Insights

The new chapter of retail calls for more than the same-old approach, and experiential offerings are an excellent way to engage the consumer wave.

For the desperate desert wanderer any ol’ oasis will do. The urgency of the situation usually eliminates any tendency to be choosy. Although consumers have persevered through their own barren landscape of sorts during COVID-19, retailers shouldn’t count on their pent-up demand alone to drive sales.

Shoppers, diners and consumers of entertainment are breaking out in a big way and looking for special outlets for their dollars. Retailers should respond with special engagement efforts even to the point of retail reinvention.

“It’s not just about shopping. It’s about food and beverage, family entertainment concepts, theater, art, gathering spaces and activation,” said Whitney Livingston, president and COO of Centennial REC, at France Media’s Entertainment Experience Evolution conference earlier this year. “The most successful centers are going to be the ones that are thinking differently, and those will be the most dominant destinations of the future.”

Staying power is a fine thing in business and even more appreciated after the last two challenging years of social distancing and other operational disruptions. It has added meaning though for retail developers looking to create — or reimagine — properties that keep customers on site for longer. In other words, retail centers that appeal, using the range of senses, to a range of people will have much better engagement and thus greater sales. One-stop destinations offering an array of shopping experiences accomplish that.

And integration of different uses at a retail location does more than simply turn the shopper into a shopper plus diner, etc. Different consumer segments will be engaged from the daytime office worker and one-stop errand-runner to multifamily residents, families, tourists and others.

Last but definitely not least, smart retailers and retail developers know that e-commerce is transforming, not eclipsing, bricks and mortar offerings. With a smart omni-channel strategy, retailers can complement their digital game with physical engagement, strengthened through experiential offerings. Consider that 72 percent of U.S. retail transactions will occur in physical stores, according to Forester, and ICSC found that 62 percent of online orders are fulfilled at physical locations.

“The true value of the retail environment today is… in the less tangible, yet critical, value of emotional and experiential engagement that only physical retail can offer,” George Gottl, co-founder of UXUS wrote in Fast Company. “These softer elements are fundamental to establishing long-term consumer loyalty, brand reputation, differentiation, and, ultimately, sales.”

We at infinitee agree and our team’s great ideas, personal touch and endless possibilities have already been applied to  retail reinvention or reimagining.

“If anything, there’s an even greater thirst for unique retail experiences coming out of the pandemic,” said  Michael Rivera, infinitee’s Creartive Director. “Doing it right can mean a powerful connection that serves the brand long-term.”

What retailers don't want you to know — some actually prefer that you keep your returns and unwanted items... and are willing to pay you to do so.

In today’s increasingly automated world that emphasizes easy, quick, and convenient shopping, consumers are able to buy anything, anywhere, at any time. Retailers have widely adopted the “consumer-first” mindset to make shopping a pleasant and trouble-free experience with benefits like fast shipping, free returns, and full refunds. The small inconveniences that buyers face when returning unwanted items (such as time and effort to make the return) are minor in comparison to what some retailers are left with.

High inventory levels have become a big problem for some retailers. A new discovery indicates that some retailers are finding it easier to pay customers to just keep their unwanted items.

Retailers face an estimated $264 billion worth of merchandise returned each year, according to a report by USA today, and the low margin from reselling returned items is not enough to justify accepting the return.  Marrie Rossiter pointed out that processing returned merchandise can cost businesses between 20% and 60% of the original item price, which has heavily incentivized minimizing costs and time associated with product returns.

When customers return their unwanted, damaged, or used items, retailers can either place items in good condition back on the shelf at a full or discounted price, refurbish damaged items and give them to liquidators to sell at a discount (either in the US or overseas), or hire third-party firms to handle their merchandise returns. Each of these solutions, however, comes with more problems. Returned items sold at a discount typically lessen the value of the company, shipping returned items to liquidators overseas is difficult due to recent container shortages, and hiring third-party firms is equally, if not more, expensive than processing the return internally. In light of these complications, retailers have turned to a “Just Keep It” policy.

In addition to the high cost of returns and excessive inventory levels, most unwanted items end up lost, damaged, or wasted in landfills – creating a greater issue for society at large. Thomas S. Robertson pointed out in his interview with Wharton that there “are statistics around how many tons of clothing wind up in landfills per month, and that is a concern for many of us who are worried about sustainability.” According to CNN Money, “5 billion pounds of returned items end up in the trash heap.”

