Online Shopping and the Mall – Does it work?
In January, thirteen percent of the entire US population, or thirty-eight million people, bought a product online.1 Last year twenty million households were buying online and next year their number will double to forty million. See Slide 1. The phenomenal growth of the Internet population, the popularity of online shopping and the $29bn 2 of merchandise sold last year makes online buying as American as apple pie. Mall developers are not ignoring the trend. They are seeking to capture the allure of cyberspace, counter supposed shopper flight and provide new value for tenants. 3 A significant portion of the online population matches mall shopper demographics. First, women represent fifty percent of the online buyers.4 The Real Estate Transformation Group projects them to reach sixty percent of the online buyers by 2002. Women comprise about two-thirds of the mall shoppers.5 The household income levels of mall shoppers and online households are correlated. The Pew Internet and American Li