This year celebrates the 35th anniversary since the release of Back to the Future Part II (the film where they go to the future), so we thought it might be fun to explore themes and predictions in this cult classic to see how close they came to reality and where they might inform real retail innovation today. 

Although it was a vision of 2015 way back when the film was made in 1989, we find a mix of imagination with timeless lessons about technology, customer engagement, and adaptability. Futuristic technology often conjures visions of device-heavy retail environments and virtual interactions. Still, it is the invisible digital layer that will continue to set forward-thinking retail destinations apart in 2025. 

Anticipating Consumer Expectations

In Back to the Future Part II, the future (now) includes hoverboards, electronic payments, flying cars and VR headsets. While only some of these ideas have materialised, they reflect how imagining the future can inspire genuine advances and also align with customer desires.

Lesson for 2025: Be bold  

Embrace bold, forward-thinking ideas to anticipate and create demand. The world is undergoing seismic shifts, and many brands are responding with dramatic overhauls. Some are desperate gambles, while others are well-planned transformations happening quietly behind the scenes. Take Jaguar’s recent rebrand — it’s unconventional, surprising, and a bold signal that a dramatic change is coming, sparking conversations everywhere. Their approach breaks away from traditional norms, teasing a new era. What exact changes will emerge from the brand are still yet to be seen, but  it is a good illustration of how bold moves can set the stage for potential future success. 

In today’s fast-moving landscape, standing still simply isn’t an option. However, boldness must be backed by deep analysis. If we are only relying on surface-level data or simplistic metrics, we can easily be led astray. True progress demands getting into the weeds, understanding the nuances, and uncovering the key factors that will shape your future. Success comes to those willing to dig deeper and act strategically alongside a willingness to be daring.

The Role of Nostalgia

The film’s recurring theme of nostalgia reminds us that while people love innovation, they also value connection to the past.

Lesson for 2025: Old Fashioned Service 

Combine cutting-edge innovation with nostalgic elements. For example, reimagining a classic approach to customer service where people’s interactions are improved with smart insights. This can improve performance to attract new and reward existing customers or forge deeper working bonds with your brand partners. 

Measure the impact of your interactions and efforts. Much like any other area of retail, we need to know if what we are doing works and then fine-tune actions to make measurable gains. Customer service is as important a metric as any other and can be used alongside other KPIs to discern insight and explore relationships and correlations. Whilst many teams have taken this on board and are being highly praised, people still hark back to a time when you could get good service everywhere. Get those mystery shoppers out there and test how close you are to the gold standard. 

Time-Traveling Data

All of the Back to the Future films emphasise how knowing the past (or the future) can give a competitive advantage.  In Part II, Biff’s infamous sports almanac contains the results of major games and races. 

Lesson for 2025: Data is the almanac of modern retail

Real-time data and predictive analytics are increasingly critical in managing retail destinations. Movement tracking, dwell-time analysis, catchment data and brand performance monitoring etc. help destination managers make informed decisions about tenant mix, store placement, and marketing campaigns. For example, using heat-mapping technology to identify high-traffic areas can guide strategic placement of key tenants or promotional activations, maximising engagement. Similarly, predictive analytics can inform event programming or brand selection based on customer preferences and trends.

AI forecasting is also revolutionising predictive analytics by simplifying the process and eliminating the complexities of traditional methods. With just a few clicks now, tools can give you the ability to customise your insights by applying filters and adjusting variables, tailoring forecasts to answer your unique questions. We are facilitating our clients to dive deep into the past with their historical data and emerge with predictions that empower smarter, data-driven decisions as they look to the future. 

Adaptability to Change

Marty and Doc Brown constantly adapt to new challenges, illustrating the importance of agility.

Lesson for 2025: Agility 

The traditional anchor-tenant model is being redefined to include a mix of shorter leases and pop-ups, digitally native retailers, and boutique offerings to create unique places and more flexibility. Retail destination managers are curating a diverse tenant mix that reflects changing consumer interests, such as fitness studios or culinary and leisure experiences. Thematic zoning informed by data insights, such as organising clusters of stores around specific themes like wellness, technology, or fashion, helps create distinct identities for spaces that can adapt with consumer shifts. It also offers points of comparison at a portfolio level for things that don’t sit within common boundaries. 