‍In a recent customer testimony about their experience with Chewy – an online retailer of pet products – the customer accidentally ordered the wrong type of dog leash. Instead of sending it back, Chewy asked the customer to donate the leash to a local rescue or shelter. Then, the customer ordered the correct leash and accidentally received two leashes, but despite their own order mistake, Chewy said to not return the second leash, but donate it as well. This new policy benefits the customer by eliminating the hassle of making a return, but it also builds company rapport and improves their CSR ratings. Encouraging social good over personal gain increases customer appreciation of a brand and hopefully builds brand loyalty in the long run.

So, what does a new era of “returnless returns” mean for most retailers? Obviously, there are consequences with this idea. Companies may become victims of fraud if customers who are aware of the policy start abusing the system by seeking free merchandise. Some companies are trying to hide their ‘Just Keep It’ return policy so that customers do not take advantage of it for the wrong reasons.

Whether retailers like it or not, issuing refunds without accepting merchandise may be the new path forward for returns as we see it. Not only is it more costly to return items, but it also contributes to a massive amount of wasted product. This shift in managing returns may cause some retailers to think differently about their brand moving forward. With less waste, lower shipping costs, decreased excess inventory, and greater social impact, retailers are helping their company and their customers as they recognize what is most beneficial for all.

With the labor market having experienced a revolution, as seen by ‘The Great Resignation,’ commercial real estate firms need to elevate their HR approach.

“Most people don't like their jobs, but you go out there and find something that makes you happy,” Jennifer Anniston’s character says near the end of the 1999 comedic film Office Space.

It’s a different era, of course — wish we could have traded 2020 for the non-event that was Y2K, right? — but people are acting on that professional fulfillment feeling or lack thereof — in a major way. The en masse exodus of employees from their jobs, beginning in early 2021, has been called the Great Resignation.

Although the recent unemployment rate held at a low 3.6 percent, the U.S. Department of Labor reported earlier this year that the almost 4.3 million people who quit their jobs in January nearly eclipsed the record set in November. The 11.3 million job openings that month came in just shy of December’s record.

Pandemic experiences and the now very global job market have all affected employees’ views, values and thus choices. Combine those things with continued housing shortages and student debt burdens and now inflationary trends and it’s easy to see why it’s go-time for countless workers.

If your company’s employee retention and recruitment approach hasn’t evolved, then it’s fallen behind. Bisnow offered four tips that CRE firms can use to help keep their best employees:

#1 Have Scheduled Check-Ins

Employees respond better to and perform better in an environment of trust and open communication. When superiors regularly check in to see how they’re doing and offer constructive feedback, workers feel valued and that their personal development matters versus just the company’s bottom line. “What have you done for me lately?” should be fired; the win-win mentality of connecting personal progress and fulfillment with team success gets the job... done.

Forbes reports that it’s not only important to set clear, measurable and attainable performance goals and have that continuous feedback, but it’s also important to turn performance reviews into career planning meetings. What motivates employees more — and ultimately helps to retain them: focusing on past missteps or tapping into their future aspirations and how their success can lead to bigger things?

#2 Create an Environment That Values Flexibility

We’ve talked about it before in this space: having a flexible work environment is essential for employee’s work-life balance and coping with unusual and/or stressful times in life, as well as building that critical organizational trust. Bisnow reported that a Future Forum survey indicated that 95% of employees preferred a work environment that allowed them to create their own schedules, while 78% wanted to choose where they would work.

#3 Encourage Learning Opportunities

Having the opportunity to learn from professionals in the field, take advantage of mentorship opportunities, and leverage continuing education and professional development courses taps the same self-improvement vein and future focus as career planning meetings. Employees who feel stuck inside a box, literal or because of lack of opportunity for advancement, will often look to leave. But those workers who get the value and variety of the above learning opportunities will see their personal growth more aligned with the company’s course.

#4 Pay What They Deserve (And Probably More)

It’s obvious that the employee’s bottom line, in the form of salary and benefits package, are critically important. Joe and Jenny aren’t staying on the job solely for the juice bar and casual Fridays. Remember also the importance of performance bonuses as rewarded employees are more likely to be retained ones.

“I have never seen a job market like I see today,” said Vince Vitti, infinitee’s vice president of business development and the firm’s recruitment marketing guru. “To be competitive, companies are offering unlimited vacation, work from anywhere options, college tuition, etc. Diversity, authenticity and transparency are hugely important.”

