Conclusion
Cairo Festival City Mall (CFCM) remains as one of the largest malls in Egypt, which has played a critical role towards attracting a significant number of tourists both local and international. The management of the mall has been on the forefront towards the adoption of effective strategies that seek to ensure that the mall remains competitive even though consumers are embracing online shopping. CFCM covers an approximate area of 158,000 square meters, which acts as a clear reflection on the fact that indeed it is a significant figure in the tourism sector in Egypt. One of the strategic approaches that the management within this mall has taken up as part of promoting customer experience has been reshaping the mall as a hub for fun and entertainment. The focus for the management has been working out effective measures to help attract more people to the mall. Attracting more people into the mall is essential, as it seeks to define the value for the stakeholders considering that it will be much easier for stakeholders to invest in the mall.
However, the management faces two significant challenges, which are essential to outline and discuss with the focus being towards evaluating how these challenges are affecting the mall's ability to maximize its potential. The first major challenge that CFCM is facing is the lack of space within the mall, which becomes a significant challenge not only for commercial stores but also for individual shoppers visiting the mall. An in-depth analysis of the mall's internal structure indicates that it lacks adequate space that would help in additional of commercial stores offering a vast range of products and services. That creates a situation where shoppers tend to lack value in visiting the mall, thus, promoting them to visit some of the other malls in the country, which have maximized on their utilization of space.
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The second key challenge that can be noted is the fact that the mall lacks an adequate number of stores that would offer fun and entertainment to the people coming to the mall. The management of CFCM believes in the fact that although adoption of strategic approaches to help define the mall may require significant changes, it needs to focus much of its attention towards ensuring that expansion increases the number of fun and entertainment hubs. The fact that the mall expects to attract approximately 22 million clients in 2018 means that the management ought to come up with a strategy that will see the right addition to the added space. In other words, this means that the management ought to focus much of its attention towards adding commercial stores that will be of value towards attracting the expected number of clients to the mall when compared to its competitors.
The fact that CFCM is facing a limitation regarding the spaces within the mall creates a situation where a majority of the stakeholders tend to believe that it does not provide them with the value expectations. That means that the mall may experience a significant downturn regarding an investment considering that it fails to create value for the stakeholders, which, in turn, becomes a significant challenge for companies and stores intend to invest in the mall. From that perspective, it can be argued that indeed the expansion of the mall is expected to create long-term value for the stakeholders. The value will be generated from the fact that the mall will be able to develop a significant distinction between it and other malls operating in the country with the focus being towards attracting investment.
On the other hand, the expansion is expected to advance the overall provision for the mall to maintain its strategic value considering that it will work towards creating a hub that will help in attracting the anticipated number of clients. The general value of the value establishes the need for having to ensure that the management understands the importance of involving mall professionals in the development stages of the expansion process. The involvement of professionals is expected to pave the way for a generalized avenue from which to build the general capacity for the mall. In overall, this would mean that the mall will create value for its stakeholders while focusing much attention towards ensuring that customers achieve a positive customer experience while visiting the mall. The outcome is that this will advance the overall possibilities for investment within the mall, as the mall would be able to attract the expected number of customers.
The literature review, embedded within this research study, seeks to create that general understanding on the maximization of efficiencies through the adoption of different expansion plans for CFCM. The study examines how the expansion of the mall would play a critical role towards ensuring that indeed the management is able to maximize on the efficiencies as a way of building long term value for the stakeholders. On the other hand, the literature review contributes to the understanding of the fact that the introduction of the right entertainment elements to save the mall from extinction in light of the threats of online shopping. The study recognizes the fact that indeed the mall faces notable challenges in competing with online shopping, which has created the need for having to ensure that indeed it focuses on introducing the right elements of entertainment. The expected outcome of this is that it will help towards boosting customer experiences in a significant way, which would create demand for the mall.
The research study also incorporates two main theories, which seek to define the overall value gained through the expansion of the mall with the focus being towards ensuring that stakeholders gain the expected outcomes. The first theory, discussed in the study, is the Endogenous Growth theory, which points out that economic growth comes as a result of the improved internal processes. The adoption of this theory as part of the expansion process for the mall seeks to highlight the importance of having to ensure that the management within CFCM understands the importance of nurturing innovation strategies. The outcome of this is that it will help in creating the incentive for businesses to perform considering that they are accorded an environment that boosts their creativity.
The second theory discussed is the Customer Service Loyalty Theory, which explains the benefits of creating loyalty to compete in a tough market that faces ever-increasing competition from e-commerce. The adoption of this theory as part of the study helps towards examining the competitive environment in which CFCM is operating considering that the demand for e-commerce with more customers opting for online shopping. However, the theory seeks to highlight the fact that indeed expansion of the mall will play a critical role towards ensuring that the mall creates an environment that supports loyalty. The outcome of this is that the number of people coming to the mall would increase, as it seeks to create long term value for the stakeholders.
Recommendations
Based on the conclusion, as have been indicated above, it is essential to reflect on some of the essential recommendations touching on the expansion of CFCM with the focus being towards defining its long-term value for stakeholders. The proposals will also seek to highlight ways in which the mall would be able to maintain its competitive edge in attracting customers regardless of the notable shift regarding customer demand towards online platforms for shopping purposes.
