General Growth Deploys Interactive Kiosks at Its Malls

General Growth Properties, one of largest owners of malls in the country, has joined forces with IBM to create interactive media stations enabling shoppers access to Internet shopping at GGP’s shopping centers. Working with General Growth, IBM has applied its MerchantReach technology to design and build the stations, collectively known as MallibuDirect.

MallibuDirect provides online retailers and service companies a vehicle to market their stores and products at GGP’s physical malls. GGP’s Stonebriar Centre in Frisco (Dallas), TX, and RiverTown Crossings Mall in Grandville (Grand Rapids), MI, will be the first in a series of GGP regional shopping centers to incorporate the technology.

Each site comprises six computer workstations with high-resolution touch-tone screens located throughout the mall. Each workstation will host 12 online companies and include access to GGP’s Mallibu.com site. Plasma screens and back-lit displays for brand messaging and product features are also included on the kiosks. To date, GGP has already signed agreements with several companies to participate in MallibuDirect, including Art.com, Kozyhome.com, Hirelink.com, and ehobbies.com.

“We want our shoppers to get what they want, when they want it and where they want it. MallibuDirect is a means to this end,” says John Bucksbaum, CEO, General Growth. MallibuDirect is the latest of GGP’s foray into the world of electronic commerce. In June, GGP introduced Mallibu.com, www.mallibu.com, the company’s own interactive shopping center destination.