Until someone invents superhuman resources, CRE firms should follow the tips and takes above. And find a recruitment marketing partner with great experience and a ‘limitless possibilities’ mentality to embrace what’s next.

After surviving innovative disruption and pandemic paralysis, the retail sector faces down its next challenger — inflation.

The personal finance advice we’ve all heard about cutting out our daily restaurant cup of joe to save money is about as fresh as the 4 o’clock coffee pot dregs in the office kitchen. In this year of inflation and rising interest rates though many consumers have been jolted wide awake to greater cost consciousness, if not outright concern.

The Consumer Confidence Index fell in June to its lowest level since February 2021. Also, the Expectations Index, which is predicated on consumers’ short-term outlook for income, business and labor market conditions, fell sharply to its lowest level since March 2013.

“Consumers’ grimmer outlook was driven by increasing concerns about inflation, in particular rising gas and food prices,” said Lynn Franco, senior director of economic indicators at The Conference Board, which publishes the monthly Consumer Confidence Index. “Expectations have now fallen well below a reading of 80, suggesting weaker growth in the second half of 2022 as well as growing risk of recession by year’s end.”

There was some good news though with double-digit growth across nearly all retail sectors in May, according to  Mastercard SpendingPulse™, which measures in-store and online retail sales across all forms of payment (not adjusted for inflation). The report had total U.S. non-automotive retail sales increasing 10.5 percent year-over-year in May and 21.4 percent compared to pre-pandemic May 2019. Furthermore, U.S. (non-automotive) retail sales are expected to grow 7.5 percent compared to 2021 with department stores expected to be a refreshing highlight in that sales trend.

“While Mastercard SpendingPulse anticipates growth across sectors, retailers will need to find innovative ways to entice shoppers as discretionary spending potentially stretches thin as a result of increasing prices,” said Steve Sadove, senior advisor for Mastercard and former CEO and Chairman of Saks Incorporated.

How will retailers navigate this period of inflation? It’s a good thing that they have recently had to exercise their innovation and customer retention muscles during the pandemic. This new economic stage causing consumers to pinch pennies and make other budgetary cuts will be a test for sure, but the retail sector is quite accustomed to change and challenges.

McKinsey & Company recommended six actions that retailers could take to navigate inflation with the goal of more efficient operations, greater customer retention and, of course, profit growth. They include enhanced supply chain visibility and diversification, recalibration of product category strategies for better balance with rapidly shifting consumer preferences, granular pricing and promotion (rather than the more visible and potentially triggering broad price increases) and rethinking store operations to boost productivity.

“What we talk about so much, from innovating through a major pivot to staying on top of changing consumer preferences and optimizing customer experience, is not only about maximizing efficiency and opportunity, but also being able to answer the bell in demanding times such as this inflationary period,” said Amy Norton, infinitee’s Director of Strategy & Accounts. “Retail life comes at you fast, as seen by the last two-plus years of challenges. It’s critical to have a plan and a brand builder and marketing partner that are responsive and can meet the moment.”

Making customers happy means quickly identifying and efficiently addressing impediments to their online journey.

There’s a friend of the firm named Keith. We like Keith and Keith likes efficiency. In fact, he’s emphasized that value so much that the acronym KER, for Keith’s Efficiency Rating, has entered the office vernacular. KER was first commonly applied to road trips — for example, if your pitstop included miscommunications, botched orders or other delays it would score a low KER — but now it can cover practically anything, including a customer’s online journey.

Digital transformation, including the ability to provide a frictionless online customer experience, was already a high priority for businesses before 2020. However,  the pandemic really magnified the need as consumers across various industries, including Keith, concentrated and relied on digital service and delivery more. To grow revenue, companies had to keep customers happy during very unusual times. The logistical linchpin in that equation is, as Gary Drenik writes in Forbes, “a seamless digital customer experience, which has become the key to driving conversions and boosting brand loyalty.”

It follows then that companies need to know how customers are experiencing their websites and apps, what flows well and what are the sticking points. Increasingly, businesses are relying on analytics for the keen digital insights to ensure the online experience of customers is the best it can be. Worse than a technical glitch or “customer behavior anomaly” on your digital platform, as Yaron Morgenstern, CEO of Glassbox, puts it, is not knowing about it.

"Leveraging digital experience analytics (DEA) insights, brands can better understand their customers, tailoring the digital experience to suit consumer needs, which in turn drives success and business growth," Morgenstern said.

