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As retailers become more selective about their brick-and-mortar locations, landlords have placed a greater emphasis on finding the perfect tenant mix across their properties. As consumers crave more experiential shopping experiences, landlords have to find the right balance between national brands and local mom-and-pop stores. But finding these retailers can be like sifting through sand.
StoreMatch simplifies the process by bringing retailers and landlords together on one platform, reducing the timeline on both sides. After launching in the U.S. earlier this fall, the platform has already made 8,000 matches.
Here are seven reasons landlords are turning to StoreMatch to find their ideal retail tenants.
1. All retailers in one place
With over a thousand brands already registered on the site, StoreMatch aggregates retailers and their growth strategies into one platform. Cold calls and digging for leads are no longer necessary.
2. Review only the ideal tenants
Each retailer profile lists its growth strategy, ensuring that StoreMatch experts know what each brand is looking for. When a landlord uploads a vacancy, the platform instantaneously finds the retailers nationwide whose strategies match the available location.
By using StoreMatch, landlords cut down on time searching for leads, because the platform only shows retailers who would take the vacancy.
3. Landlords of all sizes have the same access to retailers
All landlords, no matter the size of their centers or their geographic location, have the same access to retailers on StoreMatch’s platform.
“In many cases small landlords can’t get to big brands,” StoreMatch co-founder Mike Whitfort said. “But with StoreMatch they can. Landlords get exactly the same opportunities as the big guys because we don’t differentiate between small and large landlords.”
Everyone receives the same opportunity to be matched with their ideal retailer.
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4. Virtual Vacancies
The platform allows landlords to upload a virtual vacancy if they know a location will soon become available. If a landlord knows tenants will not be renewing their leases or wants to have another retailer fill that vacancy, they can post the listing early and confidentially ahead of time.
5. Mom-and-pop retailers use StoreMatch
Landlords have started to tailor shopping centers to local demographics, pulling in retailers with local popularity. In Arcadia, California, the Westfield Santa Anita targeted its retail mix to the predominately Asian-American community.
Because StoreMatch is a free service for retailers, it attracts small, eclectic and often local mom-and-pop stores that want to expand but do not have a real estate department or access to brokers. The platform gives them access to landlords and can assist them in developing a growth strategy.
StoreMatch’s team of experts also looks out for emerging, small or international retailers that landlords may not otherwise know about and keeps the database updated.
6. Mutual selection and confidentiality
Vacancies create reporting issues for landlords, and put pressure on investors when loss of rent and outgoings occur. There no tool for landlords to generate marketwide leads for vacancies without advertising in the open market.
StoreMatch approves each retailer to make sure its data is legitimate, which prevents data mining. Retailers can only see a landlord’s listing if they are looking for the size range, location and shop type of the vacancy. The process ensures landlords can confidentially post their available vacancies without notifying retailers about all of the center’s available space.
“If you are a large landlord, you can list vacancies confidentially,” Whitfort said. “Tenants can’t necessarily see that you’ve got large amounts of empty stores. They are only looking at that one specific store.”
7. Simple, Transparent and User-Friendly
Landlords pay a flat rate of $50/week for each center they post, regardless of how many vacancies are in the center. The platform does not take a fee after a deal is made. It is part of StoreMatch’s mission to make the process of posting vacancies simple, quick and hassle-free.
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