Communications of the ACM
Santa Claus Visits are Going Digital, from 'Elfies' to Augmented Reality
Malls around the U.S. are using Christmas and Santa Claus to try to draw more consumers (and their children) to shop there.
Credit: HGTV
Macerich, one of the largest mall operators in the U.S., is offering "Santa HQ 5.0" at 15 of its malls across the country.
The holiday villages feature a "Magic Mirror" which allows visitors to try on different elf outfits virtually, and a station where children can see Santa's observatory through augmented reality.
At the Bridgewater Commons mall in New Jersey, visitors can ride the "Santa Elevator Express" up a 40-foot-tall Christmas tree to Santa's workshop for selfies.
Driving such installations is an effort to draw consumers to malls at a time when e-commerce is capturing an increasingly larger share of overall retail revenue.
Said Kurt Ivey of Macerich, “These are the physical experiences that really make a holiday shopping season something special. ...This is the type of thing online shopping can't deliver.”
From NBC News
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