Innovative technologies at the MAPIC Innovation Forum at retail property exhibition MAPIC 2019

More than 25 companies are presenting ideas to enable retailers to harness data and turn it into insight at the MAPIC Innovation Forum, which brings together today’s retailers and real estate players with tomorrow’s technologies and solutions.

And beyond the companies taking part is a range of conference sessions and workshops aimed at looking at innovations across key themes such as data management, logistics, leveraging stock management tools and blockchain.

What visitors can expect from MIF this year?

Charles De Benaze, MAPIC

“The Innovation Forum is addressing the challenges around the physical environment and stores the retail industry is facing today, and will face in the coming years. Because consumers are looking for experience and more service, omni-channel, customer experience and loyalty solutions are three areas we are focusing on. We definitely have some exciting exhibitors.”

“There will be a mix of technology and service providers pushing innovation, that will help real estate and retail people discover the latest solutions and technologies. Everybody will have a chance to talk and share insights with the experts from real estate and retailers in the networking area and through workshops and flash-talks. Our enhanced tours are available to anyone with an interest in innovation and retailtech solutions — a personalised 30-minute guided tour of the Innovation Forum to meet exhibitors proposing relevant solutions and visit flash-talks and workshops in the zone.”

Bringing data together: the London initiative

Jace Tyrrell, Chief Executive, New West End Company

“Working with PwC, we have brought our data sets together. The retailers, hoteliers and restaurateurs in our BID area shared their data, on who is visiting, from where and for how long and we are launching this fully in October, with over 50 brands currently signed up, with the aim to have 100 by the end of the year, 200 by the end of next year.”

“The data combines three main areas: transaction data; global travel and mobile network information, which means we can start to determine not just spend, but where and when.”

Blockchain as a service: new opportunities

Jamil Benabdallah, Co-Founder, Tokeo Software

“We are a start-up, just one month old, but we have been working on blockchain for two years and we want to introduce blockchain as a service. Used in the right way, it can offer real estate players a quick and easy way to bring together, for example, loyalty offers. This is because blockchain can bring all the different loyalty schemes between retailers in a mall into one place. This not only means that marketing, offers and payment can be brought together, but that there is complete transparency in the blockchain and everyone can see when anything is changed. Take as an example a train ticket. As a customer you might have this as a PDF and you can share that multiple times. But in blockchain, once that ticket is sent from one device to another it does not remain in the original phone, so the information is unique to each token. That obviously translates very well to loyalty.

At MAPIC we will explain how blockchain can bring opportunities for new value in the ecosystem, with new type of partnerships, new services and simplicity in processes which are currently very complicated.”

Smart retailing: from inventory to intelligent delivery

Yves Curtat, CEO, Retail Reload

“Our projects join up retail inventory management with store networks, thanks to RFID, so that product can be supplied from store as well as DC and from the optimum location. So for example, if you have an order for a red dress, the process can ensure it is supplied from a store where the dress is slow-moving. That way it prevents the dress from being sold at discount later, protecting margins. We have already rolled out our software with Undiz and now we are working with the main brand, Etam.”

“When it comes to more intelligent delivery, the big challenge is change management.”

“This is not simply about technology, it is about people. Setting up training for staff is quite simple but you have to expect a high churn of personnel, so perhaps half the originally trained staff may have left the business within 12 months. Therefore, it is vital to have e-courses that can be used to train new employees. This is a key learning for a project like this. Inventory management is no longer enough, retailers need to move beyond this to apply machine learning to make their delivery more effective, optimise the use of their stores and make it more predictive.”

Community: understanding online and offline

Hubert Stech, Managing Director Germany and Benelux, Multi Corporation

“We have to understand that digital has changed retailers’ requirements for space and so we have to reinvent our destinations. That means two things: understanding how to embrace technology and also looking at what alternative uses work within a mall environment. It is important to connect — malls need to leverage social media, to make themselves part of the community.”

“You have to connect with the local people, you cannot be a UFO that lands in a location. You have to be part of the way people live and this is also about bringing in elements such as food courts or food halls.”

“But the important thing to remember is that every centre is different and so every approach has to be different. In terms of other uses, we also need to look at how lives are changing. Many more people work from home and creating co-working spaces where they can come and meet others is growing in importance. We are also actively looking to introduce healthcare into one of our centres — not simply putting a dentist in but a specialist hospital, because somewhere where people visit and have time and needs to fulfil is very well suited to a mall location. But it has to be right for that centre.”

The text/image source: Global Real Estate Experts, official exhibition website MAPIC 2019