Using DEA, businesses can find and fix the glitches that negatively impact the customer journey. The top “pain points” in the customer’s digital experience include excessive pop-ups, slow page load times, difficult to navigate website/app, technical errors/website performance and forced account creation, according to Morgenstern. How important is that? Glassbox’s research found that three out of every 10 users will abandon in-app purchases when performance is sluggish. No two ways about it: there is a direct correlation between customer experience, revenue and brand loyalty, he asserts.

“We’ve talked a lot about retail’s more responsive future and that future is now,” said Marcia Homer, infinitee’s Director of Brand Management. “Customers will always want convenience and choice, which means retailers better be balanced and their digital CX must be a personal, constantly refined thing based on the latest analytics and evolving demand.”

Efficiency isn’t a new thing – just ask Keith – but the tools and approaches to achieve it certainly are in this post-pandemic stage of the digital age. The names may change but the needs stay the same: Happy customers are ones that get what they want without delays, confusion or outright frustration. Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of a digital platform means knowing a better, more efficient way forward to optimize the customer journey. We join all companies smartly leveraging DEA to say enjoy your online stay!

Hybrid office teams should focus on several key habits to ensure office equality and reap the proper rewards of the workplace flexibility model.

It’s said that absence makes the heart grow fonder. Yet, in the world of business, as it makes another monumental transition from working fully remote to a hybrid office approach, out of sight could mean out of mind for those professionals not in the office when big decisions are being made and greater trust forged. How will fairness and equality be achieved within teams spread out across multiple sites? And will resulting hybrid habits help or hinder the workplace flexibility model

There’s a reason why firms spend 14 percent of total operating costs on change management. The only constant is change, which, everybody knows, got turned up several notches since the start of the pandemic. Laurel Farrer, the president of the Remote Work Association, wrote in Forbes that without intentional change management and equality support, hybrid work models can be “riddled with complications and potential blind spots.” Based on the research of veteran hybrid organizations, including Microsoft, Dell, and GitHub, she shared several key habits that all hybrid teams should be developing to assure and secure equality and unity from headquarters to the home office.

First off, proximity and presence do not equal productivity, Farrer asserts. It’s time for organizations to transition from that outdated office-based line of thinking to measuring performance based on actual output and results, regardless of work location. We at infinitee liken it to a community grand opening where you need to staff the welcoming/sign-in table, the property tours, the food and beverage areas, and more. Though spread out in different places, each is essential to the whole mission and making the operation a success.

Also, managers and team leaders should focus on how to ensure daily rituals are inclusive and help to enable the connection of a distributed team. Thinking that culture building only happens on annual retreats is wrong as is the leader mindset that returning to the office equals developing company culture. What about the off-site team members?

By offering a combination of physical and virtual culture development activities, nobody will be excluded from team development.

The “there’s some cake in the break room" mindset doesn’t work anymore in the hybrid work model, Farrer reminds us. To avoid that obvious location bias, it’s important to offer equal rewards. Issuing frequent announcements, gifts and rewards using mail, email and shared communications platforms establishes a sense of equal opportunity and equal reward, which keeps teams working efficiently and together.

Finally, managers should seek frequent feedback. What works for Karl in this hybrid work setup doesn’t necessarily work for Katelyn. And thoughts, feelings and opinions from early 2020 when the pandemic was new and especially unnerving definitely shouldn’t inform managerial decisions now. As Farrer maintains, employee satisfaction is dependent on so many x-factors, such as the percentage of team members in the office, a child’s learning-from-home status, internet speeds, or how company leadership embraces workplace flexibility. Stay in tune with the changing needs of your workforce.

“ Our firm is about people and our special personal touch,” said Tim Patton, infinitee’s CEO. “At the same time, it’s about having a ‘limitless possibilities’ customer service mentality. While the last couple of years – and resulting flexible work models – have altered the personal touch approach some, it’s strengthened our range through the new range of possibilities. At the end of the day though, it’s still all about serving people.”

Despite supply chain and other problems, retailers must maintain an elevated customer-centric approach, including digital experience.

Maybe the Greek philosopher Heraclitus doubled as a retailer. His famous quote “the only constant in life is change” definitely seems to describe the retail sector. As if retailers hadn’t faced enough adversity from the Great Recession through the advent of e-commerce, they’ve gone head on with a global pandemic the past couple of years and now are dealing with its aftermath.

