Simon Property Group livestreams merchandise in new partnership

Simon Property Group is going virtual.

The nation’s largest mall operator is partnering with ShopShops, a livestream shopping app, according to the app’s founder and CEO, Liyia Wu.

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“With experience and a lot of hours put into this business, we’re able to persuade more brands, more major retailers to be able to collaborate or work with ShopShops,” Wu said during a World Retail Forum webinar Tuesday.

“We’re working with Simon’s malls,” she noted.

Once a week it is in Simon’s Woodbury Common Premium Outlets in New York, according to the company. ShopShops could not provide additional details. Simon Properties did not respond to inquiries about the partnership.

Manhattan-based ShopShops, which primarily deals with Chinese consumers, allows shoppers to virtually interact with stores, similar to home shopping channels. The startup, which began in 2016 and raised $14 million in a Series A last year, works with 1,000 retailers globally.

Simon Properties is reportedly in talks with Amazon to convert bankrupt anchor stores into fulfillment centers.

The waters have been rough for Simon lately, with the pandemic accelerating the rise of online shopping, the demise of weak retailers and the decline of traditional malls as the centerpiece of American shopping and gathering.

In the second quarter of 2020, Simon Properties saw net income nearly halved, to $254.2 million from $495.3 million over the same period in 2019. Revenue dropped 24 percent, to $1.06 billion from $1.4 billion last year.

Contact Sasha Jones at sasha.jones@therealdeal.com