Dive Brief:
- Real estate investment trust Simon reported a 6.4% uptick in foot traffic year over year across its centers during Black Friday weekend, according to a Monday press release. The company tracked the growth using traffic counters at its centers.
- While Simon’s properties saw a 5.9% year over year bump in traffic on Black Friday alone, its traffic growth continued throughout the weekend, with a 6.3% increase on Saturday and an 8.2% jump on Sunday, per the company’s press release.
- Overall, Simon’s platforms with malls saw a 7.1% increase, according to the announcement.
Dive Insight:
Though Simon appears to have benefitted from a rebound in in-store shopping during Black Friday, the same can’t be said for other offline retailers. Black Friday store traffic dipped 3.2% year-over-year overall, but traffic was particularly down in the Midwest with a 7% fall from last year, according to data from RetailNext.
That may be in part because retailers began rolling out discounts early this year to attract consumers and to deal with a shorter shopping season.
Shopping in stores still offers customers a chance to discover new products that they wouldn’t otherwise find while shopping online. So far, popular brands located in Simon properties have seen “double-digit sales increases over the weekend compared to last year,” David Simon, chairman, CEO and president of Simon, said in a statement regarding Black Friday weekend.
“Coast to coast, we saw lines prior to opening and throughout the day at many of our centers across the country,” David Simon said. “We look forward to a continued strong holiday season.”
Simon’s holiday traffic boost follows its efforts to entice Gen Z shoppers. In October, the company unveiled its “Meet Me @theMall” ad campaign aimed at younger shoppers, mainly Gen Z consumers. The company distributed its campaign across Hulu, Netflix, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and other streaming and social media channels.