Brand loyalty is falling victim to resulting supply chain adversity and high inflation, directly impacting consumer habits and preferences. As a result, 79% of people say they would purchase the next best option if their favorite brands are sold out or in low supply, according to a survey by shopping rewards app Shopkick, which surveyed more than 20,000 consumers across the country to determine how consumer behaviors have evolved since 2021.

59% said they are very willing to try a new brand and do so regularly, while 44% said their habits have changed with the retailers they shop at and brands they buy from. For the majority of consumers who say they have changed where they shop, 59% are now shopping at big box retailers such as Target and Walmart more frequently, as well as doing more research online before making purchases in-store (43%) and shopping more at local, independently-owned retailers (27%).

“In order for brands and retailers to retain customers' share of wallet, heart and mind, it is more important than ever to deliver a frictionless - and connected - online and in-store experience to ensure a positive interaction each and every time," said Brittany Billings, executive VP of strategic markets and marketing at Shopkick.

We at infinitee agree. It’s been discussed before in this space how customers were always bound to return to stores after the pandemic, but they were not going to return to pre-COVID expectations of the level of digital customer experience (CX) a retailer should provide. A five-country survey cited by Chain Store Age last year showed that 56% of respondents worried that brands may not maintain the level of effort in improving digital customer experience once the pandemic has ended, and 59% said their expectations for how brands interact and communicate with them will continue to rise post-pandemic. Nearly four out of every five respondents (78%) said those expectations rose during COVID-19.

The Shopkick survey found that a majority of consumers said online shopping habits have changed, and, of those, three-quarters said they are making more online purchases, 26% have signed up for more online memberships to take advantage of shopping rewards and promotions and 20% have tried new brands due to their go-to brands rising in price or being out of stock.

“It’s like the ol’ saying that one man’s problem is another man’s opportunity,” said Marcia Homer, infinitee’s Director of Brand Management. “Yes, there are macro issues out there, but retailers must control what they can control. Never losing the lessons from the pandemic about digital CX, let’s get to work making sure your brand connects with consumers in a unique and authentic way that makes an impact.”

Female professionals were disproportionately affected by COVID-19 but have pushed through to a present that they hope holds more promise.

The saying goes that Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, but the actress, singer and dancer during the Golden Age of Hollywood did it backwards and in high heels. It hits at the fact that a woman has to work harder to keep up, especially in male-dominated industries such as commercial real estate. That’s in normal times; then along came a pandemic.

“I feel like this shutdown is disproportionately affecting women with jobs and kids, who are expected to be teachers, moms and workers all at once now that schools have shut down,” Laura Bassett, Jezebel magazine’s editor-in-chief, posted on March 17, 2020. “That is a lot of work.”

Mothers or not, women were far more vulnerable to the pandemic’s professional impacts, including mass layoffs, furloughs and slashed schedules, reported Bisnow. Calling COVID-19’s impact on the commercial real estate industry like that of a “precision bomb,” the news outlet noted that exacerbating this pandemic job adversity was the fact that women hold lesser seniority than men in general and specific industries that were hit hardest are female-heavy ones, including leisure and hospitality.

Calling it a “she-cession,” Forbes reported 12.2 million job losses for women in the first two months of the crisis alone, more than 1 million more than what men suffered during that time span. Since then, men regained employment at triple the rate of women, according to January 2022  U.S. Department of Labor Data.

Forbes added that “men vastly outstripped the number of women getting new jobs by orders of magnitude” during the peak of omicron: 875,000 new jobs to just 62,000 for women.

Remember this isn’t just loss of income, it’s also losing the possibility of wage increases and promotions. In the commercial real estate industry, women experienced stalled career growth, including limited training and mentorship opportunities. Many women were asked to do more with less.

”There's a mentality of ‘Yes, yes, yes. We understand that you are carrying a heavy burden, but this still has to get done,'" Jenna Kirkpatrick Howard, a senior vice president at Lockton Cos., told Bisnow. “There was a lot of this pace that is unsustainable… because there is no end to my workday, and the family demands are greater than they've ever been before. How do you manage that and communicate that to a boss or manager or your company?” As discussed in this space, some positives did come from the pandemic, especially increased flexibility from working from home to a hybrid office approach. Although 83 percent of CRE women respondents to a July 2021 CREW Network Research Survey  managed the majority or at least half of the family care, once in-person school resumed for many households the home office became more peaceful and productive for stay-at-home and stay-working mothers.

