It was the 20th edition of the retail industry
event and its success was seen as showing the increased levels of
confidence about the retail recover that is underway just now.
Among the 8,400 delegated who made the trip to Cannes, there were 500
retail companies attending a MAPIC event for the very first time.
Nathalie Depetro is a Director at MAPIC and she said that the
“extraordinary” mood at the series of conferences and workshops
showed how the retailers had shown their “capacity to move beyond
national borders”, among other qualities.
An interesting point raised at the 3rd
MAPIC Digital Summit, that took place on November 18, is that greater
convergence of online and offline retail opportunities is necessary.
It is accepted that digital retailing is still on the rise, so
entering into competition between online and offline retailers is far
fr om ideal.
Among the recent ventures that have proven how
important this outlook now is comes with the link between mail
developer Wanda Group and online firm Baidu and Tencent Holdings.
Additionally, internet giants Google and Amazon have also being
involved in plans for having physical stores lately. While Google has
already opened its first store in Germany, Amazon is expected to do
the same in New York in the next year or so.
Alan Barocos is Senior EVP Leasing at General
Growth Property. At a MAPIC gathering he pointed out to industry
leaders that his company’s mall now offers the same sort of same
day delivery service that is common with online shopping sites.
In fact, some research data revealed during MAPIC
showed how many people now use online services as well as visiting
physical retail outlets. The data came from real estate and
investment firm CBRE. They surveyed 32,000 people and discovered that
74% of us look online for products or to do some research before
buying anything. However, 79% of the respondents also still use
physical shopping malls and other retail outlets.
The Blend of Retail and Entertainment
Another interesting subject covered at the event
in Cannes was the fact that many shopping mall developers are now
adding entertainment facilities to their centers. This was a big
talking point at MAPIC and among those developers making a big
investment in this area is CapitaMalls Asia. This company has set
aside a large amount of money to add the likes of IMAX cinema, ice
rinks, fitness areas and kids play areas to their shopping centers.
Don Ghermezian is the CEO of Triple Five – American Dream. He
stated that it is the “blend of retail and entertainment” that is
important in getting shoppers to stay for longer. His firm owns the
three biggest retail, entertainment and tourism complexes on the
planet and is working on a new project called American Dream.
Other initiatives discussed at the MAPIC event include a mixed used
project in Malaga between Intu and Eurofund. This development in the
south of Spain will feature a mini theme park, a surfing lake and
artificial ski slopes.
Meanwhile, plans for the Mall of Europe in Belgium
were unveiled by Unibail-Rodamco. This complex will feature the
world’s first Spirouland. Another interesting new project is the
Jihua Park Changchun project, wh ere surfing, skiing and freefalling
are among the options that sit alongside the retail opportunities
there.
