November 30, 2007

A fast and easy way of shopping at Eastridge

ICSC (International Council of Shopping Center) was proud to unveil this year’s innovative MAXI Gold and MAXI Silver winners as part of the ICSC Fall Conference in New Orleans. An MAXI award is one of the most prestigious awards in the shopping center industry, highlighting a breakthrough moment in marketing idea generation, implementation and result.

Left: Alice Snyder (Marketing Manager) and right: John Petersen (General Manager) holding the MAXI Award.

Eastridge was the only shopping center in the Bay Area, and one out of four General Growth Properties, Inc’s 200 malls across the nation to bring home a MAXI Gold Award. Eastridge’s Maxi highlights a partnership with local Silicon Valley start-up Nearby Now in helping to turn online browsing into in-mall buying.

A summary of the Award entry includes:

Following its complete renovation, the center saw an opportunity to generate new customer visits and sales by appealing to tech-savvy shoppers through a partnership with a local start-up Nearby Now. In August 2006, Eastridge became the first mall in the nation to have every brand and product in the center searchable online. Between August 2006 and May 2007, shoppers conducted more than 500,000 product searches and reserved 2,000 items for pick-up at Eastridge stores, contributing to a 5.5% increase in total center sales.

In short, Nearby Now powers a function on the Eastridge website (www.ps.eastridgecenter.com) in which a guest can browse every product in every shop at Eastridge. If a shopper is interested to find a low-rise pair of American Eagle Outfitters jeans in size 8, she can type her preference in the search box and a list of available jeans will appear on the computer screen. She then can reserve the product by clicking a button, and come back to the store in the same or next day to try on and purchase the jeans. What an easy and convenient way to shop for this holiday season!

Shopping in Celebrity Style has never been easier!
The Cosmo Girl! Concierge is now open at www.nearbynow.com/cosmogirl. Select California as your state and San Jose – Eastridge as your mall and you can view a personalized Trend Watch Hot Items, including lip gloss, hoodie, charms, mobile phone, mary jane shoes, faux suede boot and hot brands including Hello Kitty, iPod, Puma, Hannah Montana, Nike, Wii, Roxy and Steve Madden to name a few.

Selecting to view Eastridge shops that carry “faux suede boot,” a list of stores including Bakers, American Eagle Outfitters, Aeropostale, Payless Shoesource, Old Navy, Charlotte Russe, Sears and more would pop up. Various styles and colors of boots are showcased in an at-a-glance format. Going further in the boot search with the Shearling Boot in light pink from Aeropostale, a photo of the store front, store phone number of (408) 627-4480, suggested parking in Parking C and a sale of 50% off on selected sweaters showed up. By simply typing in an email address and a note of size and color if applicable, guest can check store availability and have a store employee hold the product for an in-store pickup.