The Placer.ai Mall Index, which analyzes data from 300 malls in both urban and suburban shopping centers in the U.S., including top-tier indoor malls, open-air centers and outlet malls alike, just released its March 2024 Recap report. Luckily, the results indicate a favorable foot traffic trajectory in the mall space overall. In March 2024, traffic in the top-tier indoor malls was up 9.7%, while traffic in open-air shopping centers was up 10.1% and traffic in outlet malls was up 10.7%, compared to March 2023.
Another important update in the report was that customer shopping trends have altered this year compared to the pre-COVID trends of 2019. When comparing Q1 shopper trends from 2019 with Q1 of 2024, the number of shoppers going to a center directly from home, or returning directly home after being in a mall, has decreased. This means that today’s shopper no longer prioritizes one-stop shopping in a singular retail setting. Instead, the shopper of 2024 prefers multiple stops in multiple settings, such as visiting a dining venue and then attending a separate mall for an apparel purchase and then finishing up an outing with yet one more stop at a grocery-anchored center.
The reasons for this retail-hopping experience may be due to inflation affecting shopping habits. To save money overall, a consumer may go from one particular store offering great savings to a restaurant with ideal happy hour prices, followed by a grocery store at a specific location that happens to offer the best deals. Rising gas costs may also contribute to encapsulating multiple different retail setting visits into one lengthy errand.
Ultimately, the best takeaway from this data is that all types of shopping centers are still proving to be viable. It is conceivable that as mall owners begin providing varied tenant mixes in their shopping centers, such as offering entertainment, grocery services, dining, higher-end stores and more value-oriented retailers, shoppers may once again spend more time in one particular mall setting. Should inflationary prices ease up, this may also influence shoppers’ habits, and once again bring about the return of longer mall visits.
