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September 30, 2024

In the 60th anniversary year, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) is crowning the success story of one of the largest shopping and leisure destinations in Germany: Westfield Ruhr Park is the third destination in Germany to bear the internationally renowned Westfield brand name, alongside Westfield Centro in Oberhausen and the development project Westfield Hamburg Überseequartier.

“Change for the sake of change is not a good concept because it just creates extra costs. If a retailer´s concept and strategy work as intended then offering occasional surprises, and introducing smaller changes is more beneficial. Drastic changes must be kept as a last resort for cases where a concept or strategy is not working.” Our latest ACROSS Retail Talk, “Rethinking Brick-and-Mortar Retail By Increasing the Shop Floor Experience,” revealed, among other things, that to avoid predictability and ensure an exciting shopping atmosphere at a location, having the right mix of data and creativity is necessary, as it can turn an average, predictable visit to a location into a memorable experience.

Retailers who can always find answers to consumer needs will survive. Here are some great examples of retailers that are already (re-)thinking floor space and stage themselves for the customer, appeal to all their senses, create a holistic experience, and whose success can no longer be measured in mere sales figures.

Hardly any other word has characterized the real estate industry lately as much as transformation. It describes many different aspects and involves all stakeholders. However, one area that is often neglected is community building. We are ignoring the most critical group: the users and consumers. David Fuller-Watts, CEO of Mallcomm, explains in this interview what community building should stand for today and what the real estate industry, including proptech, needs to do to serve their communities’ changing needs.