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Management

LATEST TRENDS AND PROGRESSES IN ASSET AND CENTER MANAGEMENT

The best shopping centers must be underpinned by a technology platform powered by high density, connected technology infrastructure, technology services and real-time, actionable shopper data, delivering a highly personalized experience for how shoppers want to engage with the destination. It must be an online to offline to online journey and it should be continuous not just at a few key times a year.

Since the beginning of the year, Frank Pöstges-Pragal has been the Managing Director of the Hamburg-based First Christmas company, which is specialized in Christmas and holiday decorations. ACROSS talked with him about the challenges of the year 2020 and why Christmas can always provide a certain level of comfort, even in times of crisis.

This year’s Mapic will take place in the digital realm. Entitled “Embracing collaborative retail: ready to change the rules?” its conference program has been adapted to fit our new reality, says Director Nathalie Depetro.

The recently created business segment ECE Marketplaces, part of the newly organized ECE Group, will be headed by Joanna Fisher, in her role as CEO, effective January 2021. The CEO-designate of ECE’s shopping center business discusses current challenges and future strategies in an interview with ACROSS.

Mediation is a highly informal method of resolving business disputes, which is several times cheaper than court proceedings or arbitration proceedings. Could it provide an ideal manner in which to resolve such disputes during the coronavirus crisis?

As shopping centers and retail spaces experiment with the so-called “new normal” following months of closures, restrictions, and cancelled events, we should not forget that “the most wonderful time of the year” still lies ahead of us, and it deserves to be celebrated in style.

Covid-19 has presented property owners and developers with unique challenges, and for Atterbury Europe that is compounded by having operations in three different territories: Romania, Cyprus, and Serbia. Asset manager Vlad Valcea gives some insights into the Company’s strategy.

Covid-19 led to mobility restrictions throughout Europe, and the range of measures included the closing of shopping centers. In Estonia, where malls were closed for one and a half months, they have been reopened and visitor numbers are good, but it will take another three or four months to return to the former level, believes Guido Pärnits, CEO of the Ülemiste, the largest shopping center in Estonia.

In light of the Covid-19 crisis, the management teams of several industry players express their solidarity with tenants and shareholders. The management board members of URW, Eurocommercial Properties, and Werelhave waive parts of their salaries or remunerations.

HyperIn helps tenants report their sales automatically, emphasizes CEO Markus Porvari. The figures are combined with consumer analytics from mall websites, social media, and mobile loyalty applications, then enriched by leasing contract information. This comprises fundamental data that center management needs to understand in order to increase sales.

Time to start over: The German Council of Shopping Places (GCSC) kicked off the new year in an unusual way with REBOOT in Berlin, an event that included many refreshing innovations as well as interesting talks and workshops. Approximately 400 participants came to the legendary KOSMOS for this occasion.

The retail real estate industry is looking toward 2020 with cautious optimism. Uncertainties remain, however.

Union Investment, owner of Hamburg’s Quarree Wandsbek, is investing roughly 40 million euros in the refurbishment of the mall. Extensive construction work is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2020, which, inevitably, will have an impact on ongoing operations. What types of marketing measures can be used to counteract the possible drop in footfall and the corresponding drop in turnover? Center Manager Frank Klüter, from Sierra Germany GmbH, and Britta Finke, from lead agency 21Media, explain the situation.