Brave new retail world

What are retail think tanks? Usually they are special task teams, laboratories where innovative tools are devised and tested to improve shopping centres. They were established as a response to the growth in internet sales, the rapid development of modern technology and, as a result, new forms of communication with customers. There are no complaints to be heard about virtual competition in the sector these days. Developers, owners and managers eventually identified the substantial possibilities in the changing reality and consumers’ evolving shopping habits. So they rolled up their sleeves and got down to some serious work. “The different shopping experiences in both traditional retail as well as electronic retail have their unique upsides. An optimal solution for the customer would be combining the best qualities of both channels at the same time. You can gain a great deal thanks to the integration of traditional retail and modern technological solutions: starting from increasing the recognisability of a centre, to the more precise identification of customers’ expectations and the greater efficiency of the centre,” remarks Andrzej Jarosz, the head of marketing at Mayland Real Estate and a member of the team responsible for the installation of modern tech in the centres the company manages and develops.

Laboratories are fashionable

The developers and owners of shopping facilities, especially the international ones operating in Poland, have been setting up teams called laboratories. One of the companies that can already has one is Apsys Polska, which established Apsys Lab. Other companies that also have their own think tanks include ECE Projektmanagement (ECE Future Lab), Immofinanz Group and Unibail-Rodamco – UR Lab. Mayland Real Estate and TriGranit also work on such a basis. “Apsys Lab has been in operation for under a year. We felt the need to look for new ideas and solutions. Its initiator was Fabrice Bansay, the president of the board at Apsys Polska. It was he who invited me to cooperate and create the Apsys Lab team. Our team includes people who are fascinated by new technology, using it every day and are comfortable with computers, smartphones, tablets and applications while actively using social media,” explains Sławomir Murawski, the director of the Manufaktura shopping centre in Łódź and the head of Apsys Lab. ECE Future Lab has been functioning a little longer. “In 2013 we started a special programme under the name of ECE Future Lab, the main goal of which was increasing customer satisfaction. This is a special expert team which develops ideas and suggestions. It is often the case that our employees from headquarters or from shopping centres come forward with an idea for the further development of a system that is already in operation,” explains Joanna Fisher, the managing director for centre management at ECE Projektmanagement. Immofinanz is also sparing no effort in terms of the introduction of modern means of communication and sales in their facilities. The think tank of this developer was established as a result of extending its marketing department with an innovation section, led by Karin Kernmayer-Farr. Apart from the marketing staff, the team also included so-called innovation managers. “We have expanded our existing marketing department by creating an innovation division. It is led by the director of marketing and innovations and the team also includes an innovation manager. Marketing together with the innovation department at Immofinanz is set up with creative personalities who are used to working quickly on current topics and dealing with challenging deadlines. The team cooperates with all the other departments in our organisation as well as with external agencies, our customers and other stake holders,” relates Karin Kernmayer-Farr, the director of the marketing and innovation department at Immofinanz. Meanwhile, Mayland Real Estate is focused on project activities. It all started with the idea for new communication in the redeveloped Riviera shopping centre in Gdynia – but it didn’t end there. The company’s structures include a special division managed by Andrzej Jarosz and supported by Norbert Cała. “In addition we cooperate with specialists from various departments in our company and external partners. The team was born about 1.5 years ago before the opening of the Riviera shopping centre in Gdynia. Since that time we have been developing the system introduced in Riviera and have been working on the introduction of some of its elements to other facilities under our management – Karolinka in Opole and Pogoria in Dąbrowa Górnicza. Furthermore, we are developing new systems for the newly-developed Serenada shopping centre in Kraków,” Andrzej Jarosz informs us. A modern system – the Omnichannel platform – has also been prepared and is being developed by TriGranit. The person responsible for this section is Iwo Knopik from the marketing department of Bonarka City Center in Kraków, which is owned by the Hungarian developer. The solutions offered by UR Lab – a unit of Unibail-Rodamco – seem interesting. UR Lab has been functioning since 2012 and it can already boast the implementation of a number of projects. The team comes up with these new solutions and then cooperates with representatives of other Unibail-Rodamco departments and partner companies.

