American Dream: Driving Consumer Engagement is the Key To Success

October 19, 2020

I first visited American Dream under construction in June of 2019. American Dream re-opened in October 2020. I believe that the opening of American Dream is the most significant retail event since the opening of Disneyland and like Disneyland it provides a success road map for the future of retail.

American Dream has reinvented retail and seeing is believing. It is a living museum of retailer excellence and a living case study in the importance of consumer engagement and experience design.

Launching the world’s largest experience center in the midst of a global pandemic and shutting it down and re-launching it recently, is an epic challenge that happens once in a hundred years. In response to the pandemic, American Dream has established safe shopping protocols and in partnership Hackensack Meridian Health announced a 10-year partnership, which officially names Hackensack Meridian the experience centers health care partner. "As we continue to navigate through this unprecedented time, our goal is to make American Dream a safe and comfortable environment for families to visit," said American Dream co-CEO Mark Ghermezian.

During this period of COVID-19, American Dream has become the light at the end of the rainbow for the retail industry and for the global business community. The project is bold, multi-layered, and comprehensive. It has created a brand-new category called “experience centers.” A visitor can ski, swim, shop, skate, soar, and savor some of the most delicious food in the world all within the 3,000,000 square foot experience center. The attention to detail, workmanship, the center’s design, vision, leadership, the engineering, the imagination set the center, and the experiences contained in a class by itself.

Walt Disney created Disneyland for his daughters Diane and Sharon and for the millions of families and individuals who would visit the theme parks. In the 1950’s when Disneyland opened and when Walt Disney World opened in the 1980’s, they transformed the customer experience and retail. The Ghermezian family (and their company, Triple Five) in the tradition of Walt Disney, created American Dream which is built upon their success of the West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, Alberta, and the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. The American Dream’s experience is built and designed to serve the customer’s needs today in 2020. The workmanship, the attention to detail is found in every square inch of the experience center.

One of the key metrics I look for when evaluating retail experiences is the smile index from guests and the eight habits of highly successful retailers, which is a measurement of retail store effectiveness. American Dream scores the highest in both categories.

The retail stores in American Dream represent the best executions of these brands anywhere in the world. Shoppers will experience their favorite retail brands in a new light and be exposed to new brands found only at American Dream.

New concepts in general and in retail face serious skepticism. There was serious skepticism about the Disneyland theme park by the media and financial community. Another more recent example is Apple’s first retail stores which opened in 2001. The business press said this was a costly mistake and Steve Jobs would be closing them within a year. A decade later, Apple has reinvented retailing with a chain of shops with some of the highest revenue per square foot in the industry.

American Dream is the epicenter of global retail excellence and like Disney World, will continue to evolve and grow. Words, photos, and film cannot adequately describe Disney World or American Dream. We suggest a visit to the center so you can see for yourself and begin your American Dream adventure.

Several years ago, we asked ourselves how do you quantify and importantly project the success of a Walt Disney World, Disneyland or an American Dream?

We developed the Eight Habits of Highly Successful Retailers (below), the smile index, and other factors which are parts of the Consumer Engagement Index (CEI). We have found that companies with high CEI scores had the strongest financial performance. Brands such as Sephora, Nordstrom, Walt Disney World, and American Dream all rank highly on the CEI index.

1. The Human Touch

The ability to empathize with customers is crucial to retail success. For that reason, today’s successful retailers hire employees based on their kindness and their ability to inform and entertain customers.

2. The Use of Technology

Technology that interacts with shoppers as part of their in-store experience is now a winning strategy. These technologies, however, must align with the customers’ needs and desires. Technologies that resonate with target markets promote deeper customer engagement and excitement. This is why forward-thinking brands build behind-the-scenes IT infrastructures that support a multitude of applications within the organization.

3. Store Design

The best store designs match form with function. Sephora is the poster child for intentional store design execution.

4. Brand Story

An engaging brand story, often traceable to a visionary founder or a particular market need, helps to cultivate customer loyalty and can often transform loyal customers into brand evangelists.

5. Employee Training

The general rule in retail is to hire for attitude and train for skill. This presumes, of course, that the training is well executed.

6. Change

The ability to capitalize on rapidly changing trends in consumer behavior is usually what distinguishes winning brands.

7. Unique Value Proposition

It should go without saying that a store offering distinctive products within a unique, focused concept is destined for success.

8. Shopping Safely

Safe and secure shopping experiences are a requirement for retailers today.

Success in retail and in business today is achieved by following the eight habits, optimizing the experiences using the five senses, and being greeted by the most powerful tool, the human smile.