Taubman Incents Men with Style Packages
Men like to be pampered too. Whether metrosexual or macho, what man wouldn’t like a mini-facial or an all-day 15% discount card for Bloomingdales or a fashion consultation with a denim expert?
That’s the hope of Taubman Centers Inc., now out with luxurious incentive packages to entice men to come to four of its regional malls to shop and interact with a variety of brands within the malls.
The Man of Style packages range in price from $40 to $169 and include such pampering as massages, personal consultations and Blue Martinis.
Each center offers at least two incentives. In the first, out-of-town visitors—living at least 50 miles from the center—can show their identification at one of the shopping centers and receive a discount book or card to use at a variety of stores or restaurants. If a local person brings in the out-of-towners, he too gets a discount book in a program called Treat Your Traveler. Centers such as the Beverly Center and The Falls offer packages in cooperation with area hotels often focusing on women and families. It was after men shopping at the Beverly Center requested their own incentive packages that the Man of Style offers were born.
“We’ve done numerous surveys in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom regarding people’s habits in shopping while they travel and all three studies had the same results regardless of the country: men outspend women when they shop while traveling,” said Karen MacDonald, a spokesperson for Taubman Centers. “We hadn’t really put the focus specifically for men. We decided to give this a try.”
For example, for $169 at The Falls in Miami, FL, men can start off with deluxe room accommodations and a buffet breakfast for two at the Marriott. A Bloomingdale’s personal shopper will give a style consultation and a wardrobe makeover and a 15% off all-day discount card can be used at Bloomingdales to buy that new wardrobe. After shopping, he can stop in the Bloomingdale’s Café Miami for a complimentary cappuccino or frozen yogurt. A fixed-price lunch can be ordered up at Los Ranchos followed by a mini-facial, skin analysis and samples from Origins. The afternoon can be rounded out with a hair consultation and discounts on haircuts and hair care products at Regis Hairstylists. The package also includes discounts and special offers at 60 retailers within the mall.
A less expensive package for $40 at the famed Woodfield Shopping Center in Schaumburg, IL, includes a five-minute hand massage from Aveda and a tour of Men’s Domain products, a free sunglass fashion consultation from Solstice along with a $25 discount of merchandise and a $25 Woodfield Mall gift certificate. The paper gift certificates are good at any store or restaurant at any of Taubman’s 31 U.S. shopping centers. The company launched the certificates in 2001 to drive traffic.
In addition to The Falls and Woodfield Mall, the other shopping centers offering the packages are the Beverly Center in Los Angeles and the International Plaza in Tampa, FL.
Since data found that shopping tops the list for travelers, Taubman has been active in incenting tourists to come to its shopping centers. In 1995, it created the Taubman World Class Shopping program, MacDonald said.
A special holiday package is being offered from Nov. 1 through Dec. 24 at the MacArthur Center in Norfolk, VA that includes overnight accommodations and cigars and brandy.
The incentives are being promoted on the individual center’s Web sites and at Shopamericatours.com
