveloped, changed ownership with new retail centers being expanded or constructed. After the demolition of the Mall in 2007, Sears remained as the only retailer to become part of the new Richard Shopping Center. The mall occupies a large chunk of land and its size is about 400,000 square feet with retail centers, forming a large community or neighborhood (Washington Prime Group, n.d). The center’s strong daytime employment is the driver for restaurant retail with and is experiencing more growth of multi-family units and demand for additional retail-related options continues to increase. The remodeling and renovation of the place give it a good appearance and the addition of new business units gives it an updated look. The landscape consists of grass fields that are trimmed, with 11 parking lots, outside walkways and sidewalks being well maintained (Washington Prime Group, n.d).
Location
The shopping center is located in the city, but this location is generally way from the reach of many due to it’s out of reach for the Dallas- Fort Worth traffic. This means only those who lived near the Richard Square Mall. It is almost 5 miles and some few traffic lights from 1-635. Other than inconveniences stemming from the far distance, the center has various parking lot entries and exists for customers that are convenient places which allow for easy entries and exists. The customers can easily enter or depart from the mall shopping center. The shopping center is also located among other shopping malls and retailers in the city and with many hotels around it (Washington Prime Group, n.d). The various shopping centers surrounding Richard Square include the The Shops at Promenade, The UPS Store of Richard, Curtis Culwell center that serves as a conference center , and various restaurants such as Frankie’s Gianino’s Grill &Bar , Scottie’s Pub House ,Delta Queen Port of Call and TGI Fridays – St.Louis. The shopping center exist among other retail centers in the vicinity including the Neiman Marcus, 2shea Baby, Eastside Richardson and Galleria Dallas among other shopping centers in the entire region. These includes outside shopping centers, indoor malls , conference centers and even lifestyles centers within the vicinity if the city and near the Richardson Shopping .
Since the shopping center is near the city traffic, it is rightly located where shoppers can access the retail businesses. It is distinctly located from local business trips or down town and its building seems to have been planned to allow tenants interplay in the merchandizing units. The family units’ location also seems to be a destination for family functions and outings given the various family units that can be found within the center. The site seems to have been selected for easy access of customers who can easily manage to drive enter or leave the place given the spacious and well planned parking lots. It has various on-site parking that allows such customers to carry seek services from the various retail outlets within the center and the amount of this parking is related directly to the retail area of the place. The sidewalks can also ensure that customers can park and then walk to their destined places in relative speed and safety. The atmosphere created in this place has great appeal and shopping comfort which makes its intended purpose to be a destination for local customers and its renovation leaves various family units. The retail market is bound to change with change in customer preferences which means that retailers must adapt to these changes and target more customers in the process. This involves shifting the retail mix in order to attract more customers from the vicinity even if the shopping center is a destination. This involves developing the right mix through a retail strategy that is based on an overall marketing plan of the firm. The retail mix is therefore a strategy that the shopping center management will use to attract more customers especially from the vicinity. The retail mix should involve the tenant of this shopping center where key factors are considered in deciding the marketing decisions aimed at targeting more customers. Using the 4 Ps can rightly explain the right strategy that can be used to target more of the local customers and thereby increase their flow into the shopping center. The product decision will involve leasing the spaces to retailers who will provide commodities with brand names, packaging and guarantees that meets the needs of the local customers. The provision of various products should also involve identifying and even meeting the various needs of customers from the vicinity (Levy, Weitz & Grewal, 2014). However, development of a retail mix strategy should take into account the various factors that define a business including the personnel, product, promotion, presentation, and price in addition to place.
Retailer composition
The main anchors for Richardson Shopping center include the Sears, Ross Dress for Less, Super Target and Anna’s Linens. Sears, Ross Dress for Less and Anna’s Linens are departmental stores while Super Target is a hypermarket located in the shopping center. Other retailers include the Pizza Hut Express, home improvement store for Lowe and Panda Express m Whataburger MA Chick-fil-A that are mainly restaurants located inside the shipping center. The later are mostly small retailers that form the big number with large retailers making about 50 percent of the overall businesses. The higher percentages of the retailers are not locally with many having their presence in other locations. However the shopping center has various vacancies where other retailers can establish their business to add on the intended retail mix. Sears and Ross Dress for Less offer different products including accessories, apparels, home fashions and footwear. Ross Dress for Less offers products at prices of 20-60 % off the regular prices especially to middle income earners or households and discounted regular prices for customers from those the households that have moderate income. Sears offer a collection of stylish clothing’s for all customers irrespective of their age , various home appliances, including electronics and kitchen products. The retailers in the shopping mall offers various brands of the products whether clothing and other appliances with different prices in order to cater for all the customers with different purchasing powers.
