Increasingly, retail spaces are positioning themselves as lively environments that blend together all our daily activities from work, leisure, sport and well-being to culture, tourism – and shopping. The 2019 edition of MAPIC will assemble all players involved in this transformation of the commercial and urban environment.
Organised by Reed MIDEM, the International Retail Real Estate Market will be held in Cannes from 13 to 15 November. A day devoted to the integration of leisure activities in retail and lifestyle destinations – the Leisure Day – will be organised for the first time on 12 November, the day before MAPIC opens, to further explore this significant market shift.
Co-working, co-living and retail
MAPIC attendees will be able to further explore how concepts like co-working and co-living, alonside behavioural changes, are redefining retail at a conference session entitled How are Co-working, Co-living and Cultural Changes Are Redefining Retail as a Service? on Wednesday 13 November with Guillaume Sadoux, Partner – Head of Development, ADG Group and Danielle Larsen, VP, International Acquisitions, Equinox. Equinox is a particularly good example of this mix of genres, as it recently launched its first luxury hotel in the Hudson Yards area of New York City, allowing guests to combine sports with travel. The premium sports club chain will add a new string to its bow by partnering with industrious to launch a co-working space this autumn.
The customer is king
Customer service is key to making physical shopping worth the customers’ while, and traditional brands need to be increasingly imaginative in order to offer a five-star in-store service. Christophe De Lapuente, CEO of Sephora, explains that “boring stores are dead, people love coming to exciting stores so we have to stay interesting.”
Among MAPIC attendees, Rapha, a UK brand specialising in cycling clothing, which has created clubhouse shops and organised cycling outings to make the Rapha experience more enjoyable. Shopping centre developer giant American Dream, which will open shop this autumn, is also set to offer a top-of-the-range service, including childcare and pet care services. And more and more fashion retailers are offering “personal shoppers” to guide and help consumers in their purchases.
Tourism and shopping
Many are the customers that have experienced a shopping spree on Oxford Street, or made the most of a long stop-over with some shopping. Tourism is a key economic catalyst for the retail industry; it fuels visits to tourist cities and transit areas such as stations and airports, and even brand villages. How does the tourism industry benefit retail and what kind of partnerships can these two worlds encourage? This topic will be driving discussions in a dedicated session called From Outlet Centres to Tourism Destinations, which will bring together Reginald Otten, Country Manager France & Morocco, Easyjet; Aureliano Cicala, General Manager Service Provider Unit, MSC Cruises, and Joan Jove, Managing Director Southern Europe, McArthurGlen. This will take place during the Outlet Summit the day before MAPIC on 12 November.
Speaking of this year’s MAPIC, Nathalie Depetro, Director of MAPIC, comments: “In a society fascinated by all things virtual, retail spaces can once again engage with one of their fundamentals, namely the creation of social links. A wide variety of human activities involved in co-existing are now being incorporated into the shopping experience. At this exciting turning point, MAPIC will be staging some of the most innovative experiments in international retail property.”
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