Last year, we at Retail Traffic made the decision to drop our print frequency to six times a year. We learned some lessons along the way about what that kind of frequency means and what we should (and shouldn't) include in our print issues. Similarly, we had the opportunity to spend more time developing our Web site and broadening our content online.
In 2011 we have opted to keep our print frequency the same as last year. But we are changing things up a bit in how we're going to present information here and in what kind of content we bring to you in print versus what we post daily to retailtrafficmag.com.
To begin with, you'll notice that we've opted to get rid of our news section. When we come to you just once every other month, a news section does not make much sense. But we have not stopped covering the day-to-day rhythms of the retail real estate industry. In fact, we're covering this now more than ever.
At retailtrafficmag.com, we are publishing fresh items every day of the week. We now cover every investment deal that we get wind of in our weekly Deal Digest column. We also report on major lease signings, new project announcements and activity on the development and redevelopment front in a new weekly Projects and People feature we began late last year. In addition, each week we highlight key research findings for the industry with multiple charts and graphs in our Research Corner. And we provide regular in-depth looks at key stories and trends within the industry with features and news analysis pieces. Plus, of course, there is the Traffic Court blog where we regularly recap big headlines in the industry and provide commentary and analysis in ways that we can't in print with lots of links, videos and graphics.
Lastly, we're expanding the use of multimedia. The newest addition to our site is an expanding roster of photo galleries showcasing our SADI award winners and other entrants, as well as one-off slideshows looking at innovative retail projects and stores.
What that means for the magazine is that you'll find here a mix of case studies, trend analysis, executive spotlights, strategy pieces and features. We have also decided to theme all of our issues in 2011. The issue you are about to read focuses almost exclusively on finance and investment and covers a variety of stories and topics shaping how deals are getting done in today's competitive marketplace.
We have retained a couple of regular features as well — including Tenant's Perspective, Last Call and Traffic Patterns. But for the most part, we want you to see each issue as a definitive guide to the topics at hand.
For the rest of 2011, we will also bring you specially themed issues on property ownership and management, architecture and design, retailing trends and a special forecast issue at the end of the year. And, as always our May/June issue will be chock full of everything under the sun about the industry.
So hopefully you'll find that our editorial strategy — both in print and online — suits your needs. And if you have any thoughts or feedback on what you think of our tweaks, please don't hesitate to contact me.