Westfield Lauds App Upgrades in Time for Back-To-School Shopping

What's neat about the newest features of the free mobile app for Westfield Brandon shoppers? Just about everything, said Dawn Arvidson, the mall's director of marketing, who noted such things as voice command, the ability to search for products, compare prices and navigate through the center with what essentially is a GPS for the mall.

"I was messing around with it quite a bit," she said. "It's the next technology to make shopping easier."

• Check out the demonstration video for the Westfield app ugrade.

The Westfield Group, which owns 48 malls nationwide, including in Brandon, Citrus Park, Countryside, Sarasota Square and Southgate, announced this month significant upgrades to its free Westfield App v2.0, available in the iTunes App Store.

The enhancements include:

• In-mall navigation
• Expanded product search
• Enhanced retail offers
• Social media integration
• Voice command
• "And even the ability to purchase movie tickets and make dinner reservations."

"We had such an entusiastic response to the original version of the Westfield App," said Alan Cohen, executive vice president of marketing for Westfield, in a news release on the upgraded app. "After studying the feedback of hundreds of thousands of our shoppers, we found the majority wanted two things, to get around the mall easier and to save money. Westfield App v2.0 accomplishes both of these things."

Arvidson agreed on both counts — on the needs of shoppers and on the response to the app ugrade.

"It's going to make shopping more easy, fun and productive," she said. "If you're at Gymboree and you don't know how to get to Crazy 8, it will show you turn-by-turn how to get there."

Arvidson noted, too, the concierge feature.

"Let's say you're shopping and you're hungry," she said. "You say, 'I'm hungry,' and the app will bring up all the opportunities for dining. If you're looking for a product, you can say, 'jeans,' and it's going to show you who's selling jeans and at what cost."

Arvidson said it's a great time for the app's release, noting the strong surge in customers Westfield Brandon gets during the for  back-to-school shoppers. (See, Westfield News: .)

"The stores are running good deals because it's back-to-school season and they're all pushing for sales in their stores," Arvidson said.

The tax-free holiday runs through 11:59 p.m. Aug. 5.

Westfield Brandon is open Friday and Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday hours are from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

 

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More to come.