Simon Property Group, which operates more than 200 shopping centers across the U.S., is pitching brands a new product: location data from shoppers who walk its malls, according to Modern Retail. The operator already runs a network of nearly 4,000 digital screens across its properties, but it now positions the physical mall itself as ad inventory. Brands buy access to anonymized movement patterns, dwell times, and visit frequency to target customers before, during, and after they enter a Simon property.
The mechanic is straightforward. Simon captures location signals from mobile devices inside its malls — shoppers who have location services enabled on apps that share data with ad networks. The company aggregates this into audience segments: frequent visitors, category browsers, high-value zones. Advertisers use these segments to serve display ads, social media creative, or search placements to people who recently visited a Simon mall or a specific store within one. The pitch is attribution: a brand can measure whether someone who saw an ad on Instagram later walked into their retail location at the mall.
This works because Simon controls the physical environment and the digital layer on top of it. Most retailers rent space and have no visibility into who walks past their storefront or enters a competitor three doors down. Simon sees all of it. The operator bundles that data with its owned digital screens to offer a closed-loop system: a brand runs a campaign on Simon's in-mall displays, tracks foot traffic lift via location data, then retargets those same visitors off-property through programmatic buys. The model turns the mall from a static lease play into a dynamic media platform.
The broader implication is that physical space operators with scale can now compete for digital ad budgets. Simon is not the only player exploring this. Westfield, Brookfield Properties, and grocery chains like Kroger have similar programs. But Simon's 200+ property footprint and national reach give it an edge in audience scale. For a brand launching a new product or testing a market, buying location-based ad inventory from a mall operator offers a shortcut to in-store consideration without negotiating directly with dozens of individual retailers.
A small physical-product brand can run a version of this without Simon's infrastructure. Start with Meta's store visit campaigns if you have a retail partner or your own brick-and-mortar presence. Meta allows you to target users within a radius of a physical location and track whether they visit after seeing an ad. Cost: often $2–$5 per store visit depending on category and geography. Set a 1-mile radius around your retail door, run a single-image ad with a time-limited offer, and measure visits via Meta's built-in attribution. If you sell through a retailer, approach the store manager and ask if they participate in a retail media network like Walmart Connect or Kroger Precision Marketing. Many allow brands to buy targeted ads inside the store or geofence the location for retargeting. Budget: $500–$1,000 test, usually self-serve. If you have no physical retail yet, use Google Local Inventory Ads to drive nearby searchers to a stockist, then retarget visitors with a direct-to-consumer offer. The play is the same: own the attribution loop from ad impression to foot traffic to purchase.
The next move is recognizing that physical retail is no longer just distribution. It is media inventory. If you have product on a shelf, you have a location signal. If you control that location or have data access through a partner, you have an audience. The brands that connect those dots first will pull ad budget from competitors still treating retail as a separate channel.
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