Engagement Agents releases Winter 2016 Retailer Engagement Report

16.09.16 01:36 AM By Elyssa Caterini

Black Friday weekend and Boxing week are, arguably, the busiest shopping times of the year. Both were, by all accounts, a resounding success for both in-store and online sales.
So, how busy were they for you? Busy?
Busy enough?
Can it ever be busy enough?
And, what can you take away from the Engagement Agents Winter 2016 Retailer Engagement Report to improve every week in 2017?

What About the $Millions Left on the Table?
The good news is Black Friday weekend and Boxing week 2016 were a success. The not-so-good news? They could have been an even BIGGER success for you!
Sure you were busy but you could have been busier. And you could have had your fair share of the $Millions in sales left on the table.

How you ask?
You, like all retailers, pay into your malls’ marketing fund as part of your lease agreement. But, if you’re like 90% of retailers, you aren’t taking full advantage of this already paid for marketing opportunity. Simply by engaging your malls’ physical and digital marketing channel, you can drive more impressions and traffic to both your brick & mortar stores and website.

And we all know what more traffic means – MORE $$$!

In addition, you’ve already invested A LOT into your marketing campaign; time, effort, and costs, including:

  • Your team coming up with a campaign
  • The design of your digital & physical marketing assets for the campaign
  • Printing & shipping the marketing assets to your stores
  • Potentially paid advertising (Google ads, social media ‘sponsored posts’, print ads, radio commercials etc) to further promote the campaign
  • Your team to change signage, window displays and hang up your marketing assets in-store to reflect the campaign

Every retailer wants every campaign to be an outstanding success! Yet, 90% of retailers have neglected to engage their already paid for marketing channels with their malls in order to drive more awareness about their campaign, which ultimately leads to more traffic & sales to their stores.

Wait a minute! Is it really that simple?
Well, yes and no.
Below is the Winter 2016 Retailer Engagement Report prepared by Engagement Agents and you’ll readily see that many, indeed most, retailers are NOT taking full advantage of their malls’ physical & digital marketing channels, despite already paying A LOT of money for these opportunities via their lease agreements. In a previous article we outlined how to overcome some of the challenges with retailer engagement.


The report summarizes Retailer Engagement for Black Friday and Boxing Day at the Top 10 Malls in Canada based on annual sales per square foot.  Safe to say, almost every retailer had at least one or more campaigns happening during both of these busy shopping times.  Thus, a competitive advantage and more traffic & sales opportunities for those retailers actively engaged.

The report, speaks for itself. It indicates a significant disconnect between what is featured on the malls’ physical & digital marketing channels and what is actually happening at the stores within the mall.  Again, when you consider that this marketing opportunity is already paid for by you, the retailer, via your lease agreement, you’ll have to agree that this is one BIG missed opportunity.

Given today’s digitally savvy consumer and the fact that 83% of shoppers own a smartphone, more and more consumers are seeking out what is happening in-store through a malls’ marketing channels (mobile/web, app, social and email) BEFORE they visit the mall or your store.  And, given what retailers actually have happening in-store is not consistent with what the mall shows is happening within their stores, the negative short & long-term effects to the mall & retailers are significant, including:

  • A poor customer experience
  • Decreases in customer engagement
  • Lost traffic and sales for the mall & retailers

The result? Millions in lost impressions, traffic and sales to your stores, website & social channels.
If you would like to learn more about how Engagement Agents solves this problem for both retailers & malls across North America and how we can solve this for you, visit https://www.EngagementAgents.com

Elyssa Caterini