Retail

STRATEGIES AND EXPANSION PLANS OF RETAILERS

Online retail is increasingly shaking up tenant mixes in Europe’s cities. The bricks-and-mortar trade is desperately seeking innovative concepts.

Hardware, software, analysis—the holistic “smart tracking” solutions developed by the Digital Retail experts at Umdasch Shopfitting provide extensive information about customer behavior in shopping malls and stores.

An international jury of experts commissioned by EHI and Messe Dusseldorf bestowed the most convincing store concepts with the EuroShop Retail Design Award again this year.

Umdasch Shopfitting had a booth at EuroShop, the leading retail trade show in Dusseldorf, once again this year. The topic of digital retail was omnipresent.

More than half of consumers in some European countries shop both online and offline. For example, German and Dutch omni-channel shoppers are responsible for more than two-thirds of total retail turnover (source: GfK non-food consumer panel).

How retail technology and increasing digitalization are changing retail and the shopping center industry.

In an interview with ACROSS, Sebastian Baumann, Head of Department ECE Future Labs, speaks about the “Digital Mall” project and how shopping center operators can gain from new technologies.

According to the recent study “Expansion Trends 2016” by EHI and the Hahn Group, diminishing turnover and declining footfall is putting retailers under pressure.

In an interview with ACROSS, Rob Clarke, Center Manager for The new Strand in Merseyside, spoke about how his team has embraced traffic- and location-based technologies to boost performance.

More and more online retailers are entering the world of bricks-and-mortar retail. According to Kai Hudetz, Managing Director of the IFH Köln, Institute for Retail Research in Cologne, they dream of locations in high-traffic malls.

RETAIL TECHNOLOGY | Gift cards are becoming more and more popular. With a shopping center gift card, consumers are always sure to give the right present. That is why it is also important for malls continuously to adopt to this trend and offer their own individualized gift cards.