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Unibail-Rodamco Westfield announced a few technology offerings this week that provide value to shoppers, retailers, and the centers themselves – a good ol’ win-win-win if you will. The first was the launch of a customer experience management system that provides customers at each shopping center with a system to instantly leave feedback through a wide range of touchpoints. While customer service texting, QR codes, and more are not new (See Kipsu, etc), the adoption rate of 95% of their employees is where services like these really shine. We’re seeing more opportunities to augment and support employee participation with AI and automation through chatbots as well. The second is offering up screens and pop-up spaces to retailers for advertising. We think that both of these are excellent ways for property owners to better take advantage of their physical space to both enhance the experience and increase revenues. Curious about what this could look like at your property – let’s chat!
This week we also caught up on how recent Supreme Court decisions could impact consumer spending, how influencers are impacting both online and in-store sales (sometimes negatively), and the latest social media platform to become a shopping tool. We’d love to know what you’ve been catching up on recently – find us over on LinkedIn and let us know.
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Westfield owner bets on ad sales at its Europe shopping malls [Reuters] The owner of Westfield malls is looking to cash in on shopper traffic by charging brands to be featured on screens and in pop-up spaces, a business it aims to grow. Using its physical space for advertising is one way Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield can get more revenues per square foot as it shrinks its portfolio.
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TikTok Is Doing Something Very Un-TikTok [The Atlantic] TikTok has seemingly become a shopping app. The platform now allows approved retailers to list their products for sale directly on TikTok, where creators can promote them and earn a small fee from each purchase. (TikTok, of course, also takes a portion of each sale.) The feature, called TikTok Shop, is still technically in testing mode in the U.S.
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Influencers are inspiring beauty purchases both online and in-store [Glossy] An influencer’s power exists not solely in the online world, either. About 82% of Gen Zers purchase creator product recommendations in-store, compared to 66% of millennials and 57% of the general population. These percentages are similar for the online environment, where 83% of Gen Zers purchase creator product recommendations, compared to 71% of millennials and 60% of the general population. This means that influencers’ content is sticky enough that people can recall their product recommendations while shopping in real life.
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Micro & Last Mile Fulfillment
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Apple Retail Stores to Offer Customers Home Delivery Option [MacRumors] Writing in his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that the EasyPay machines Apple salespeople use when processing in-store product purchases are set to include an option for home shipping for the first time.
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How Instacart Harnesses the Power of Generative AI [Progressive Grocer] Instacart is currently using generative AI internally to make it easier for its employees to find information, run analyses and parse insights, while also using the technology to build new product experiences that better serve its customers, advertisers, retailer partners and shoppers.
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Warehouse automation expected to pick up after hitting ‘rock bottom’ [RetailDive] The warehouse automation industry’s growth rate could return to double digits by 2025 after a recent slowdown that is expected to worsen before it eventually subsides, according to market research firm Interact Analysis.
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Restaurants & Ghost Kitchens
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How are you thinking about virtual brands? [RestaurantDive] During the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual brands framed themselves as a way to boost off-premise revenue using existing kitchen space. In early 2022, 41% of independent restaurants surveyed by Grubhub and Technomic said they operated a virtual brand. But since the end of pandemic restrictions, there has been a shift in the market, with some chains either shuttering or ceasing to expand their virtual concepts.
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The 21st-Century Shakedown of Restaurants [The New York Times] Here is how it works: An influencer walks into a restaurant to collect an evening’s worth of free food and drink, having promised to create social media content extolling the restaurant’s virtues. The influencer then orders far more than the agreed amount and walks away from the check for the balance or fails to tip or fails to post or all of the above. And the owners are left feeling conned.
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Technology bridging gap between pandemic, restaurant industry renaissance [Fast Casual] It’s been a couple of years since the peak of the pandemic, the state of emergency is over, and it is no longer saturating the news cycle. And while there was no structural damage as a visible reminder of what the world endured, social anxieties, economic upheaval, and a general haze of uncertainty serve as conspicuous reminders.
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Brands are still opening stores despite retail growth slowdowns [Glossy] Across the apparel industry, brands are putting money into new physical stores. From smaller DTC brands like the swimwear brand Minnow to major international brands like Abercrombie & Fitch and Pacsun, a number of companies have recently opened or announced new stores in major retail destinations like New York’s Fifth Avenue and Mall of America.
Petco, Lowe’s expand store-in-store concept [Pet Food Processing] Lowe’s Companies, Inc. and Petco Health + Wellness Company announced an expansion of their pilot store-in-store program offering pet products at home improvement stores. The companies will expand their concept to nearly 300 Lowe’s locations throughout the United States by the end of 2023.
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As student debt relief ends, millions of consumers will have $300 less each month to spend at the holidays: report [RetailDive] This fall, as the holidays loom, borrowers who must resume loan payments after the Supreme Court struck down President Biden’s student debt forgiveness program will be shelling out $300 per month each on average, according to number-crunching from consumer data firm.
Shopping centres giant Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield rolls out Goodays Connect customer experience platform [Retail Technology Innovation Hub] Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) has shared the first results of its implementation of the Goodays customer experience management platform across 50 shopping centres in 11 different countries – including its Westfield London locations.
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