Understanding Exchange Strategic Priorities: Increase Sales And Profitability Per Square Foot In Concessions with PAM
How do service business managers and general managers determine which concessions will reside in Exchange malls and how much space they occupy?
The strategic priority, “Increase sales and profitability per square foot in concessions” provides managers with the tools to make these decisions.
Imagine you are a commercial landlord, and you want to figure out how to use the space, who to rent it out to, and how much income is right. Now we have a way to get real benchmarks to think about these decisions. Our square feet is our core asset. It makes sense to know how much sales and earnings we are receiving from this asset. The new Property Asset Management (PAM) tool gives us that visibility.
“In essence, we are developing the future of Exchange malls for generations to come.”
—Denise Gumbert, director of Services & Vending
Developing PAM took industry mall managers years to complete for equivalent large data portfolios. With the combined efforts of Information Technology, Finance & Accounting, Real Estate, and Services, Food and Fuel directorates, this initiative became a reality for the Exchange in September.
The initial launch included 32 malls. The PAM system will roll out to all CONUS locations by the end of this year and OCONUS locations in early 2018.
Instant visibility to sales, earnings
PAM offers Exchange managers instant visibility of sales and earnings from each concession, its size and the dollars earned per square foot.
“This multi-directorate initiative automates and improves processes for the Exchange while providing all levels of management the ability to make fast, informed, effective business decisions to optimize our shopping centers,” said Denise Gumbert, director of Services & Vending. “This in turn provides the categories of businesses our customers want to shop.
“In essence, we are developing the future of Exchange malls for generations to come.”
Attracting tenants
With centralized data, managers can better plan and discuss new contracts when existing contracts expire. They can package space to attract concessionaires interested in multiple spaces. PAM provides brochures with helpful information, such as demographics, physical layout, mall tenants, floor plans and addresses to help managers attract potential tenants.
The benefits of PAM are:
- Capability to consolidate data and images for 4,200 properties
- Visibility of data for Campus (installations), Properties (buildings) and Suites (stores)
- Data refreshed daily
- Interactive shopping center floorplans and property maps
- Information on manager’s phones with a mobile application
Developing tools to leverage properties as the Exchange grows offers the organization a competitive edge in a tough retail environment. PAM not only provides the Exchange these tools now, but also offers a foundation to meet longer-term goals.