Personalisation and Immersive Experiences

The film’s futuristic but nostalgically themed Café ’80s shows a blended mix of digital ordering, which is now a very familiar picture in restaurants today. However, the prediction that people living in 2015 would design 80’s themed cafés is perhaps interesting in itself, given the rise of immersive hospitality. 

Lesson for 2025: Personalise and make it memorable 

Not every moment can or should be a wow experience, but by leveraging technologies, you can offer customers a self-selecting experience that allows them to choose when they want to engage. Through AR, VR and AI-driven personalisation, placemakers can create unforgettable shopping destinations with the right mix of wow moments and digital and interactive experiences to suit their destinations. Whilst it is not about transforming all retail or restaurants into theme parks, some exciting immersive operators take themed shops and hospitality to new sensory levels. For example, I recently saw the founders of Ephemera Group speaking about their immersive restaurants in Paris, where spaces are customisable and include taking diners to space or under the sea.  

Join us at Retail Destination Live 2025, where we will be delving further into the views of different professionals on the future of technology in retail with a panel session. The agenda shaping up promises important debate and learnings for the year ahead. 

Aside from the fact Ratcliffe works remotely from Monaco, Raconteur focuses frustration on the failure of simplistic evaluations to measure personnel productivity: 

In his message to staff, Ratcliffe cited a 20% drop in email traffic at one of his other businesses when it experimented with working at home on Fridays. His comments highlight the fact that too many businesses focus on the inputs, rather than the outputs of desk-based workers. An employee’s value can’t be determined by the number of emails they fire off. In fact, having to constantly respond to messages often gets in the way of people being able to perform the more important parts of their job.

Sam Forsdick, Raconteur

Quoting research from Stanford University, the available data actually points to an increase in productivity when companies implement hybrid working, albeit a very slight one. Either way, a preoccupation with emails does not fully reflect where the work of today and tomorrow will be effectively performed. 

Technology, AI and augmented analytics are also rapidly influencing how we work. For example, we have implemented tools in our insights platforms, such as Retail Advantage, to support collaborative work, no matter where your teams are based. One new feature is “in-context chat”, which runs alongside interactive visualisations of multiple datasets. This collaborative tool not only boosts efficiency but also encourages idea generation, user experience and contribution.

Whether you manage a Premier League football club or a portfolio of Retail Destinations, measuring productivity effectively to improve performance is key. Read the Raconteur article here, and get in touch to see tools like Retail Advantage in action. 

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At ART we have been working closely with Landsec over the past 3 years to provide them with performance analysis tools and a community hub to support their retail destinations. This connected environment has been an important feature to assist site staff and brand-partners in navigating what has been a challenging year for most shopping locations.

We caught up with Colin Wilding, Senior Centre Director for insights at Gunwharf Quays, to get his perspective on the situation from the cultural harbour-front location in the heart of Portsmouth, as they head towards a New Year. 

Non-essential retail was raring to re-open for the run up to Christmas, and guests at Gunwharf Quays were welcomed back with the same commitment to safety they experienced during the reopening in the summer, but this time a covered marquee has also been introduced to provide comfort from inclement weather, should guests need to wait for capacity restrictions to ease.  

“The health and safety of our guests and onsite teams remains our priority as we reopen following the second lockdown” Colin says.  “Our team are all supporting our guests with guidance on social distancing and will be available to help answer any questions with regards to the location of retail brands and the centre’s facilities. The centre signage has also been updated to support these important messages.” 

Analytics help designer outlet teams manage, grow community and map recovery, and long before the pandemic Gunwharf Quays has used Retail Advantage to measure multiple metrics and performance. Right now, Colin tells us that for him and his team “data is incredibly important to help ascertain where queues are likely to form and to allow us to pre-plan the flows around the centre. The more dynamic the availability of data is to us the more quickly we can support our guests and our brand-partners to experience a seamless experience.” 

Home to famous brands, Gunwharf Quays’ strong offering of sportswear, homewares and lifestyle, all with up to 60% off regular retail prices, positioned them well for this year’s situation and  trends.  We are yet to see how the great loungewear pivot will trend post-pandemic, but Colin says “we have noticed a strong shift towards casual wear and homewares as more people are – not surprisingly! – spending a greater proportion of their time at home.”  

