In the shifting world of shopping malls, parking technology will help owners not neglect a key asset
Talks of the numbered days of malls and shopping centers are often exaggerated, brought on by fear over rising e-commerce dominance. But, what we are truly witnessing is just a change in shopping trends, not a reckoning for the time honored mall. This means these locations are simply shifting to new value propositions and offerings, not facing becoming obsolete.
Commercial real estate owners, retailers, and other key stakeholders, are expected to make changes based on the shifting demands of consumers. Rethinking parking processes with new parking technology helps evolve the customer experience, thereby increasing the opportunity of bringing visitors back again and again. Parking is both the first and last point of contact made with malls, meaning having a refined and updated parking experience is critical to retaining customers.
Parking infrastructure, a seemingly simple aspect, but often overlooked and forgotten, of the shopping experience from the outside is a vital part of any mall’s strategy. The parking management industry is expected to exceed $10 billion in yearly revenue by 2030, showing the significant growth forecasted across the sector. Over recent years, various tech solutions seeking to alleviate parking pain points have emerged claiming they can provide greater convenience and safety.
Start where the shoppers start
A customer’s parking experience is often the first and final point of contact with any given retail location. As the proverbial “mouse trap,” it presents a vital opportunity for mall operators to gather important visitor information that can be analyzed for further optimization.
For mall operators seeking to curate a frictionless experience for shoppers, these offer a path to improving the beginning and end of the customer’s experience. At NextRivet, we have worked with many mall operators to integrate technology services that help our clients create more value out of their properties. Creating an improved parking experience for shoppers is a priority for most operators in 2024 and can be improved with various technological and strategic integrations.
How do you use parking to better understand your customer?
Data is the driving force of decision-making. With more technology being integrated into our daily lives, the opportunities for data collection become endless. While improving the customer experience, the insights can improve business processes and increase value.
In parking, there are various opportunities for data collection. The first step? Implement license plate recognition (LPR) technology into your parking infrastructure. With LPR technology, property owners have a powerful tool that creates a frictionless experience for their shoppers and provides a reason for those same shoppers to provide data and the credentials to access and pay for the spaces. Making it easier to park provides the natural “give-to-get” rationale for shoppers to provide their data.
With this one solution, and using a vehicle license plate as a credential, the opportunity to establish a first-party (name, email, payment, etc) relationship becomes unlocked. This can be helpful in all aspects of the business:
- Building Operations with real-time insights, live control, data visualization and reporting you can make strategic decisions to understand who, where, when, and for how long shoppers are parking, the frequency of visits, peak days and times, prime locations, and durations.
- Business Operations is improved by accurately managing your pricing strategy, marketing strategy and patrolling schedules.
- Marketing by nurturing a future loyalty program by rewarding for certain criteria like frequency of visits, length of stay or preferred times of the day they visited.
- Security is improved by using the data to gather greater parking enforcement accuracy and reduction of disputes
How does this improve the experience for shoppers?
Parking is hard to get right. For many shoppers the parking garage experience can create a negative feeling at the beginning and end of their visit.
Creating a frictionless and hassle-free experience can set a positive tone, giving shoppers a positive impression even before they enter the property. With the “magic” of the access gate opening automatically, cashless payment options, real-time space availability, and even the ability to reserve a space beforehand, the development of innovative solutions like smart parking can transform the customer journey.
What’s next for mall operators?
By implementing parking technology, such as LPR, sensors, electric vehicle chargers, and enhanced guidance systems, mall operators and property owners are able to get more out of their parking systems. In a world increasingly driven by data-insights, mall owners can implement these strategies and technologies to generate additional revenue, create more value and convenience for shoppers, and improve the overall experience of visitors.