digital marketing
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
publisher: Brian Lehn
editor-in-chief: Myriam Beaugé
art director: Christina Lehn
freelance writer: Laura Shirk
advertising sales and
subscriptions: Marianne Svensson
accounting: Fang Lu
MALL TRIPPERS
CANADA
4416 Dawson St.
Burnaby, B.C. V5C 4B9
phone: 604-294-6671
fax: 604-294-9421
Like fashionistas, travel enthusiasts could be
valuable influencers for malls to recruit.
The art of escapism has found many adepts on the
Web. Like style hounds who blog their way from one
fashion season to another, capturing every find with
alluring selfies, get-this-look tips, and merchandise
details, frequent travelers spontaneously share their
experiences with friends and looser connections via
social pages, review sites, and public forums. The
popular Lonely Planet travel guide now offers a new
Trips app that allows its users to do just that.
With Trips, travelers can upload photos and videos
to their timeline before sharing highlights of their
trips with others who might be interested in the same
destinations. The app is basically the gateway to an
online community of people who can help each other
with travel planning. It complements another Lonely
Planet product: the Guides app. In addition to expert
tips for more than 150 cities, it offers maps, too.
In the lifestyle publication genre, Monocle magazine
has just launched The Escapist, which it introduced as
“an annual directory of top places to dine, sleep, shop
and stretch out.” It brings us to a great opportunity
for retail marketers. Shopping centers are already
turning to fashion and lifestyle bloggers to act as
online content curators, consultants, shoppertainment
personalities, and ultimately brand ambassadors. Why
not do the same in the tourism realm?
Shopping center teams have developed close
relationships with travel agencies, tour operators and
trade media representatives to help drive out-of-town
visitor traffic and associated sales. The next logical
step would be to engage repeat visitors and other
tourism stakeholders, and invite them to contribute
to a mall-focused and branded online community
with a dedicated app. Travelers could use it to plan
their shopping trips based on peer-generated content
and reviews, and take advantage of retail offers, as
well as organize visits to various attractions and book
tickets for local entertainment. It’s time to turn those
shopping travelers into preferred influencers.
Click on the
window
in our digital
edition to
view the
video.
Myriam Beaugé
Editor-in-Chief, Mall Media Inc.
[email protected]
UNITED STATES
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AUSTRALIA
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fax: 1-800-005-589
UNITED KINGDOM
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phone: 0800-404-9413
fax: 0800-404-9414
Trendz is published monthly
by Mall Media Inc.
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Printed in Hong Kong
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SIMON HEADS INTO SPRING PUSHING SOCIAL STANDARDS
With shopping centers across the globe, Simon Property Group (Simon)
keeps on the pulse of everything from season lines to social buzz. Sharp in
dress and online décor, the company’s website design and digital features
do more than simply complement the in-store retail experience.
Playing on the tagline “walk, dance and roll into spring,”, the top
half of the homepage shows people of all ages and backgrounds doing
just that. More strolling than scrolling, unlike the common header, the
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