The Shops at Las Americas opened in November 2001.
Resembling a Mediterranean village, the open-air
shopping center features large courtyards with
fountains, statues and mosaics. An expansion
in May 2005 added 188,000 square feet to the
center, 45 new designer brand stores, making
the 560,000 square-foot center the largest fashion
outlet center in San Diego County.
The Shops
at Las Americas is located next to the world’s
busiest international border crossing between
San Diego and Tijuana. The average daily traffic
count at this intersection is 175,700 vehicles
with about 112 million passengers and pedestrians
crossing the border each year.
Within a 10-mile radius of the center, nearly
450,000 people reside in 133,000 households. The
centers primary market is also inclusive of nearly
1.4 million residents of Tijuana, Mexico. This
overall trade area spends an excess of $4 billion
in annual retail expenditures.
Before the
center’s expansion, the average
shopper was primarily Hispanic from the South San
Diego region and from the Northern Baja California
communities of Tijuana, Rosarito, Tecate and Ensenada.
The objective of the May 2005 expansion was to
expand to the current consumer base as well as
increase consumer traffic from the second and tertiary
markets.
CHALLENGES
An upscale retail shopping center was being constructed
in the city of Chula Vista, 10 miles away. This
new center would target the same primary and
tertiary markets as The Shops at Las Americas.
Other challenges surfaced because of the current
Hispanic consumer base, which meant all new campaign
materials had to appeal to both Spanish and English
speaking markets with clear, concise and consistent
messages.
RESULTS
In March 2006, a new aggressive campaign was created
and launched which included print, television
and radio advertising, and a public relations
plan in an effort to develop a wider consumer
base within central San Diego. The campaign aimed
to draw more upscale shoppers to the newly expanded
high-end retail area and to build The Shops at
Las Americas as a tourist destination for shoppers
from around the world. The components and results
of the campaign are as follows:
Several advertisements
were created and placed in newspapers, magazines,
television and radio outlets with appropriate
messages for different markets. The messages
reached a diverse audience ranging from Spanish
speakers living south of the border to high-end
shoppers living in San Diego’s
affluent neighborhoods. The advertisements adequately
and succinctly addressed the center’s audiences
and the challenges faced. For example, advertisements
created for central San Diego consumers included
taglines such as, “Closer than you think” and “Just
20 minutes from Downtown San Diego,” to alter
people’s perception of the center’s
distance from their home.
The marketing campaign also called for a stronger
presence of on-site promotions, including VIP coupon
books, hand-held maps, rack cards distributions
in hotel lobbies, displays with categorized store
listings, directional signage and fence banners
to capture the attention of current shoppers and
to create return of loyal ones.
Since the campaign has been put into effect, the
center has seen an approximate $20 million increase
in sales which translates into an average of 10%
increase in 2006 and a 19% increase year-to-date
through May 2007. The campaign has also effectively
reached consumers in the targeted areas of Eastlake,
Chula Vista, Coronado and downtown San Diego, and
has brought in tourists from as close as North
County San Diego to as far as Japan and Australia. |