What is the biggest piece of the shopping experience missing for online shoppers? The experience of walking through the mall and window shopping at stores other than drew you to the mall int he first instance. An attendant part of the brick-and-mortar experience is the benefit of being reminded of an item you wanted to purchase, but may have forgotten until you happen by the appropriate shop.

Online shopping currently offers neither of these related benefits. You go directly to the site of the "store" you want to visit, and only if you think of another retailer or product do you go to that other site. You don't get that pass-by memory jogger or interesting-window-display hook to draw you into another shop, and retailers somewhere lose the opportunity to capture your dollar.

For retailers, this could offer real opportunity in many different market segments. Many malls have big names in their region or even nationally, whether due to their luxury offerings or their low prices. For example, the Short Hills Mall (NJ) is famous nationally for its upscale shops. If there were a virtual version of this mall, one that the consumer could actually "walk" through, a wealthy consumer in Wyoming, say, upon seeing an outift advertised as available at an upscale retailer at the Short Hills Mall could visit the Mall, buy the outfit at that retailer, but also see what other shops were there. S/he could have the "Short Hills experience" even from Wyoming. A really good site would include the specifics of architecture, lighting, etc. The "stores" could be well-executed images of the storefronts at that mall, with a link to the retailers website.

At the other end of the consumer scale, outlets that specialize in budget offerings could do the same -- appealing to a different market segment using the same tool. Potomoc Mills, an outlet center near Washington, DC, is perhaps as famous as Short Hills, but at the bargain end of the spectrum. While its virtual mall might not be as pretty as the fancy Short Hills site, it would still offer consumers who don't want or can't make the trek the opportunity to have a simulation of the shopping experience they would have had in person.

This would be win-win for consumers and retailers alike -- offering the next level of shopping experience for online shoppers, while creating a new opportunity for retailers to attract consumers.

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