Don’t Get Caught Off Guard by Holiday Traffic

The holiday shopping season—and its positive and negative effects on your property—won’t let up until the New Year. But you can start to prepare for a major issue, the inevitable increase in foot traffic at your shopping center, now by addressing two issues: traffic and time.

Issue #1: Parking lots. Crowds start in the parking lot, with increased vehicle traffic. Customers know that the mall will be busy and finding parking will be their first challenge, so design a traffic-control strategy that also assists in parking lot management. To decongest a busy lot, try to move employee parking to the lot’s least customer-friendly areas. Investigate temporarily renting a nearby vacant, paved property, such as a church parking lot, for your employees’ cars.

Issue #2: Rush of shoppers. You can get time on your side. Also, consider tactics to spread shoppers out over time. Offer customers incentives for shopping during off-peak hours. Extending mall hours also helps to avoid a rush of shoppers who are afraid they’ll have only a small window of opportunity to buy gifts.

Discuss stores’ plans with each store manager and regional manager so that they understand the potential impact that heavy traffic might have. For example, a store offering the “hottest” item at a discount may attract a horde of shoppers. The key thing to remember is to be prepared so that you aren’t caught off guard by crowds that you could use in your favor with proper planning.