Scientific approach

But there are as many ways of organising these think tanks as there are companies doing it. However, having analysed the work of individual teams it is possible to notice two main approaches: general development-based and project-based. Laboratories such as Apsys Lab, UR Lab and ECE Future Lab operate in various fields and do not limit themselves to only introducing technological innovations to facilities. Other developers prefer to focus on specific projects, usually through combining traditional retail and new technology. Sławomir Murawski’s team analyses the operations of a facility at many different levels. “We work in five fields: customer experience, customer service, increasing revenue in shared areas, social media and new technology, and smart management – the reduction of the maintenance costs of shared areas,” explains Sławomir Murawski. The everyday tasks of the innovation group at Immofinanz include identifying all the various possibilities for the improvement of a retail facility’s operations. “Our daily task is to scout and research different possibilities in terms of innovations for our shopping centres as well as to come up with our own ideas. We explore and compare different solutions and services to see what could potentially work best for us. We think about the specific use cases of new technologies and how to connect them to a big round concept that really provides our customers with smart and convenient services supporting them on their individual journeys through our retail projects,” emphasises Karin Kernmayer-Farr. “ECE Future Lab’s task is to gather information, analyse it thoroughly and then adjust the solutions for a given shopping centre. Our experimental approach is based on trial and error. The ideas that are welcomed by our customers are then developed and subsequently implemented in other shopping centres. The services that do not appeal to customers are replaced with new ones. The future of the ECE Future Lab project lies in its strategic approach to increasing customer satisfaction through the multi-layered influence of various initiatives in our shopping centres,” – is how the activities of ECE Projektmanagement’s think tank are characterised by its director, Joanna Fisher. Members of the UR Lab team are also not only involved in new technology for the retail sector. They focus on four fields of operation: digital technology, sustainable development (ecological activities), multisensory shopping (creating an environment through the use of architectural and technological solutions) and four-star shopping, which means improving the quality of customer service and increasing the comfort of shopping. Mayland RE’s laboratory operates slightly differently. Andrzej Jarosz’s team focuses on the introduction of modern communication systems with customers. So far the company has prepared a fully integrated communication system in the Riviera shopping centre, which includes CMS (a content management system), interactive kiosks providing information about the centre, a map of the mall, special offers, listings for the cinema, options regarding access to the centre, weather forecasts, a coupon and lottery system enabling entry to competitions as well as coupon printing. All of this is complemented by a website and a mobile app integrated with the entire system, and intelligent Wi-Fi throughout the entire building, including the car parks, as well as the option of logging onto the Wi-Fi through social media accounts. “Now we are working on the further development of the system. We will be gradually introducing it to other shopping centres, e.g. the recently installed kiosks with a coupon option in Karolinka and Pogoria,” adds Andrzej Jarosz.

TriGranit also concentrates on specific projects. The Omnichannel platform has been in operation in Bonarka City Center since September. “The work on this system started last year. The Omnichannel platform is based on several means of communication: the website, a newsletter, discount machines, a mobile app, social media activities as well as the loyalty programme. The platform’s job is to inform customers about interesting events, promotions, discounts and shops’ special offers. In addition, each customer will be able to create an account and a profile by choosing the most interesting information categories. The tools used by us are integrated with one another and will be managed by Above Awards, an external company and our partner in this project,” explains Iwo Knopik, the marketing manager of TriGranit.

Technological innovations...

