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Shopping centers install WiFi to attract customers

From "Malls giving wi-fi a try," by Jaclyn Giovis, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 10 September:

"Most people go to the mall to hang out and shop, not to fire off e-mails.

"But - much in the way laptop users have transformed Starbucks coffee shops into makeshift offices - South Florida malls are positioning themselves to become the next hot spot for mobile workers.

"This month, three malls - Town Center in Boca Raton, Downtown at the Gardens in Palm Beach Gardens and Aventura Mall - went wireless, allowing shoppers to jump onto the Internet virtually anywhere within the malls' footprint. And a company that owns malls in Pembroke Pines, Boca Raton and Coral Gables is considering doing the same.

"Following in the footsteps of retailers such as Starbucks and Panera Bread Co., mall owners across the nation are betting that giving shoppers the convenience of responding to e-mails from a mall food court or viewing checking account balances before walking into stores like Burberry or The Sharper Image will translate into more business. Mall stores such as Apple, which have long had wi-fi, or wireless fidelity access, are already known to draw shoppers who stop in to hop online.

"Wireless Internet access is what keeps Mia Margaret at the Town Center mall for three or four hours at a time about five days a week. Margaret, a photographer who is staying with relatives in Boynton Beach for the summer, takes classes at the Apple store and afterward settles into a nearby chair in the mall's common area with her laptop and file tote... 'This is my office,' said Margaret, as the mall was getting ready to close Thursday night. 'Isn't it beautiful?'...

Wi-fi-fo-fum

"Retail experts say providing wireless service is the first step toward creating the mall of the future. Think of it like an interactive living room. Plasma TVs would flash advertisements and live news and stock reports. Shoppers would visit Web-based kiosks to have their questions answered, rather than stop by the mall information booth. Those who surf the Internet would find tailored pop-up ads and mall bulletins. Ultimately, some experts say, wi-fi will take target advertising to a new level, with mall managers tracking the shopping patterns of its Web-surfing guests.

" 'It could be either very offensive to the consumer or a value-added service depending on how it's executed,' said Philippe Winthrop, analyst and director of wireless and media research for the Aberdeen Group...

"But for now, wi-fi-enabled malls are in the minority, said Patrice Duker, spokeswoman for the International Council of Shopping Centers. Building a wireless network is still too costly for most retailers and shopping centers, although more are considering it, Duker said. The trend is so new that no data are available on how many of the nation's 1,500 malls offer wi-fi access. Open-air shopping centers, which are cropping up across the nation and are designed as meeting places for leisure activity, are more likely to offer the service, Duker said...

"But the early adopters hope that offering wi-fi as an amenity will give them a leg up on their competitors in the region and encourage consumers to stay at the mall longer, increasing the odds that they'll buy something.

" 'We believe that most major shopping centers across the country will have Internet capabilities in the future,' said Phil Goldfarb, president and chief operating officer of Turnberry Associates, which owns the Aventura Mall. 'We're on the cutting edge.'

"The luxury-oriented shopping center, which activated its free wireless system Labor Day weekend, invested more than $100,000 to set up a series of wi-fi access points, called hotspots, throughout the shopping center, Goldfarb said. That's not counting the daily operating costs of the system. 'It's an investment in our customers,' Goldfarb said. 'The Internet today is a way of life. This was a way to give customers what they're asking for.'

"But it won't necessarily be free. While Aventura Mall and Downtown at the Gardens offer their guests wi-fi access for free, the Town Center in Boca Raton charges visitors $3 per hour, $7 per day or $40 per month to use the service.

"Margaret isn't buying it. She opts to connect to the Apple store's free wi-fi network while working at the mall. 'I don't like paying for things if I don't have to,' she said...

"About one-third of online consumers have used a hotspot, up about 10 percent from last year, according to an August 2006 Jupiter Research study about public wi-fi use. The study also found that more than half of the consumers who use wi-fi, like Margaret, don't want to pay for it. The Jupiter Research study also revealed that only 27 percent of free hotspot users said they would log onto an ad-based network. (Many malls ultimately would be configured this way to help cover operating costs and generate profits.) And consumers are worried about privacy and intrusive ads, the study showed.

"Malls and retailers will have to work together to devise meaningful uses for the technology, Winthrop said. 'Five years ago, nobody knew what wi-fi was; three years ago, wireless Internet was rare,' he said. 'Now, it's everywhere.' "

[WiFi: 10 September 2006]