Despite women making up  just 23.5% of the 91 CRE firms’ highest-ranking executives, according to Bisnow’s analysis, the flexibility focus of the past two years in the industry perhaps has shown a greater light on the real juggle that working women have to negotiate daily. The working world has Zoomed in on these essential professionals, “ seeing us in our element and knew that it was OK to be both people”— a mom and businesswoman.

“At infinitee, we know our strategic approach, personal touch and limitless possibilities mentality are at their best with a diversity of talents, perspectives and experiences, with women being a huge part of that,” said Tim Patton, infinitee’s President. “The past two years have brought massive change to CRE and we hope a big good to come from that is more women in decision-making positions.”

This innovative social media feature expands the power of brand visuals where consumers and businesses are increasingly intersecting.

An old rule of writing is to show, don’t tell. In other words, a story connects more with the audience when related through sensory appeal rather than explanation. That’s a big reason why Instagram, the social network where people go to share photos and videos, is such a powerful platform. The fact that 200 million companies are on Instagram shows that the business world gets the picture.

The fact that 90 percent of the people on Instagram follow a business drives home the tremendous opportunity for engagement on the platform. Instagram Stories, one of the ways that brands on the app share content with audiences, enables potential consumers to learn more about a brand and what it offers. Rather than being displayed in the feed, the slide-show format of vertical photos or short videos (up to 15 seconds) are shown at the top of an active user's app for 24 hours after posting and can be tapped through to view.

Forty-six percent of marketers already use Instagram Stories, and 55 percent are planning on increasing their investment in the feature for 2022, according to Hubspot research. It shared some Instagram Story tips and tricks from businesses that not surprisingly made an impression on the team of brand makers, storytellers and creative advocates here at infinitee:

Wayfair

Online furniture and home-décor can be a pretty broad consumer market so why not divide and conquer by publishing Stories that fall into five specific home-related categories? This is exactly what the American e-commerce purveyor of furniture and home goods does with Wall Art Wednesday, #WayfairAtHome, Home Renos, Multifunctional and Design Services on Instagram Stories.

Wayfair not only creatively weaves product shots into each Story in either a humorous or creative way, it also develops and feeds smaller hyper-focused audiences that know when and where to get their fill of fun and, of course, the next idea for home. By presenting them as featured Stories like Wayfair does on its profile, interested parties per category will know where to click to see relevant content.

LEGO

The Danish toy production company not only uses interactive polls and quizzes in Instagram Stories to maximize engagement, but it also smartly targets older audiences that will be the ones buying the products for children. Mix in tributes to other brands — LEGO recently had a post celebrating Harley Davidson with a photo of a replica of a motorcycle — and the company has deftly developed multiple layers of appeal-broadening engagement via Stories.

Caffé Nero

Customers have product needs, of course, but they also are people-centric. From the love-hate reaction to reality shows to A&E biographies of their favorite leaders, people want to know about people.

Caffe Nero, the New England-based Italian coffee chain, not only uses its Instagram Stories to highlight new products and menu items, but also its baristas. The company posted a Story about its "Barista of the Year" competition, highlighting the winner and eight finalists. Consumers identify with the humanity of the staff and take a rooting interest. Telling the personal side of your business is a very engaging and helpful way to expand the brand.

Tanger Outlets

Our client, Tanger Outlets, uses Instagram Stories very often to enhance the message they want to tell. A recent story was created to promote their Bee Amazing Virtual Workshop which was just a part of their plan to celebrate Earth Day 2022. On Earth Day, and every day, Tanger commits to implementing practices that preserve and protect the earth.

One of their initiatives is their urban Beehives which are located at soon-to-be 10 of their properties and which include a dedicated beekeeper and website for each location. These beehives play a huge role in the environment; they aid in the pollination of approximately 120 million to 200 million flowers, shrubs and trees in the local community, sustain one in every three bites of food, and support 5,000 new flower seeds being planted with Alvéole, the Urban Beekeeping Company.

As a part of Earth Day 2022, Tanger Outlets hosted a virtual Kid-friendly Educational Workshop where their beekeepers shared what goes on inside a hive and the importance of bees to our environment. The below story was used as one of the several ways to promote and stimulate excitement for the event.

“In the world of brand creation and management, it’s not enough for your business to merely show up. It better show out,” said Marcia Homer, infinitee’s Director of Brand Management. “Visual stimulation and connection are obviously huge in building unique and compelling brands that excel. We salute those brands using innovative tactics like this to explore new possibilities.”

