What’s a tenant database? It’s a list of expanding retailers and contact information for key decision makers in those organizations. If you work in retail commercial real estate, you’ve undoubtedly used a retail tenant database to help you find and connect with potential tenants.
Retailsphere was created to advance the retail tenant database beyond just a large list of contacts. We are creating a set of constantly updating retailer profiles for national, regional, and even smaller local brands. Additionally, our profiles look at reviews, social profiles, and other information like financials you need to find the right tenant.
As we’ve talked to numerous clients, it has become clear that most of the existing database tools are far from perfect. We’ve asked commercial real estate brokers, managers, and owners around the country what is wrong with existing retail tenant databases, and we heard the same complaints again and again. Here are the top 5:
It seems many databases were put together years ago (and at the very least months ago) and rarely looked at again. Unfortunately for these lists, the retail market hasn’t stopped changing, updating, growing and innovating. Brands that have ruled for decades can be displaced by newcomers in just a short amount of time. Having the most up-to-date information on potential clients is crucial in making informed decisions about your tenants.
Many databases include inaccurate, or are altogether missing, key pieces of information. Even worse, generic information like public phone numbers or mass mailing addresses like post office boxes take the place of specific and accurate points of contact at big brands.
What if you need to get in touch with a brand directly? This is just one of the things Retailsphere offers its users. We have real headquarter addresses, real location selector contact information, real phone numbers and email addresses. Our team of researchers is constantly reaching out to key brands and updating profiles.
You expect retail tenant databases to have hard to get information you can’t readily get from a simple online search. More often than not, this doesn’t seem to be the case.
Retail tenant databases tend to focus on low hanging fruit. Aggregating big nationwide brands, chains and franchise data gives the illusion of value. But what if you’re looking for insights into shifts in the marketplace, and up-and-coming brands who can fill a niche? Traditional retail tenant databases just come up lacking in this department. The majority of data regarding regional trends, local brands and small businesses are untapped and untracked. Unfortunately, this is the information you need to make your retail spaces stand out and draw a crowd.
Retailsphere has set out to include regional and local brands from day one. We understand that as retail moves towards more localized tastes, your shopping center needs to fill vacant spaces with brands that will attract and keep customers coming back. When we research new geographies, we don’t stop with national names - we look for the brands that make your area unique, and provide accurate data on those people as well.
We also give you, the user, direct access to our research team. We include custom research requests in every package. If you come across a retailer without populated data, just submit a request to our team and let our world-class researchers do the heavy lifting for you - providing real time information on that brand within just a few days.
“Databases are difficult to navigate.” We hear this all of the time, and even the most necessary tools will go unused when information can’t be easily accessed. Many retail tenant databases use outdated tech, tons of file space, and provide you with way more data than you really need, making them incredibly cumbersome.
You’d rather not receive an excel file containing stats on every drive-thru chain in the country when what you’re really looking for is information on pet care brands. This specific instance could be swapped out for many other searches, and landlords everywhere are finding themselves in this very predicament.
Retailsphere’s retailer profiles are housed in an online system and formatted for quick searches and even quicker filtering. We understand that the longer it takes to parse through lines of data, the less time you have to do more important tasks like making phone calls and performing actual tenant outreach.
A recurring complaint with current databases is that they lack search parameters that allow you the ability to fully use the data at hand. Without practical search functionality, you’re left awash in data. On top of this, getting help with searches from the creators on these databases, beyond the most basic of training, seems impossible. Without the ability to easily hone in on what you need, you can’t find your perfect tenants. And good luck figuring out how to filter through data in the massive spreadsheet you just downloaded.
Retailsphere’s entire system is built on the understanding that retailer data and profiles are only as useful as your ability to look for and find the right retailer profile. We offer numerous ways to search for specific brands, or use our advanced filters to browse through types of retailers in the most efficient manner possible.
When you finally find data that is useful, you end up paying an arm and a leg for a list of national retailers only updated once annually. Plus, custom reports, requests for deep historical data, and customer support always seem to come with extra charges.
You’re searching for new retailers throughout the year and need to know you have access to the most recent contact information. In the current state of retail, it is also important to know you aren’t reaching out to a brand that has just recently gone out of business.
Retailsphere understands that your needs eb and flow. Our platform is priced by geography and by number of users to allow the largest amount of flexibility in the market. Only purchase data in the cities you operate within and only purchase the number of seats you need for your office.
If you’re using a traditional retail tenant database and have found yourself with one or more of the above complaints, we can help! Retailsphere’s founders started working on a new type of retailer database because we have seen the gaps in traditional databases first hand.
We provide a powerful, easy-to-use interface rich with useful data. When you have a problem, our customer success team is just a simple call away. And our researchers are constantly working to stay on top of the latest regional trends, making sure you can come back to up to date information each time you log in.
Interested in seeing how Retailsphere can upgrade your retail tenant database experience? Contact us today, and we can show you all the ways we are different.
