What Is Retail Parking? Meaning, Benefits & Best Practices
Brick-and-mortar stores offer an in-person browsing and buying experience that shoppers depend on and enjoy. Still, with an abundance of online options, customers can deterred if physically visiting to a store is inconvenient.
The ease and availability of parking are important factors in attracting customers to visit brick-and-mortar stores. If your business’s parking options are limited to busy street parking or congested parking lots, they may turn elsewhere. Learn more about why proper retail parking management is essential for businesses and four ways to oversee your business’s parking effectively.
What Is Retail Parking?
Retail parking includes any parking spaces designated for use by retail customers visiting shopping malls, strip malls, plazas, shopping centers, or standalone locations (as opposed to commercial, residential, or public parking).
Retail parking involves more than simply providing space for cars. While parking spots are necessary for easy access, they must also be convenient.
When designing retail parking, consider the needs and use cases of all customers. This means including accessible parking spaces, directional signage for optimal traffic flow, and technologies like online permits that streamline parking management.
Why Retail Parking Management Matters for Businesses
Well-designed and expertly managed retail parking is critical to your business’s success. When your parking solutions meet consumer needs and expectations, you’ll enjoy several advantages.
1. Enhances Customer Experience
Retail parking brings in business. As Michael Murray, President of Concord Parking, states, “Retail customers are less inclined to frequent businesses with crowded, poorly managed parking facilities. Customers prefer parking certainty when making shopping decisions.”
Well-maintained and adequately managed parking for your retail space is a major factor in a smooth and hassle-free shopping experience.
2. Increases Business Revenue
Whether your business is in a suburban area or a city centre, it should provide customers with what they’re looking for: dedicated, off-street retail parking.
By offering centralized lot or garage parking over public street parking, retailers enjoy improved area traffic flow, increased accessibility, and an atmosphere that invites shoppers to spend more time—and potentially more money.
The right parking lot management system can further improve parking efficiency and profitability. For example, for businesses that offer online or large-purchase pick-up or those where customers purchase a large number of items (like supermarkets), parking should accommodate the extra space they’ll need to load vehicles and maneuver shopping carts.
3. Improves Traffic Flow
Installing a car park or other designated parking area can improve the customer experience in multiple ways. First, it removes the difficulties inherent to street parking, such as limited availability, competition from other businesses, and interference with street traffic.
When shopping centers optimize lot parking, they can also avoid congestion. This prevents delays and overcrowding while encouraging regular space turnover.
4. Safety and Security
Customers may not like hiking from distant street parking to visit malls or standalone stores. A long walk is not only inconvenient; it can also feel unsafe—especially at night. A well-lit dedicated lot with monitored parking addresses both concerns. As well, having lots monitored by parking operators or security companies like Paladin Security increases parking lot security with dedicated personnel.
5. Brand Image
If you’re managing parking for a standalone store, consider how your parking accommodations impact your brand perception. Your brand image is based on many factors, including your products, packaging, marketing, and, of course, the retail experience. Every element affects how consumers perceive your brand.
A clean and organized parking area with an automated payment system can go a long way. Offering safe and easy access to your store improves the customer experience, making shoppers feel good about your brand. That, in turn, will make them more likely to return.
Additional features, such as a shuttle service for furniture or big-box retailers to transport heavy or large items or a valet service for luxury boutiques, can also elevate your brand image.
How Retail Parking Is Managed Effectively
Whether your business is part of a large retail park or a smaller strip mall, installing parking is just step one. Consider these parking solutions to manage retail parking effectively.
1. Advanced Parking Technology
Useful technologies include strategically located automated pay stations, convenient mobile pay options, license plate recognition cameras, and parking guidance systems.
Murray strongly advocates modern parking technologies. Concord Parking uses both vehicle-based and handheld license plate recognition (LPR) systems to ensure compliance with parking rules, elevating parking enforcement to the next level.
2. Regular Maintenance
Parking lots may serve as your brand’s first point of contact with customers, so appearance and functionality matters. This is why it pays to maintain a clean, safe environment with the following features:
- Clear signage and defined parking spaces
- Adequate lighting
- Conspicuous pillars and obstacles
- Attractive landscaping
- Additional available services such as car washes, EV charging stations
- Clearly designated handicapped parking spaces
3. Enforcement and Monitoring
Effective parking management starts with clear parking policies, such as time limits and reserved spaces. Consider the average patron visiting the property, their reason for visiting, and the number of vehicles you will accommodate within an allotted time. Once you set your policies, monitoring and enforcing these policies will be essential to encourage turnover and ensure smooth operations.
Also, consider offering time-limited free parking aligned with your customers’ average duration—for example, complimentary parking for 30 minutes.
4. Data-Driven Insights
Modern technology can collect and analyze parking data to improve the customer experience and allow retail industry leaders to optimize parking lot usage and traffic flow. For example, real-time displays showing lot occupancy can save shoppers time, helping them choose when to visit retail stores and where to look for parking.
The right technology makes a difference for retail businesses.
“Property managers who choose Concord Parking have full visibility on their parking operations and can access parking data about their property via an online portal tailored to the needs of the specific property,” Murray says. This helps property managers make informed decisions about their parking arrangements.
Powerful Solutions for Retail Parking
Retail parking is not just about convenience; security is critical to any effective parking solution. Investing in security solutions such as CCTV systems, robust perimeter controls, and well-lit areas deters auto crime and reduces liability risks for your business. Customers are more likely to return to where they know their vehicles and personal belongings are protected.
By integrating cloud-based parking solutions, retailers can also streamline operations and provide a seamless parking experience.
Contact Concord Parking today to learn how our parking management services and retail parking solutions can help you gain a strategic advantage over your competitors.
FAQs
What does retail parking mean?
Retail parking includes any parking spaces provided for retail customers by businesses or the owners of retail centers. These spaces are not considered public parking.
What does “retail only” mean?
The “retail only” designation signifies parking spots reserved for customers of specific retail stores, as opposed to commercial, residential, or public parking.
What are the four types of parking?
Parking spaces can be arranged in four different ways: parallel, perpendicular, angled, and bay parking.
Why is there a time limit on some retail parking?
Retailers want every interested customer to have a chance to shop at their business. They ensure parking availability by limiting the amount of time a single customer can use a space.
Contact us today to discover how our retail parking solutions can support your business!
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