RLI Host, Owner & Publisher Jayne Rafter

The conference covered the shifts from transaction to the experience economy, as well as trends like edutainment, hospitality excellence, and collaboration between public and private investment to stimulate economic and community impact. For us, authenticity, as well as analytics, came through as a guiding path. Here are just a few key insights we took away from the day. 

“The smaller the world gets, it seems the bigger it gets too.”

Dimitri Lalagos, SVP American Dream (New York) 

Joining a panel alongside operators of diverse destinations in Macao, Riyadh, and Dubai, Dimitri commented that, as competitive as New York is with high retail saturation, we have to think about today’s competition on a global scale because there is so much wallet share.  

Dimitri Lalagos, SVP American Dream

Adapting to the customers’ new needs post-pandemic, leisure now represents 55-60% of the retail mix at American Dream. Dimitri advised that their job as retail developers is constantly evolving, allowing space for their retail and leisure partners to evolve too. By analysing data to accommodate partners better, “it’s about making space for them to put their best foot forward.”

“You are not talking about buildings. You are going into relationship management.”

Timothy Jones, SVP Retail Sands China

Responsible for 850 retail stores and 2.2 million square feet of retail space, Sands Shoppes Macau captured 40% of retail spend across the city in 2023. With Macau forecasted to attract 33 million visitors this year, Timothy spoke about the essential need to understand what the customer does on the property and the use of data and analytics to curate the experience. “What makes it tick are the people that visit and the people that make it work”, so he said it is about understanding that human relationship to understand how things stick together and be successful. 

 “Why can’t the high street be as dynamic as my social feed?”

Ariel Haroush, Founder & CEO OF Outform | Founder & Chairman of Future Stores

Ariel Haroush showcasing Future Stores on London’s Oxford Street

Ariel joined a panel about retail renaissance and transforming physical stores into experience-driven platforms. Riffing on earlier panels and the priority to attract the new young consumers that live in the moment, he opened with a story about his young son that perfectly captured customers of the future. Driving along, Ariel’s son asked him to change the song. Ariel answered that they were listening to the radio, but his son insisted on skipping the song again, and Ariel had to explain the concept of live radio.  

Understanding the need to grasp shoppers’ attention in milliseconds, Ariel explained his immersive retail media store concept, Future Stores, which opened on London’s Oxford Street this month. Inspired by the billboard that comes to life in Back to the Future, the stores blend media, retail and digital performance marketing with LEDs covering 400 sqm of wall and ceiling space at Oxford Street, their second location after New York. 

Designed to host brands for no more than two to three weeks, Ariel explained that it was about “conversion and curation,” turning retail into something more like your social feed. The store optimises itself with data and can change the messaging according to the colours and branding that customers respond best to. “The store itself is a living thing based on what’s happening in the data”, he said.

One of Jayne’s key takeaways was that by connecting and working together across industries and sectors, innovation thrives through a shared sense of purpose. The next big chance for the industry to connect is coming up at MAPIC. So, get in touch if you want to schedule a meeting or request a demo to see what Retail Advantage can do for your data, analytics and innovation strategy. 

We can learn lessons from leaders in markets further down the line from their initial outbreak. Here at ART, it has never been clearer that a professional analytics platform to share knowledge and connect everyone with access to the right depth of information is essential. So, here are some ways to keep on top of the data and utilise it to manage critical situations and map your recovery strategy.

Lessons for Retail and Leisure leaders in the time of covid-19

Create clarity for tenants and employees. Official advice can be too slow or not specific enough for your business needs, so it is important to try to create clarity for partners and employees, even though the status of the situation is changing.

Real-time accurate data is essential to make difficult decisions. A professional analytics and communication platform also helps you be attune to your tenants sentiment and needs and allows you to be consistent with your messaging and operational direction to retail teams. Not only can you share clear instructions for the safety of your employees and customers during a high-risk time, you can also empower employees with the analytics they need to take informed initiative – unique to their location, role or task. In China for example, which appears to be in the early stages of economic recuperation, some businesses adopted this two-pronged approach where strong direction from leaders was complimented with encouragement for employees to innovate.

Tailor your recovery strategy by destination. It is essential to easily segment different metrics such as sectors as different product groups will require different approaches to see them to recovery. Health guidance and public policies will also vary by location, so it may require a bit of flexibility within the geographical structure of your business. The Retail Advantage destination analytics platform allows you to standardise data coming in and increase the speed and accuracy of reporting across a portfolio.  This allows you to continually react to regional differences and adjust the tone of your communications, marketing activities, and budget allocation accordingly.  

Opportunity comes amid uncertainty. The crisis is impacting everything to various degrees, but it is good to have a more granular view to quickly maximise on hot-spots. One thing we can predict is that with all the postponement, the aftermath will see real world social networking.

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