8 Ways Indoor Mapping Software improve Shopping Experience in Malls

Shopping malls are becoming more and more than just a shopping hub, they’re now centers of entertainment, and that’s one of the reasons why modern malls are just so huge.

It’s not uncommon to see many indoor ‘fun’ activities like laser tag, gyms, children’s arcade inside a single mall. 

Besides that, malls now also contain many different kinds of businesses such as restaurants, cafes, cinemas, bowling clubs, karaoke bars and even multi-storey car parks. 

With such huge multi-purpose malls becoming commonplace, the need for dedicated indoor mall navigation becomes essential. And that’s exactly what indoor mapping software helps mall owners achieve.

In this post we’ll discuss the ways by which indoor mapping software improves shopping experience in malls.

8 Ways Indoor Mapping Software improve Shopping Experinece in Malls

1. Excellent Replacement for Traditional Map Stands

Traditional map stands inside malls are not the best way to guide mall visitors and customers. They’re not interactive, and can be very confusing the first time visitors.

Furthermore, first time visitors may not know the floor layout of the mall, so a static map stand will just add confusion with floors named ‘2A’, ‘3B’ and so on. 

Indoor mapping software changes how you map a shopping center. This software can either offer an interactive app for mall visitors, or redirect them to a website which contains a highly detailed navigation system for users.

With WiFi being readily available in modern malls, and most people having smartphones, there’s no question about the viability of this solution.
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2. Saves Time of Visitors

Navigating a huge mall complex can be a challenge. Customers who’re visiting the mall to buy some items (without much time to spare) can benefit greatly from indoor navigation apps that will guide them to exactly the stores that they need to visit. 

Many people don’t go just for entertainment to malls, rather they need a place to do all their shopping. They already know what they need, and carry a shopping list as well.

For these people, indoor navigation apps can be a great source of time efficiency since they can go from one shop to another, buying the stuff that they need, without wasting time asking around for directions. 

This can be a source for great customer satisfaction, and it’s likely that the ease provided by the mall’s indoor navigation app will be the reason they return.

3. Effective Sales and Marketing

A mall navigation site or app does not only have to offer detailed navigation, but it can also serve as a channel to push sales and marketing offers. New stores at the mall can ‘rent’ space on the app to advertise their launch offers and discounts. 

The app can become a customer’s way of knowing about ongoing promotions and discounts.

4. Source of Improvement for Malls

Indoor navigation apps can provide detailed analytics to mall owners about customer activity while in the mall. Mall owners can use this information and data to improve their malls. 

These apps can record customer activity once they’re inside the mall, keeping checks on which stores they frequent the most.

Offers regarding those stores can then be pushed to the customers via the app, resulting in a better user experience as it’s likely that customers would be interested in these offers. 

This sort of targeted advertising / marketing is simply not possible without these mapping / navigation apps.
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5. Intelligent Parking

Mall navigation apps can also be used by customers to reserve parking space beforehand. This will result in less frustrated customers, who can’t find parking space after they’ve arrived at the mall.

These apps can tell customers beforehand if parking space is available. If there are multiple parking lots at the mall, the app can pinpoint customers to exactly the one with parking spaces available.

This saves the customer’s time and allows them to spend more time shopping rather than finding a parking space.

6. Multi-language Support

Multicultural societies such as the US can especially benefit from the use of wayfinding apps. Customers who are not well-versed in the native language can simply refer to their smartphones for mall navigation purposes, by switching the app to their native language. 

This way, the language barrier is completely eliminated as far as navigation and accessibility to the mall is concerned. Traditional indoor navigation simply cannot account for all the languages, and this is why digital wayfinding is the smart choice for modern shopping malls.
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7. Increased Revenue

Mall owners can offer store owners the opportunity to be highlighted in the wayfinding app or website. Highlighted stores are obviously going to capture more attention.

Stores that are running special promotions, or stores that have recently opened can use this opportunity to reach out to more customers without resorting to traditional marketing tactics which might be very expensive. 

This can lead to increased revenue for the mall as a whole, as stores are now paying the mall for marketing, instead of other marketing platforms or advertising companies.

8. Customer Satisfaction and Retention

The mall business is highly competitive, and customers are not really loyal to one mall or another. By providing the benefits of digital wayfinding as mentioned above, malls can gain the edge over other malls who are not yet ready, or haven’t spent the time to explore and implement indoor mapping.

Indoor mapping provides an objectively better shopping experience, which will lead to increased customer satisfaction and retention for modern shopping malls.

Kathy Yates

Kathy started writing tech blogs as a hobby and before she knew it she was sharing her views on tech innovation with readers around the world. She currently works as an independent blogger and a freelance tech journalist.