Instagram Stories is a top tactic by which to advance a business’ innovative, creative, highly engaging and high-impact marketing strategies. By showing (not telling) them the way to your products and services, your company will be ahead of the game in expediting the customer journey, greasing the sales funnel and, of course, growing the bottom line.

Having navigated the digital divide and social distancing, retail emerges more committed to customers and their experiences through increased connection, personalization and customization.

When a retailer in the age of e-commerce has more stores than any other company – 18,000-plus across 46 states – it’s doing something right. Given that the company has grown to become one of the most profitable stores in rural America, posting revenue of around $27 billion in 2019, we’ll say quite right. From manmade market disruption to the market and social disruption of the pandemic, the health and evolution of the retail industry have been a major real estate focus, with strong leadership in turbulent times worth its weight in gold. We salute (and study) Dollar General.

“I believe there are three essential indicators to the success and continued evolution of Dollar General and nearly every retailer for that matter: keeping your customers at the center of your strategy; continually evolving and strengthening your connection with your customers; and being laser-focused on providing the most relevant experiences to meet your customers where they are,” Jeff Owen, the chief operating officer of Dollar General, wrote in Forbes.

Keeping customers at the center of retail strategy seems like a no-brainer, but let’s remember that customer needs change. That puts a big emphasis on customer connection and responsiveness. After the City of Baton Rouge requested more access to nutritious, cost-effective foods, Dollar General responded by remodeling two stores in Louisiana’s capital city to deliver more fresh fruits and vegetables to the community. The retailer didn’t stop there: it added fresh produce to approximately 2,000 additional communities across the country during the past year with plans to do the same in up to 10,000 more stores.

After more than 20 years of working together, infinitee was proud to help Tanger Outlets adapt to the changing times and consumer preferences. The retailer’s objective of reimagining shopper engagement and striving to attract new and younger consumers as a “customer experience destination” took the form of micro-breweries, gourmet groceries, golf simulators, electric car recharging stations, selfie concepts and even robotic dinosaurs being introduced at Tanger’s 36 locations across North America. The company also became the first outlet developer to hire a fashion director.

Owen cites an Accenture study showing that more than 75 percent of business leaders are significantly reconsidering how they engage with their customers. Another 75 percent figure: the portion of Dollar General stores operating in communities of 20,000 or fewer people, not dissimilar to Tanger.

“It’s important to have a broader appeal to customers across rural, suburban and metropolitan communities alike,” Owen added.

Broader appeal and connection can be achieved through personalization and customization. As consumer specialist Katie Hardcastle writes, the former allows the retail customer to benefit from a more relevant service and experience delivery, for example, the tailoring of a product offering and leveraging data to provide a more personalized and thus unique shopping experience. Customization is when a shopper can act as designer and his or her choices factor into product enhancement.

She cites another Accenture study that found that 91 percent of consumers are more likely to shop with brands that more relevantly engage them, using personalized offers and recommendations to elevate customer experience.

“If anything, there’s an even greater thirst for unique retail experiences coming out of the pandemic,” said Amy Norton, infinitee’s Director of Strategy & Accounts. “That applies from clicks to bricks and metropolitan to rural locations. Our team’s belief in great ideas, personal touch and endless possibilities is also a great roadmap for the future of retail.”

Virtual value cuts both ways in the highly competitive apartment sector with developers having to navigate its labor, amenity and service effects.

Multifamily is definitely a hot sector right now, but the pandemic has triggered workforce, design and service issues that could slow momentum if not properly addressed. For the many apartment advantages — including the continued housing shortage, rising home prices and pro-renting demographic factors, such as a consumer preference for mobility and against DIY maintenance — the industry still must adjust to COVID-19 effects and the resulting new virtual reality.

A Hire Calling

‘Show me the money’ isn’t just about high-profile sports contracts. Companies nationwide and across almost every industry are struggling to find workers, who thanks to virtual networking and the ‘work from home’ setup, can now easily plug into the global, not just local, employment market. The labor shortage means employers can’t be short on compensation.

The apartment industry is not immune to these employment dynamics, of course. The elephant in the room is pay, said Kevin Owens, division president of RPM Living, at France Media’s InterFace Multifamily Southeast conference in December just down the road from infinitee’s headquarters in Atlanta. While multifamily investment and development garner the hot headlines, companies are working overtime to hire the right people for their operations, management and leasing teams — and then retain them.