The difference in brands and prices assist the retailers in positioning in this local market which has many customers with varying needs and preferences and even different levels of income. The retailers’ offers already manufactured products while acting as the link between the producer or wholesaler and the ultimate final customer. Since the prices offered for different products are generally less than in other shopping areas, it means these products were bought in bulk and sold in small quantities that the customer can afford to buy. Given the variety of products offered at varying prices, the target market appears to be the local consumers. The shopping center largely serves the local area or people who do not reside far away from this place of business. In addition, the products are properly displayed in the retail shops within the stores, which is a strategy adopted by retailers in order to attract more customers into buying the products. By providing a variety of products to customers in a limited area, retailers normally aim at meeting the needs if the local customers and therefore, maximum satisfaction. Customers normally feel comfortable knowing that retailers will offer convenience in regard to location of the retail shops with various ranges of products that can be accessed easily. In addition, the various product varieties enable customers to have a selection of products that suits their needs (Levy, Weitz & Grewal, 2014). The retail relation to the target market is enhanced by the choice provided for the consumers at appropriate quantities and reasonable buying prices. The pricing strategy adopted by the retailers is also simpler than the one used by other vendors like wholesalers and, hence are able to target a single local consumer segment in an area.
Customer Traffic
Richardson Square shopping center appeared to have generally fewer shoppers than expected in a highly performing shopping mall. A larger number of the people in the shopping center were just walking around with a smaller number inside the mall which is an indication that the place is not busy. Shoppers are just seen congregating in a few stores while majority of the stores had limited traffic of customers and those congregating could not be found at the counters paying for the products selected. In addition, the traffic appeared imbalanced with the parking lot cramped around those stores that offered necessary perishable products like foods or drinks. Generally, majority of the stores appeared to have smaller customer traffic, signified by the large unoccupied parking lots. Fewer customer visits in shopping centers or malls is an indication that the retail is not performing well or is not growing.
Facilities
The Richard Square shopping center exits and entry points are located in convenient places including for the major anchor stores that allow for easy access by customers. The shopping center has both indoor and outdoor trashes receptacles that enable the place remain and appear clean everywhere. The trash cans are generally in good conditions with enough empty space for waste. The center has been renovated with the floors, walls and railings appearing in good conditions and in overall, everything appears to be maintained with few places requiring repair work. Even though the restrooms cannot accommodate a large group of customers, they are clean and even easily accessible. In addition, there are no specific fixtures that are in bad condition in a manner that could hinder the ability of shoppers to walk around the center easily. The surroundings of the center appear in good conditions with the lighting system, the doors and even the escalators are in good condition, with nothing repelling anyone interested in shopping from the place.
SWOT analysis
The strengths for the shopping center emerge from the maintenance of the facilities which can have long-term effects on the entity and thereby addition value to it. Good maintenance across the entity can lead to overall reduction of cost and this will enable the attraction of more retailers and customers (Levy, Weitz & Grewal, 2014). Maintenance and renovation will enable the organization to compete against the surrounding shopping centers since customers are attracted by an appealing environment. Adequate parking space, availability of restaurants and availability of various large retail stores gives the center an advantage against the surrounding shopping centers since customers are attracted by the convenience aspect. The shopping center has various weaknesses which includes lack adequate restrooms which mean that a large number of customers cannot find enough waiting areas. Furthermore, the location of the Richardson Square is such that it favors only those individuals who are driving while living out those who could use public means or taxis to shop in the various retail centers. This could be the reason why the center is experiencing low customer traffic as the local consumers are not being drawn into the shopping center in comparison with the competing shopping malls in the vicinity.
There are also opportunities available for the Richard Square to improve customer service, quality and hence more profit . The entity should lease more of the available space to retailers who will store more product variety and hence make the center a one-stop shopping place targeting all the local customers. The management of the entity can also take advantage of the large population by liaising with public service providers to provide transportation services to local customers who are not driving and thus increasing the traffic into this center. A major threat facing Richard Square are the many shopping malls in the vicinity and offering similar retail services or more, representing high competition faced by the entity. This coupled with a past history of shutdown is a risk to the performance of the entity.
Recommendations
In order for the retail center to improve its performance , it will should implement strategies aimed at meeting the needs of relevant target customers , building of competitive advantage that is sustainable and improving the image of the centers. In order to meet the customers need, the management of the entity has considered the stores that are likely to provide products that meet the needs of the customers (Levy, Weitz & Grewal, 2014). Choosing the appropriate stores to be located in the development is important given that customer traffic will depend on various factors among them being the availability of desire products or services. Building competitive advantage involves including of centers within that offer additional services that cater for all households in this area an example of which is lifestyle centers. Such places will include all the demographics including the families with kids and people who would like to hold various functions in the place. Improving the image of Richardson Square will involve redesigning the floor to include more retail occupancy, and bring in more services or product that can increase the traffic of the customers in the Mall.
References
Washington Prime Group, n.d. Richardson Square. Retrieved from: http://richardsonsquare.com/
Levy, M., Weitz, B. A., & Grewal, D. (2014). Retailing management. New York: Irwin/McGraw-Hill.
