PropTech Newsletter: The Week In News, But Shorter

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The Week In News, But Shorter
August 12 – 18, 2024

As another summer season draws to a close, the focus of our industry shifts towards the end of the year—and with it, some of the busiest shopping periods. First on the horizon is back-to-school season, and while brands and consumers shop digitally via a variety of methods, early reports show that mall shopping is indeed back in fashion. In July 2024, visits to indoor malls and open-air shopping centers increased by 2.5% and 2.4%, respectively, compared to last year. Notably, the last two weeks of July saw a significant surge, largely fueled by back-to-school shoppers. This is a very positive indicator for the upcoming fall/winter fashion season and the holiday shopping rush. Is your center prepared to attract and capitalize on the increased foot traffic? If you’re feeling underprepared, let’s chat or send us a message on LinkedIn.

Other headlines this week read like chapters in what some might think are a sci-fi book, but alas the future is here – pay with your face, receive goods via drone, and let AI solve climate change! 

Digital Meets Physical

TikTok partners with Amazon for in-app shopping [Search Engine Land] TikTok is now integrating Amazon shopping directly into its platform, allowing users to make purchases without leaving the app. Advertisers having access to TikTok’s massive, highly engaged user base could be a game changer and reduced friction between discovery and purchase could boost conversion rates.

Wonder CMO on How Partnerships With Walmart to Chef Bobby Flay Are Key to Growth for the Digital Food Hall [CO] Daniel Shlossman on how big retailers and high-profile chefs from Marcus Samuelsson to José Andrés are incentivized to help serial entrepreneur Marc Lore’s ‘fast fine’ dining concept grow.

JPMorgan Introduces Pay-By-Face System At Whataburger Locations [Forbes] Checking out at restaurant and retail locations is getting easier. Five years ago, in my book Friction, I described how HEMA stores in China were using facial recognition for payment. It’s taken longer than I expected, but now J.P. Morgan and PopID are demonstrating a pay-by-face system at select Whataburger restaurants and other locations.

A Department Store For Online Emerging Brands: Welcome To The First Co.Lab In Wales [Forbes] Small emerging brands looking for a way to make the leap from a temporary pop-up to a full-size store now have a stepping stone in that journey in the form of a new micro-retail destination in Wales, U.K. Pop-up platform Lone Design Club and powerful real estate developer and shopping center owner, Landsec, have partnered to create Co.Lab.

Shake Shack to offer robot delivery in Los Angeles through Uber Eats [Restaurant Business] Serve Robotics announced a partnership with Uber Eats to deliver Shake Shack orders via autonomous delivery robots. Guests who order from select locations around the city through Uber Eats could see their meal roll up in a cute little basket on wheels.

Amazon to test Prime Air drone delivery service in the UK [CNBC] Amazon and six other organizations will take part in a trial that will test the use of drone flights to remote locations. The trial will gather data on how the drones detect and avoid other aircraft, and the electronic signals that can be sent to make them visible to other airspace users and air traffic control.

PropTalk

Mall developer Centennial enters into partnership with Lincoln Property [Chain Store Age] Dallas-based Centennial — whose properties included mixed-use centers such as The Summit at Fritz Farm in Kentucky and the Vancouver Mall in Washington — has accepted a strategic investment from Lincoln Property Company, a real estate services companies with 35 offices in the United States and Europe.

Stunning design revealed for Seoul’s Hanwha Galleria shopping centre [Inside Retail] Heatherwick Studio, a UK architecture firm, has unveiled the new proposed appearance of Seoul’s Hanwha Galleria shopping centre. The area, near the Han River, has two buildings shaped to “resemble rippled hourglasses”. While a street divides the two buildings, there is seamless underground connectivity.

A Flurry of Investments Elevate the Status of Fifth Avenue as the Ritzy Thoroughfare Turns 200 [WWD] Fifth Avenue is getting ready to mark its bicentennial in November, and there’s plenty more than a milestone to celebrate. The ritzy, internationally renowned thoroughfare, which commands the world’s highest commercial rents, has undergone an unprecedented degree of investment, retail development and transformation in Midtown for the past two years.

Back-to-School Shopping Appears to Boost Malls’ Foot Traffic [Commercial Observer] Online shopping is certainly still in fashion, but it seems more and more people are returning to malls to get their errands done in person as the school year approaches. In July, visits to indoor malls and open-air shopping centers were up 2.5 and 2.4 percent, respectively, compared to the same period last year.

Ayala Malls takes bold leap into high-tech redevelopment [RetailAsia] Central to this redevelopment are experiential stores that merge shopping with the latest technological innovations. Ayala Malls, a leading mall operator in the Philippines, is integrating cutting-edge interactive technology and creating immersive shopping experiences in its extensive redevelopment of flagship properties.

AI Could Slash Energy Use and Carbon Emissions in U.S. Buildings by 2050: LBNL Study [CRETech] A study by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) reveals that integrating AI into building operations could significantly reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions. AI could cut energy use by 8% by 2050 under a business-as-usual scenario and, when combined with policy measures and low-carbon energy generation, could reduce building carbon emissions by over 90%.

The Zombie Pharmacies That Are Holding Back New York City Retail [The New York Times] An empty Duane Reade, steps from Wall Street, darkens a landmark office building. A former Walgreens in a condo in Murray Hill has been closed for over seven years. A boarded-up Rite Aid in Astoria has attracted a homeless encampment in its parking lot. They’re all examples of zombie pharmacies, the city’s living dead.