Collaboration across the retail outlet and leisure destination community is arguably more important than ever, and it benefits the guests, teams and brand-partners. “Regular updates on learnings and sharing new ideas and innovation have become even more important this year. Trends and behaviours have changed rapidly and the need for immediate communication has definitely increased.” 

The pandemic has given the industry a moment to pause, be imaginative, and reflect on past experience.  So, if Colin could offer himself one piece of advice before starting his career in retail, what would it be?

“Listen to others, respect experience and never underestimate the power of a strong team.”

Good words of advice for us all to take into 2021. Forget ‘new normal’, the New Year is a new beginning towards a ‘better normal.’  

Colin Wilding – Senior Centre Director of Gunwharf Quays

Set on a tranquil marina, it is easy to see why Affinity Lancashire is attracting customers to return for its offering from fashion to furnishings with a bit of that much needed feel-good factor.

“Since the reopening we have achieved 70% of footfall and like-for-like sales growth of 14% which reflects the confidence our customers have in us” says Catherine Holmes, whose approach prioritises the safety and wellbeing of customers and visitors.

Following advice from the government and Public Health England, the team has implemented one-way systems, utilised floor graphics, installed hand sanitising stations and information points, removed seating and closed children’s play areas. “These changes are also reflected in each of our stores across the centre to maintain customer safety throughout their whole journey with us.”

Part of that journey, is a return to the simple but necessary comforts offered at destinations like this. “Our customers are looking for some sort of normality, providing it is safe. Whilst many public bathrooms across the UK remain closed, at Affinity Lancashire we understand our customers often travel some distance to visit us and these facilities are important to them, so we are working to keep them open. Customers can use them while maintaining social distancing and they are cleaned hourly.” 

From the customers, to the team and tenants, Catherine says: “the foundation of any relationship starts with trust.”

“For team members, we take the time to set individual goals which are tailored to their skillset and support them in achieving these through coaching and development, allowing the individuals and the centre to flourish as a result. It’s equally as important to forge relationships with our occupiers from store managers through to regional and head office. As a centre team, we must understand our occupiers, their business model and their objectives to ensure we can help their business grow.”

Analytics help centre teams manage, grow community and map recovery, and long before the pandemic Affinity Lancashire has used Retail Advantage to track sales performance. “At a local level, this helps us make strategic decisions and determines how we operate. The data, for example, is used to review sales performance and densities to compare categories geographically across the centre, allowing for identification of areas which would benefit from additional footfall. This in turn can be utilised to turn these quieter areas into hubs of activity through innovative use of space such as soft play, picnic areas and events. We are now adapting these areas to be COVID Secure to maintain the customer journey and experience as restrictions are lifted.”

So, what advice would Catherine give herself before starting her career in retail?

“Staying team focused is the key to any business success, you need a diverse skill-set to run a retail outlet which needs to work for an entire community. I take pride in what we’ve built at Affinity Lancashire and all the team genuinely want our customers to have the best experience. I like to remind myself that going the extra mile for a customer means different things to different people – whether it’s helping a customer who’s car has broken down or assisting a family who have lost a child’s toy. It is the kind of service which creates a legacy for years to come.”

Catherine Holmes – Centre Manager at Affinity Lancashire

As much of the retail real estate and placemaking industry navigates disruption, we are sharing practical guidance coupled with inspiring insights from people with experience in their field. Blame it on the need for more physical exercise, or the fact that Wimbledon has just been cancelled due to Covid-19, as this week’s words again come courtesy of a professional athlete.

“Start where you are. Use what you have.  Do what you can.” – Professional tennis player, Arthur Ashe

Many things have been written about the Corona pandemic, but because the situation is unprecedented we have to start where we are, and do what we can with what we have. Retail is normally such a ferociously fast paced industry that a forced moment to pause, assess priorities, and perhaps pivot, could prove beneficial. Just like with data, there can sometimes be too much emphasis on gathering large quantities of information, whereas using what you have to gain analysis on what you need yields far more valuable insights.

