The Innovation Forum is always a buzzy area at MAPIC, with delegates keen to hear about the key tools and latest tech offerings, so we were glad to be part of the Innovation panel at MAPIC DIGITAL. ART Software Group Director, Gareth Jordan discussed our analytics platform Retail Advantage and fresh approaches to data collection. Innovative approaches to leasing were also the order of the day’s discussion, with property owners, landlords and retailers keen to create more collaborative models. Matt Thompson, Head of Retail Strategy at Colliers International led the panel which also included Angela Maurer, Head of Innovation at Landsec and Maxim Karbasnikoff, Head of Retail & Property Management at ADG.

Lockdown gave destination teams the time to launch new innovative products much more quickly, which in turn is leading to new data feeds. Another angle that the last six months have highlighted is the people on the front lines of the industry and retail destination teams adapting to the changing consumer in an ever-changing situation, so Gareth Jordan of ART reiterated the important part that tech has to play: “I think what is important, going forward, particularly as we gain access to more data – that there needs to be a much more people-centric approach to ensure insights get to the people that need them, and that tools cater to the needs of individual users and their specific tasks and roles.”

From the use of data to find pinch points and design Covid-secure one way systems to data that supports the creation of shopping malls like neighbourhoods with community tools, the group agreed that it is integral to stay close to the consumer and constantly measure the impact of different actions and initiatives to understand where strategy needs to change.

Matt Thompson of Colliers raised the landlord/occupier relationship, which has been redefined this year, and the role that data has to play in improving this relationship with greater transparency. Angela Maurer, shared learnings from discussions that Landsec has had with their retailers, and commented: “it was really clear that in terms of the partnership that we need to have going forward – given the big structural challenges that we have in retail – that we can only solve these if we work together, and that includes the sharing of data… which was quite a defining moment.” Angela explained that unanimously everyone agreed that we have got to work together: “There is the community of consumers, but there is also the community of your retail businesses.”

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Tailored retail intelligence software empowers businesses with the tools needed to re-tune strategies and deploy tactics that are trending front of house.

Customisation

Customisation has been growing for a while and will continue to do so thanks to the development of technology coupled with the increasingly interactive role of consumers. This is a movement, not a passing trend.  Our experience shows that data solutions designed with customisation, not only enhance the user experience, but also the insights delivered.  We designed Retail Advantage with highly configurable dashboards to be user-intuitive and one-click-customisable. The right technology offers insight into business performance levels to ensure you are seeing everything you need to know, the way you want to see it.

Collaboration

Brand collaborations allow businesses to tap into the approach and customers of other organisations.  Behind the scenes collaboration is not only desirable, but more crucial in the age of omnichannel.  We help our clients with technology designed for collaboration. Each area of Retail Advantage enables reporting of key information relevant to your business situation. Detailed sharable reports provide strategic understanding of customer movements, spending patterns, property revenue and marketing performance.  

Experience

Customer experience is more important than ever. Moving from traditional methods of data collection and analysis can be a daunting step, but streamlining laborious manual data collection and automating reporting should also be a smooth experience.  Once up and running, the right software solution not only saves money, but valuable time.

Extensive experience in software systems developed working with the industry has shown the powerful role technology plays in transforming back-end systems with performance-enhancing analytics.  

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