insights of a shopoholic

I am a shopoholic. I love shopping. Retail, wholesale, fleamarkets and malls. It is all about the hunt for something I just have to have - although I probably did not know about this life or death need until whatever product (that I cannot live without) appeared before my eyes.

Fact is, I need to shop. Understanding how shoppers respond to shopping environments as well as advertising and branding programs and the like is integral to my business. As well it is equally important to understand how those environments respond to shoppers. You would not believe some of the faux pas I have seen in various shopping centres - both with individual retailers and the centre staff. This is what brand experience is. It is not a magic answer you get from a questionnaire, it is not something you can experience through a powerpoint presentation or can find described on a graph. Emotion just does not work that way. And shopping is all about emotion. If there are two products that offer the same benefit to a consumer, the one that the consumer feels right about and can identify with is the one they will buy.

I am not ashamed to tell you that I have shopped at every mall I have ever worked with save one, which was in the UAE and I really could not justify a 17 hour flight. I also shop at malls I have not worked with. Probably in excess of fifty. Some call it frivolous, I call it research. I am also master of the "working holiday". I even travel with special shoes just for visiting malls.

In the past I have driven miles to a mall, struggled to find a decent parking spot and made the trek from my car to the mall (frequently in the rain). I have shopped, morning noon and night. I have been lost in malls. I have shopped with four kids, including a toddler. I shopped till I got tired and sweaty - who says shopping isn't a workout. I have lost my car. I have lost a kid. Although both we found again in relatively good condition.

Over my next few blog postings I am going to offer you a shopoholic's perspective on the changing retail marketplace.

I hope it will offer you insight into what strategies shopping centres could, and should be doing in order to build and retain their consumer base.