Some companies have been involved in modernising the offer of shopping centres for some time, as evidenced by the rather impressive output of their work. ECE Future Lab is currently working on highly advanced solutions based on iBeacon technology and mobile payments. “We are also testing an online platform including the entire range of products and a cross section of our tenants’ products. The centres where the testing and research are being carried include Alstertal Einkaufszentrum in Hamburg and Limbecker Platz in Essen, while in Poland it will be Zielone Arkady in Bydgoszcz,” reveals Joanna Fisher. And that is not all. “Our focus is on convenience. We are introducing modern mobile applications to our centres, which make it easier to move around the shopping centre, such as Center App, RFID Parking, Same Day Delivery, Click & Collect, 3D Wayfinding, InfoGate and interactive entertainment areas for children. By choosing a specific facility we take into consideration all the external variables and internal factors. That is why we know that the Same Day Delivery service will work well in the centres where the majority of customers use public transport, whereas RFID Parking and Car Finder will function well in the centres customers get to by car,” explains the head of the shopping centre management department at ECE Projektmanagement.

The first large implementation initiated by Apsys Lab was the installation of beacons, of which there are now more than 300 in Manufaktura, as well as launching a mobile app integrated with the system. “We hope that by the end of the year the application will have been downloaded by 10,000 people. It had more than 1,000 downloads one month from its launch. Thanks to the beacons and the app the customer is informed about promotions designed especially for them, because beacons register customers’ movements around the centre, they make a record of the shops they enter and send offers targeted towards their interests later on,” explains the head of Apsys Lab. As he goes on to add: “The application also has a ‘History of the Factory’ tab, which reminds customers what Manufaktura looked like long before it was revitalised as well as a tab identifying free parking spaces and memorising your car’s location.”

Andrzej Jarosz’s team is not resting on its laurels, either. “We are currently working on the implementation of beacon-based solutions in our centres. “This is a very trendy approach nowadays; however, the systems that operate here and there do not fully utilise the potential of this technology. We are also building a package for Serenada in Kraków, which combines independent solutions into one cohesive system – starting from navigation around the car parks, to Wi-Fi and mobile applications for customers, to kiosks and other interactive devices installed in the centre. We are basing this on our two-year experience from Riviera, where we managed to gather huge amounts of information about customer behaviour, their needs, reactions to marketing activities, etc. over this period,” claims Andrzej Jarosz.

The thriving laboratory of Unibail-Rodamco can boast a four-star app. This has been introduced to 60 Unibail-Rodamco shopping centres in nine countries. It provides information about shops and their offers, events, as well as interactive maps of individual floors. In addition, the team has designed Unibench and Unispace – designer sitting areas fitted with electronic equipment such as sockets, chargers and USB inputs. The first launch is to take place in French shopping centre Carré Sénart in September 2015. Another project of UR Lab is Digital Dream – LED screens with areas of 250 sqm combined with one another and installed in the heart of the shopping centre. This is a multimedia tool that can display advertisements or photos from the events taking place in the mall. One interesting attraction is Ingress – a computer game available in the mobile version, which has been developed in cooperation with Google. Ingress is available in 18 shopping centres in six countries.

The innovations that have been introduced to Bonarka City Center are also to be built upon. “The new services in the discount machine and mobile application will be available in the first phase of the system’s introduction. Our newsletter and new website will be launched in the autumn and the beacon-based system will be launched slightly later. We will also be putting special devices in tenants’ outlets – everyone who prints a coupon from a discount machine will have to scan it in the appropriate store – thanks to this we will find out a great deal about our customers’ purchasing habits,” claims Iwo Knopik.

Immofinanz is not willing to disclose its next step in this direction. However, the director of the developer’s marketing and innovation department has told us what can already be found in facilities owned by the company and that have been inspired by the think tank. “We cannot reveal all our ideas and plans yet, but we plan, for example, to launch very soon a new mobile application for our customers that will provide them, along with regular information and features, with ‘push promotions’, which will appear when walking through the centre or entering a specific store. It will also have a mobile indoor navigation system guiding the customer’s current position to their chosen store or directing them to the exact place where they parked their car. We decided to pilot this application in our newest shopping and entertainment centre, Tarasy Zamkowe in Lublin, which was opened in March this year. In our view it a modern place, in an open minded young city, in a country that is very online savvy. Therefore we are confident that it is the perfect project to launch our newest innovation,” explains Karin Kernmayer-Farr.

