MAPIC 2014 highlights

MAPIC 2014, the top global retail property show, kicked off Wednesday evening November 18 with an Opening Cocktail party at the renowned Palais de Festivals.

 

In the next three jam-packed days, some 8300 participants from 90 cities in 67 countries celebrated MAPIC's '20 years of global shopping' and looked forward with imagination  and ambition to a demanding future.

 

A vast Cushman & Wakefield study pinpointed "e-commerce as the most significant factor for shopping centers".

 

 

As C & W Commercial Director, Justin Taylor says: "e-trade is transforming the whole trading universe". Like the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao-Tsu, he recommends centers to "borrow (the enemy's) arms". And they are doing just that:

 

• INTU Properties is introducing 4G into all their UK centers
   
• Klepiere is conducting trials across Europe with Clear Channel's Playbox quiz & gift game.
   
• Wi-Fi, interactive screens and terminals, smart phone apps... are everywhere.
   
• 'Click-and-collect' combines immediacy and reactivity with customers' needs to see, touch and feel  

 

[Despite the consistent trend toward online and mobile shopping, a CBRE international survey finds that  "79% of shoppers prefer the experience of shopping in-store', And Ryan Patel, VP of Global Real Estate & Business Development for Pinkberry, reported "90% of US sales are still made in stores."]

 

 

The Buzz wasn't just digital.

 

Two (ugly but pertinent) words were on everyone's lips: Day-cation (one-day holiday) and Retailtainment (retail & entertainment fusion).

 

There's considerable overlap between the two:

 

“Feed them, entertain them, give them great offerings and a wonderful experience”, said Alain J Barocas, Sen.Exec.VP with General Growth Properties Inc. (Feeling like a sheep?)
 

 

“The shopping experience is the strength in the “online/offline sales fight. We must make shopping easier, more surprising, and more convenient” - Klaus Striebich, Managing Director Leasing, ECE Projektmanagement GmbH & Co.KG
 

 

Even in Russia under sanctions, Dmitry Kostygin, Chairman, Ulmart, believed that "Russia needs to build new generation shopping centers with larger space, combining entertainment and retail"

 

Kotka Old Port in Finland, will be the country’s first waterfront designer outlet center boasting 200 shops, a marina, ferry and cruise terminal, hotels, restaurants, apartments, a casino, and the National Maritime Museum!

 

The Riviera Shopping Centre in Moscow, developed by Praktika, will have the first 'Kidburg' in Moscow, restaurants, children's’ stores, entertainment, and 300 shops, as well as panoramic views of the city and river!
 

 

For Philippe Journo, President, Compagnie de Phalsbourg, the aim is to make life as easy as possible, with electric shuttles, children's areas, aquatic spectacles, VIP Lounge with commercial propositions to match.

 

 

 

 

 

4 of the prestigious 10-category MAPIC awards went to France and the rest were spread to Japan, USA, Turkey, Germany; UK and Italy.

For details: http://www.mapic.com/en/the-programme/awards/

 

 

 

The 'Most Innovative Shopping Centre' award was won by the newly-opened Qwartz centre in an outer Paris suburb. In the words of Raphaël Boucher, Director of the center, "The aim is to create a complex with a life of its own, a shopping destination where pleasure, excitement and leisure is the mix on offer":

 

• architecture featuring "transparence & light with fluidity as the master-word",
• 165 shops & a mass of screens,
• "a lot more than a succession of brands & restos - it's a space to live"

 

 

Shopping centers are not the only places to shop of course.

 

 

The high street is still there, although Jane Bevis, Director of Public Affairs for the British Retail Consortium, signaled that "High-street shops appear to be fizzling out".

 

This is seldom true of course in the downtown areas of the world's major cities. The Champs Elysées keeps its 3rd place in the league of most expensive rentals (€13.255/m2), behind 5th Ave NY (€29.822/m2) and Causeway Bay in Hongkong.

 

And final food for thought: With a combined annual footfall of over a billion people, retailers operating out of Britain's Network Rail, with its 560,000 sq ft of retail space at Britain’s 16 biggest and busiest stations, are all seeing a significant surge in sales.

 

 

 

Bring your ideas along and test them in 2015 at the 21st edition of MAPIC, the global shopping show.

 

 

Finding the right accommodation for your MAPIC is easier than you think! Check out the 7 advantages of MAPIC apartment rentals

 

 

Click here to see your MAPIC accommodation rental listing.