Leveraging on Technology and Multichannel Strategies to Transform Mall Experiences for the Clients
Shopping malls are facing significant challenges in their bid to competing within the digital space considering that shoppers are focusing much of their attention towards alternative modes of shopping to help boost their experience. CFCM may be able to leverage of the same technology, as well as, adopt a wide array of multichannel strategies, which will be focused on transforming the mall experiences for individual customers visiting the mall. The management may focus on three main areas, which would help in defining the skills among the clients. Firstly, the management may focus on extending the relationship created with the clients to focus on times before and after the clients visit the malls. In other words, CFCM will eliminate the limitation of having to develop a relationship with the clients during the times that they visit the mall. Usage of social media would serve as a critical platform from which to extend this relationship, as this platform will help in getting a clear understanding of customer experiences while visiting the mall.
Secondly, CFCM may use technology with the sole focus being towards improving customer satisfaction levels with the emphasis being towards reducing areas in which customers may experience frustrations. For example, a majority of the customers visiting shopping malls tend to experience significant challenges in getting parking spaces, which creates a situation where a considerable number of the customers find themselves experiencing a substantial reduction in their satisfaction levels. In the case of CFCM, the mall would be able to deal with this situation through the involvement of mall professionals as part of the expansion process to help in ensuring that the management can identify and eliminate all key aspects that affect customer satisfaction levels.
Thirdly, the management within CFCM may also focus on partnering with commercial companies and stores operating within the mall for purposes of ensuring that the mall can utilize digital capabilities. The critical element of focus in the adoption of digital skills reflects more on improving customer experiences considering that the mall would create an advanced platform from which to compete with other digital platforms. An example can be seen in the introduction of e-commerce platforms within the mall focused on ensuring that customers visiting the mall have the best possible experiences. The outcome of this is that the mall would be able to attract a high number of clients.
Investment in Opportunities focusing New Formats and Real Estate
One of the critical advantages that shopping malls tend to focus on is location, which they tend to utilize effectively as a way of ensuring that they would be able to match their set out expectations. However, a significant number of the malls fail to invest in the opportunities created through new formats and real estate. For CFCM, this would mean that the mall's management would focus much of its attention towards advancing a proactive avenue from which to take advantage of real estate opportunities within its surrounding. The management may opt to purchase more land within the surrounding location, which would be of great value towards ensuring that indeed the mall can achieve set expansion expectations depending on demands among stakeholders.
On the other hand, the mall may focus on the idea of adopting the mixed-use development approach in which the commercial stores in the malls will have multiple purposes. The outcome of this is that the number of clients visiting the mall would increase significantly considering that clients will come to the mall for differentiated purposes. Adoption of mixed-use development will seek to guarantee that indeed the mall can match its set out expectations regarding the client base. However, this would mean that the mall would need to focus on expansion as one of the strategic efforts towards promoting convenience among the customers. The expansion would mean that customers, who will visit the mall attributed to its mixed-use, will be in a better position to achieve value based on their visitations. The long-term effect of this is that the customers will visit multiple times, thus, creating value for the commercial stores.
Focusing on Consumer Offering Differentiation
One primary recommendation for Festival Mall (CFCM) is to focus on differentiating the consumer offering with the aim of enhancing customer experience and convenience. Considering the online shopping platforms capitalize on the provision of high levels of convenience to the shoppers, the mall should capitalize on strategies and mechanism that will attract customers based on the levels of convenience presented. Through consumer differentiation, the mall will be in a position to move from the aspect of commoditizing shopping experience thus allowing a more magnificent avenue to attract customers. In this case, the mall will focus on creating a broadened view of the customers' shopping experience thus leading to an increase in the number of customers visiting the mall. Additionally, this will help in dealing competition presented by the online shopping platforms that capitalize on commoditizing of goods and services through the endless selection of products and the comparisons in the prices of the commodities.
The idea of promoting differentiation focuses more on promoting loyalty among the customers or visitors to the mall. That can be seen from the fact that indeed customers would be able to gain long term value from the mall, which increases their loyalty levels significantly. Additionally, this seeks to suggest that the mall would be able to advance its abilities to deliver on some of its set out objectives in terms of advancing a genuine platform for ensuring customers gain the best experience. The strategy will allow the mall to be innovative to capitalize on incorporating elements that are considered the value added to create a better image among the customers. The innovations undertaken within the malls provide an avenue for increased levels of convenience for the customers leading to a situation where the customers tend to spend quality time within the mall. Additionally, the incorporation of fine dining and events within the Festival Mall (CFCM) will capitalize on ensuring that the mall becomes a place where people tend to spend their quality time with friends and family.
Another essential aspect to consider when focusing on consumer offering differentiation entails concentrating on specific segments of the customers to ensure that the mall offers a proper environment for all people in the society. The focus on customer segments will enable the Festival Mall (CFCM) to cater for a wide range of customers that have different needs that require the provision of varying products to satisfy the requirements. Through the creation of the specific zones, the mall will enhance the levels of convenience for the customers thus improving their experiences, which is a significant aspect in attracting more people into the mall. The implementation of the recommendation will help in increasing the number of customers visiting the mall thus improving the profitability.
