The ultimate goal of any landlord is to achieve maximum income from their commercial property. However, that doesn’t mean they should lose focus on the big picture and leave their space to whatever retailer is interested in the property. Keeping the right mix of tenants on the property leads to increased foot traffic, higher expenses, delighted tenants, and ultimately, more demand and better rates for the property.
Read on to discover the five ways to create the best tenant mix for a shopping center.
Study the demography of the environment.
The demographics of nearby locations play a vital role in determining what type of retailers will be a better fit for shoppers. Conduct surveys and collect information related to what your target customers would like to see in the area around them. For example, pharmacy stores can be a valuable addition to an aging population.
Talk to your existing tenants
Existing retail tenants can be a good source of information about which brands and products can add the most value to your own store, and ultimately to the owner. Analyze the performance of stores and further analyze their strengths and weaknesses and build ways to overcome or improve them.
Mix brands and categories
A retail hub that strikes a balance between big and small brands and has a broader collection of product categories than simply targeting part of the demographic enjoys better foot traffic. Choose tenants from various product categories and be sure to include local retailers that always have something new and fresh to offer. Look beyond the retail lineup and set up service facilities like ATMs to optimize the time and effort spent creating the perfect mix of tenants.
Make market assessment part of the responsibility
Tenants come and go at the end of the lease. This can disrupt existing interconnections within the retail space. For example, men who visit your retail center to buy baby diapers at one outlet tend to have a few drinks at the next. Retail centers must continually invest time and effort to assess the market and ensure their tenant mix is optimizing overall performance.
Hire a good commercial real estate company
Commercial real estate property management services have mastered the art of using several proven techniques to find the right match for any type of commercial property. They study the area around the property, discuss the geographic advantages and disadvantages of the location, and enlist real estate experts to work on the tenant mix. They conduct a competitor analysis to check what products and services are lacking in the area and also work to acquire high-quality tenants for the property.
Property owners and real estate companies can use real estate property management services to manage tenant relationships from start to finish while they focus on other core activities.