Navigating a Changing Mall: Analyzing Consumer Behavior

Over the past couple of years, many analysts have asserted that shopping centers have lost their relevance. But visits have not dropped as dramatically as predicted, and in 2022, despite the various economic headwinds, shopping centers throughout the country still attracted hundreds of millions of visits.

This white paper looks at recent location intelligence data to better understand the current state of malls and shopping centers. We looked at data from Grocery-Anchored Shopping Centers and from the Placer.ai Mall Indexes, which focus on top-tier Indoor Malls, Open-Air Lifestyle Centers (not including outlet malls), and Outlet Malls. We analyzed visit numbers, dwell times, daily and weekly visit distribution, and visitor journey information to see how actual visit patterns have changed in recent years. We also zoomed out to the wider Shopping Center category to understand how inflation and high gas prices may have impacted shopping center traffic. 

Read Navigating a Changing Mall: Analyzing Consumer Behavior to find out:

• How do high inflation and gas price hikes impact mall traffic? 
• Do different mall formats exhibit different daily, weekly, and seasonal visitation patterns? 
• Which type of anchor provides a traffic boost to shopping centers?