And that’s not all...

Supporting a shopping centre’s operations through implementing these systems at the various levels of a mall’s organisation is the basic aim of the think tanks’ activities, including the everyday functioning of a mall. The UR Lab team has been developing new catering concepts that it is implementing in its centres. These include DEX or the Dining Experience – a new type of restaurant zone featuring a special area for events, cooking shows (the Experience Theatre), as well as a varied offer of eateries. The idea is being applied in the largest shopping centres of the group. Meanwhile, its Fresh! concept has also been developed, featuring fairs offering fresh products as well as slow food restaurants. In addition to this, restaurant zones with spots for cooking lessons accompanied by live music are being introduced. The first such zone was launched at the Les Glories shopping centre in Barcelona.

Meanwhile, Sławomir Murawski’s team is working on a method of delivering shopping to the car park or to a special zone where the customers can collect their purchases. “We will be testing this system in Manufaktura. We will also introduce it to Posnania, which is currently under construction. The procedure is quite complicated due to the necessity of coordinating it with the operations of individual shops, but we will be the first ones on the Polish market,” emphasises Sławomir Murawski. He also remarks that developers and managers need to face the new reality and look for creative ideas and measurable benefits in each aspect of the shopping centre. “The market has been changing and so we are providing our partner companies with the impulse to make them more innovative. One suggestion was to use magnetic paint. Thanks to its properties advertising banners can be hung directly onto the wall. This does not require any additional work. The advertisements can be changed every day or taken down and the wall is clear. We have to learn how to make money in additional areas and how to use the entire infrastructure of the centre,” argues the director of Manufaktura.

Song of the future

Shopping centre owners are investing in special research and development teams and implementing the concepts proposed by them because they are seeing a clear change in consumer habits. Among these changes are the development of virtual and mobile forms of selling. Sławomir Murawski feels that this is another opportunity to refine and upgrade traditional retail. “The online movement needs to be directed towards shopping centres and it needs to be monetised. Over the next few years shopping centres will evolve into multi-functional malls with a broad catering and entertainment offer, that is, all those things which generate the shopping experience,” explains the head of Apsys Lab. He is also of the opinion that one of the greatest challenges nowadays is creating an integrated system for the offer of the shopping centre and its tenants. This would make it possible for the customers present in the mall to check the range of products available in specific shops and make virtual purchases through the centre’s applications. “A virtual mall in a real mall – this is the natural development path. All of this is thanks to m-commerce. A customer who comes to a shopping centre can buy products in shops physically located in the mall, but also by using the internet. Why not reverse this situation and go from the real world to the virtual world? A shopping centre makes an area available to tenants and organises it. It also helps provide access to customers and encourages them to stay. It should serve the same role on the net. A virtual area could be created, which would be especially advantageous for smaller tenants. It would help them to showcase their products thanks to the better communication reach than in a traditional shopping centre – as well as on the net, through its website or social media. Building up the tenants’ goods could be an obstacle because it not only requires cooperation but also integration and a certain standardisation of the systems used by many partners, which is more difficult,” adds Andrzej Jarosz. However, he points out that technological tools are already providing developers with measurable benefits. This mainly applies to the optimisation of costs and facility management in terms of marketing. “Such systems help the owner/manager of a centre a great deal, because they provide a substantial amount of information about the customers: whether it is a new person in our facility or a loyal customer, where they come from – among other things, it helps in calculating advertising budgets, since it can identify, for example, where it would be worth putting up an advert; we can monitor the efficiency of the events we organise – we can learn who comes to them, whether this translates into visits to the shops and whether a customer acquired in this way comes back to us, which makes it possible to determine which marketing campaigns work well,” explains Andrzej Jarosz.