Last month before the corona crisis escalated, I contributed an article about retail real estate for RLI magazine on the real revolution at play. ‘Never has the “real” in real estate held so much potential than today as customers tethered to their tech devices crave the satisfaction gained from authentic human connection, social experiences and physical places’ I wrote. 

Yes, all of that is on pause for the moment, but the ties to tech devices whilst people work from home, or seek entertainment during lockdown are only getting tighter. This will drive momentum in two ways – firstly it will accelerate digitalisation, but it will also make a shaken society rush to leisure destinations that serve security and a new warm welcome.

Stay safe, and please connect so we can help get architecture in place for your reopening.

Gratefully, Gareth Jordan and the ART Software team

Proptech is sometimes linked with disrupters to be wary of, but in 2020 it has come to represent the positive impact that technologies, new opportunities and processes can have in the revolution of real estate. 

Technology should support you and meet the evolving needs of your clients. It is right to demand holistic solutions with software that works with each asset to measure and determine if it is operating at its full potential, as well as providing an investment view.  Purpose-built software is an invaluable foundation to process data and connect users with the capability to work in multiple currencies and languages across a portfolio. Today, if you are not measuring, you cannot be effectively managing.  

Proptech exists to answer questions about how we engage and get value from real estate. We designed our solutions – such as the Retail Advantage platform – specifically to make measuring performance and managing assets easier. For the retail industry, using transaction data and traffic data are often the most valuable sources of customer information used to grow sales.  But data is everywhere, and our solutions not only collect customer insights, we produce analytics and incorporate available sources with feeds from tenant performance and marketing activity to weather and energy data.  Tools like data-rich 3D environments also help businesses really engage with the property they are managing.

2019 was the year that sustainability broke into the mainstream and proptech holds a great opportunity for environmental good and compliance.  A people-centric approach to technology is also gaining momentum by catering to the needs of individual users, tasks and roles.  From improving operations and efficiency to empowering decision-makers, we are in the middle of a digital and cultural transformation for the better.

Please get in touch to discuss your needs with one of our experts. 

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McArthurGlen Designer Outlet Ashford officially unveiled its 100,000 sq. ft. expansion last month, making it one of the biggest outlets the South of England has to offer. Home to Europe’s largest living wall which comprises over 120,000 plants, it is a good place to get your greens this holiday season. 

We have long worked with the group to collect and connect data across the McArthurGlen portfolio and our latest tools will provide analytics on the Designer Outlet Ashford expansion, which brings over 40 new stores, a new food piazza, an events space, a digitally-enhanced children’s playground and 725 additional parking spaces.    

At a recent Outlet Summit, ART’s director Gareth Jordan spoke about communities that have benefited from Outlets at the heart of regeneration. This £90 million project, which creates approximately 500 new jobs was highlighted by Ashford Borough Council and Kent County Council as key employment and economic drivers in the development of the town.

The group is currently constructing a seventh centre in the UK, McArthurGlen Designer Outlet West Midlands, an exciting new retail and leisure destination near Birmingham, which will open in 2020.

Please get in touch to discuss solutions for your retail and leisure destination.

In order to provide the ultimate customer experience, centre managers and retailers should look at ways to enable good staff experience with tools that engage and empower them to work more fluidly.  For example, instant access to analytics tailored to a particular task can help to zone in on what’s going on, highlight problems, and show us what we can do better. This is particularly crucial now as the experiential age demands that retail teams adapt to new sales and operational capabilities in order to succeed. 

At ART, we have a unique angle on workforce engagement – our solution, Retail Advantage helps retail locations combine performance data with an online portal to deliver powerful reports and aid communications.  We’ve been working with strategic analytics in retail since 2006, and our experience shows that access to intelligence and good staff communication channels can have a significant impact on the overall workforce experience, which in turn helps to attract and retain new talent.  

Data provides an incredible opportunity for retail with reports that can be compiled with one-click and securely shared for immediate action.  Tools that facilitate collaboration and quick messaging are invaluable as time is in higher demand than ever. 

Of course reworking retail is not simply about data, it’s about the impact that sharing insights has and creating meaningful work, which is becoming increasingly important to today’s workforce, and not just for millennials.