| A Weekly PropTech Newsletter bringing you industry updates from across the real estate spectrum |
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| In a few recent newsletters we’ve focused on what retailer’s use of AI means for property owners, and that’s not to be ignored. But news this week from the Mall of America highlights an AI use-case that directly benefits property owners themselves. The world-famous retail destination has deployed car-counting video analytics across more than a dozen locations. Now at first blush this might read as trivial, but the impacts are profound as the data now drives macro-level decisions about mall hours and event planning as well as micro-level scheduling for vendors and staff. THIS is a smart way to deploy AI – to make more informed decisions, improve security, and free up employees to focus on more important tasks. Whether you’re focused on AI implementations big or small, for yourself or for your tenants, we’d love to help you on that journey – let’s chat!
One headline this week, focused on rotating retail, reminded us of prior projects we’ve worked on, and another, focused on retail maps, reminded us of another. Funny to see certain trends circle back around, isn’t it? Ping us over on LinkedIn if you know which projects we’re talking about….And finally, Prime Day was recently called “the equivalent of two Black Fridays”, but now we’re hearing about “Black Friday. Every Day”?? |
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| American Eagle Leverages Expanded, Shoppable ‘Snap Map’ Listings for Back-to-School [Retail Touchpoints] They say location is everything in retail, and so American Eagle is leveraging Snap Map — the Snapchat map program — to promote its physical locations while also providing “Snapchatters” with a mobile shopping experience on its website. More than 800 American Eagle stores are now featured as Promoted Places on Snap Maps.
A ‘disruption in discovery’: What Google and Instagram’s new search partnership means for brands [Glossy] Your Google results are about to look more like your social feeds. On Friday, the internet giant began indexing Instagram content. That means Instagram posts from business and creator Instagram accounts will now appear in Google results.
New streaming TV channel to offer ‘Black Friday. Every Day’ pricing [Chain Store Age] A new live shopping channel set to launch in time for holiday shopping with the promise of “Black Friday. Every Day” pricing is looking for brands to join its lineup. |
| Estée Lauder, a Late Digital Adopter, Makes New Push to Reach Shoppers Online [The Wall Street Journal] Estée Lauder is launching a digital push under its new chief executive officer to reverse a yearslong sales slump. When Stéphane de La Faverie took the helm in January, he announced a revamp that involved meeting customers where they are—which is, increasingly, online.
Amazon once again touts ‘record’ Prime Day sales [RetailDive] Tuesday marks a decade since the launch of Amazon’s iconic Prime Day savings event, which has consisted of two deal days for Prime members since 2019. Last week, however, the e-commerce company held its longest sale ever with four days of discounts from July 8 to July 11.
Shopify quietly sets boundaries for AI agents on merchant sites [ModernRetail] Shopify is drawing a line in the sand on agentic AI — a type of bot that autonomously completes tasks on its own, without human inputs — with new language across merchant websites that appears aimed at blocking agentic AI systems. |
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| Mall of America Deploys AI-Powered Video Analytics to Boost Efficiency and Security [Retail Touchpoints] With 5.6 million square feet housing 500+ retailers and attracting more than 32 million visitors annually, the Mall of America (MOA) requires careful planning to support overall security and its parking operations specifically. The shopping center has expanded its car-counting video analytics across more than a dozen locations, enabling more informed decision-making around employee scheduling and streamlining transportation logistics.
Do Airport Stores Make Sense for Lululemon? [RetailWire] Lululemon has opened a store at Heathrow Airport, marking its first airport store in Europe — and fourth overall — as it targets the global traveler consumer.
Survey: Consumers value in-store experience; still making unplanned purchases [Chain Store Age] While consumers say they plan to scale back spending in the face of looming tariffs, many have still found themselves making impromptu in-store purchases. |
| Retail vacancy rates edge up as rents edge down in Q2 [RetailDive] As store closures slated for 2024 and beyond take effect, previously tight vacancy rates are loosening up, according to a Q2 report from Colliers.Compared to the previous quarter, the national retail vacancy rate rose 10 basis points to 4.3%, per that report. In all the market saw negative net absorption of 6.4 million square feet and a 5.2% drop in leasing activity.
Olive Garden to ‘significantly expand’ across Canada [Chain Store Age] Olive Garden will soon be expanding north of the border. Recipe Unlimited (Recipe), Canada’s largest full-service restaurant company, has announced that it has completed the acquisition of all eight Olive Garden restaurants located in Canada from Darden Restaurants, while also entering into a comprehensive development agreement with Darden to significantly expand the brand across Canada.
Is Experiential Retailing Living Up to the Hype? [RetailWire] Experiential retail has long been promoted as a way to inspire online shoppers to visit stores, but it’s not without risks. |
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| Say Hello To Revolving Spaces, The Airbnb Of Pop-Up Retail [Forbes] A more harmonious—and efficient—relationship between retail landlords and their short-term/pop-up tenants is in sight thanks to the latest property technology platform developed by London-based Lone Design Club (LDC), a startup that’s been innovating in the retail property market for six years. |
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