And it’s not all about the dollar bills. Employees need to feel comfortable, appreciated, stimulated and primed for success. You never get a second chance to make a first impression, which is why RPM Living has an ambassador program where each new employee is paired with a mentor. Owens told an InterFace panel that the first 90 days for a new employee are the most crucial.

“That associate is really making a decision about us as an organization during that time,” he added. “We’ve got to make sure they like us because we’re in a market where if they don’t, they can go tomorrow down the street and be somewhere else.”

Amenity Turned Necessity

Amenities have always been a big differentiator when renters are shopping for apartments, but the game is different now since the start of the pandemic. Of the challenges facing multifamily developers in the last two years, perhaps none tops “the supercharged need for connectivity in their properties,” Bisnow reports, given the substantial work-from-home need for renters.

“Our members rightly acknowledge that connectivity is no longer an amenity,” said Kevin Donnelly, vice president of government affairs at National Multifamily Housing Council.

According to one research firm, apartment builder interest in managed high-speed Internet grew from 5 percent of new luxury developments in 2018 to 80 percent in early 2021.

Leasing’s New Normal

Everybody knows that the shift to virtual leasing during COVID-19 helped keep things safe and convenient for prospective apartment renters. Now that business has returned closer to normal versatility and value can be achieved on both sides of leasing. It does, however, require more from an apartment development’s customer service team and offerings.

“These days I think it’s more important that our teams are even more adept at customer service because not only are we meeting, greeting and working with customers at the door or in our communities, we’re also doing it much more online via chat,” said Owens.

The apartment sector certainly can boast of more gains than growing pains. Yet, the challenges that are the tight labor market, service demands and the new age of virtual leasing can prevent multifamily companies from maximizing growth. Whether a new project or partnership or an industry challenge, take it on with a marketing partner that combines a ‘limitless possibilities’ mentality and a commitment to high-impact strategies and innovative tactics.

Baby Boomers and their active-adult ways are forcing seniors housing developers to up the energy level at their communities.

With the Baby Boomer wave fast approaching the seniors housing sector, developers must focus not only on quantity, but also qualities. The characteristics that such a huge demographic will bring to the marketplace and how those translate into style preferences and other demands from their housing and communities are hugely important.

There’s no mistaking the importance of this market “moment.” Or perhaps better to call it a movement. Any way you slice it the opportunity is huge. RE Business Online reported

that every day in the U.S. 10,000 people turn 65, and the number of older adults will more than double over the next several decades to exceed 88 million people and 20 percent of the population by 2050.

Developers must capitalize, they must find success in making a house a home — multiplied by thousands — and turn good living into an elevated lifestyle. Active adult properties are the first housing type to benefit from aging Baby Boomers, according to many panelists at France Media’s InterFace Seniors Housing Northeast conference in Philadelphia. Although the product type offers fewer services, it provides an active lifestyle for retirees. Compared to their parents’ generation, Baby Boomers seek to live independently for longer periods.

“The oldest Baby Boomer is still 10 years away from needing [assisted living and memory care] services,” said a principal of seniors housing development on InterFace’s “The Development Outlook: Experts Analyze the Smartest Plays for Developers in 2022” panel.

Another panelist shared key details on the active adult Baby Boomer profile: averaging early 70s in age, the residents either already live in the community or are “baby chasers” moving to be closer to their grandchildren. How should real estate serve the more active lifestyle? Baby Boomers really embrace possibilities, both within and outside a seniors housing community. Inside should not only include quality accommodations, but the ability to connect with people and enjoy a variety of activities. That puts a big emphasis on amenities.

“As our demand pool changes to Baby Boomers, our programs need to change,” said the developer president and CEO. “We are expanding our fitness facilities and our yoga rooms, and we’re putting yoga areas outside. You might have running clubs or golf clubs.”

We’ve discussed before how the expansion of the health club and outdoor amenities at senior living communities, along with engaging educational programs, fuels the mind, body and spirit. Those things are integral for both place-making and community-building. Peachtree Hills Place, the first and only luxury 55+, equity-model continuing care retirement community in Atlanta’s prime Buckhead district, is an example of going the extra mile on amenities. Those critically important community components, promoted by infinitee’s award-winning integrating technology, strategic perspectives and branding best practices, find a prime audience today in the Baby Boomer generation.

The saying that “70 is the new 50” gets at the fact that retiree demographics and psychographics are changing. The new generation of seniors housing consumers is changing the game with them embracing active lifestyles and more dynamic communities, and developers and designers must put their best foot forward to serve those different desires and tastes.