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Newsbit

Taubman Centers, Inc. Opens One-To-One Marketing To More Than 900 Retailers in Six Shopping Centers
06:15 a.m. Nov 15, 1999 Eastern

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich., Nov. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Taubman Centers (NYSE: TCO) has launched ShopTaubman(TM), a comprehensive one-to-one marketing program that provides a new level of targeted communication customized to individual shoppers.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19991115/DEM005 )

The program, which utilizes the CENTERLINQ network of interactive Internet computer kiosks, is now available at six Taubman shopping centers. CENTERLINQ is a network of touch-screen computer kiosks and television monitors, located throughout the common areas of the shopping centers, which combines interactive computer technologies with traditional advertising to broaden a participating retailer's customer base and encourage repeat business to the shopping mall.

One of CENTERLINQ's key components is its ability to facilitate one-to-one database marketing, a system that selectively targets shoppers whose demographics and buying habits make them most likely to spend their dollars in a given store.

Shoppers can easily interact with the system by using the touch screen monitor or by using their customer rewards membership card in order to instantaneously print coupons, discounts and up-to-date information about sales and special services -- personalized to the tastes and habits of each individual shopper.

By electronically integrating each shopper's demographics and retail patterns with the shoppers own stated preferences, CENTERLINQ filters and targets all retail news at a given shopping center and sends each consumer only the information he or she has requested and is most apt to use.

"This marketing by permission, giving consumers only the information they are interested in receiving, builds maximum impact into every marketing dollar retailers spend," observes David Goldberg, Taubman's vice president, sponsorship. "It is truly waste-free."

CENTERLINQ debuted at Hilltop, Stoneridge and Sunvalley in San Francisco's East Bay, Great Lakes Crossing and Twelve Oaks Mall in metropolitan Detroit on November 15. Beverly Center in Los Angeles will debut CENTERLINQ on December 6. The six-center roll-out makes Taubman the nation's first shopping center developer to launch CENTERLINQ in so many malls at one time.

"We've committed a far greater portion of our portfolio to CENTERLINQ than any other developer to date," explains Goldberg, "because we're convinced CENTERLINQ will give us a much better understanding of our shoppers' spending habits while, at the same time, providing a significant value-added incentive to our customers and our tenants.

"Our next step is to enable the customer to access these same features at home on the web," he adds. "The result will be that retailers who partner with us through CENTERLINQ will be able to create a unique and truly interactive one-to-one communication link with their shoppers."

Because CENTERLINQ information and coupons are so easy to update, retailers can fine-tune their special promotions or customize offers in numerous ways, including date, time and demographics. In addition, each ShopTaubman(TM) customer rewards program produces valuable demographic information, enabling centers and retailers alike to build loyalty and shopper profiles for years to come.

For shoppers, CENTERLINQ provides no-wait access to select retailers' Internet Web sites and related retail home pages, broadcasts 30-second videos from CENTERLINQ sponsors and acts as the ultimate mall directory by providing directions -- written and spoken -- to any store in the center as well as information on where to find specific merchandise, brands and services. Shoppers will have relevant, up-to-date listings of special promotions, sales and movie schedules literally at their fingertips, while a simple "print" command creates instantaneous, ready-to-use coupons and take-with information for the shopper.

"Studies suggest that nearly 60 percent of shoppers have not made up their minds about what to buy when they enter the mall," observes Goldberg. "We feel that CENTERLINQ gives our tenants the best possible opportunity to make a sale when consumers are in the mall and ready to shop."

The Retail Payback

Retailers can use CENTERLINQ, according to Goldberg, to:

* Create brand and product awareness, showcasing their customized

advertising on high-visibility video display monitors

* Motivate shoppers with coupons and sale promotions available to last-

minute, impulsive and value-conscious shoppers

* Successfully target customers most likely to buy their products and

services. In direct mail marketing, for example, CENTERLINQ has

produced a 40 percent response rate, which translates into increased

sales and revenue for the retailer and the center.

* Reward customers with frequent shopper bonuses, coupons and promotions

* Educate shoppers with store, product and service information

* Better understand their own shoppers' spending habits through the

detailed demographic data CENTERLINQ gathers

* Increase exposure to the store's Web site with a kiosk Internet link

* Develop a communication tool for reaching shoppers at the mall and at

home.

"This is a win-win-win situation for everyone -- consumer, retailer and developer," Goldberg says of CENTERLINQ, which won a 1998 Microsoft Retail Application Developer Award (RAD) recognizing CENTERLINQ's "tangible business benefits" to its customers through the use of Microsoft technology.

"This is the wave of the future, and we expect to follow this initial, six-center roll out by aggressively expanding the program throughout our portfolio."

GenesisIntermedia.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: GENI; PCX: GNS; Frankfurt Stock Exchange; GIA) is one of the nation's premier marketing companies and leading providers of public Internet access portals in shopping malls, rapidly expanding in the United States and soon into Europe. The company markets products and services, which it develops, licenses exclusively or distributes for third parties. The company uses conventional marketing (network and cable television, radio, newspapers, magazines), as well as interactive multimedia, the Internet and the company's CENTERLINQ network.

Taubman Centers, Inc., a real estate investment trust, owns, develops, acquires and operates regional shopping centers nationally. Taubman Centers currently owns and/or manages 28 urban and suburban regional and super regional shopping centers in 12 states. Four additional centers are under construction in Florida and Texas. Dolphin Mall (Miami, FL), International Plaza (Tampa, FL), The Mall at Wellington Green (Palm Beach County, FL) and The Shops at Willow Bend (Plano, TX) will open in 2001. Taubman Centers is headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. SOURCE Taubman Centers, Inc.

Copyright 1999, PR Newswire

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