Future of the retail is in the apple of customer’s eye

Rönesans Real Estate Investment brought together futurist Ryan Shaw with major retailers. Shaw informed about the prospective technology-driven changes to brands and retail trends, pointing out that shopping centers would soon implement a technology to tell the needs of the customers from their eyes.

Rönesans Real Estate Investment, developer of nine shopping centers across seven regions of Turkey, gathered the sector’s leading retail giants at the “Retailers Meeting 2016”. The meeting featuring a presentation by the renowned concept consultant, futurist, and shopping center specialist Ryan Shaw, and attended by approximately 450, brought to the table the shopping centers of the future. The star topic of the agenda was the “Eye Scanning System” that enables identification of customer needs upon their entering to the shopping center.

Noting that the change to brands’ target audiences triggered by the Z generation going professional will interconnect online and offline realms, Ryan Shaw added: “In Middle East, the Z generation accounts for 40 percent of the population. This generation pursues originality and looks for creativity in all. Therefore, the new generation will prefer multifunctional complexes, in other words, all-in-one shopping malls positioned as a separate city in city.”

Shaw underlined that the future generation will concentrate on social economy, putting the spell on the shopping experience rather than the purchased product itself. “The Z generation, referred to as the target audience of the future, like to share their shopping experience with their family and post it on Instagram,” said Shaw, and emphasized the resulting alteration of the retail sector.

“In 2025, stores will go beyond conventional norms and will make an emotional bond with customers. Therefore, stories of brands will rise in importance. Brands will tell those stories to attract customers. They will no longer consider the target audience as a friend but an ally,” noted Ryan Shaw, who identified a shopping center as a brand.

“As for the near future, we will witness a multichannel approach adopted by the stores,” remarked Shaw, and expanded the subtle integration of online and offline worlds as follows: “A showroom will no longer showcase each product of the brand. Sales representatives will exhibit the desired product on-screen with color options. Then, the customer will choose a product on-screen and will pick it up at checkout.

“Brands will be personalized”

One of the outstanding chapters of the “Rönesans Retailers Meeting 2016” was brand personalization. Ryan Shaw highlighted the significance of personalization amid integration with the new digital world, elaborating on how the loyalty card will help calling the customer by name when they step in the store and that customer’s previous purchases which give a clue about their future shoppings.

Digital mirrors to halt trying on clothes

The new, technology-integrated brands are set to provide their customers revolutionary innovations. The technology will make dressing rooms a thing of the past by eliminating the barriers between the digital and physical worlds. The stores in the next-generation shopping centers will relieve customers from waiting in the dressing room lines thanks to the digital mirror technology. Once a customer lifts up their hands, the best fitting product according to body type, size and model will appear on digital screens to be installed in the stores. So, the customer will be able to choose a product on-screen without having to trying it on.

The face recognition system will enable the brands to identify customers through their eyes.

Heralding the face recognition system, which he describes as one of the most intriguing developments for the retail sector, Ryan Shaw said: “Cameras with facial recognition software will detect one’s mood from movements of the face. This will power the sales representative to an accurate understanding of the product needed by the customers as soon as they step in the store, and thus to correct communication with the customer. Of course, what counts is not what technology outperforms but the value it adds. For instance, one face recognition software will benefit eyewear brands. Sales representatives will save time by presenting the customer solely the five models befitting their face.”

“We care for the future of brands, which we see as our business partners, and invest with this vision in mind. We closely observe the next generation as well as their habits and lives integrated with technology, and we build our brands upon those observations. We have never looked at it this way: “Now that we built the shopping center, it is only natural that customer will come here.” We have always funneled our efforts into achieving the better. Before opening the shopping centers, we thoroughly analyze the location and locals’ needs. Our success lies in product positioning, placing the right product in the right position at all times,” said Murat Özgümüş, Deputy Chairman of Rönesans Real Estate Investment, who gears up for the future’s shopping centers.

Shopping Center Projects by Rönesans Real Estate Investment

Construction works for the Hilltown project in Küçükyalı continue at full stream. This project, whose rough construction is finished by 80 percent, is designed with a concept of shopping streets as well as abundant outdoor spaces where people will enjoy. Visitors will have a pleasant time in the restaurants and coffeshops facing the scenic view of the Prince’s islands. This project will also feature a five-star, 150-room hotel. Hilltown promises a small city within the city for those seeking escape from the chaos. With a total leasable area of 60,000 square meters, Hilltown is planning to welcome its guests into a different concept in the first quarter of 2017.

Shopping Center in Maltepe

The Maltepe project, whose rough construction is finished by 50 percent, is in progress. The total leasable area for this project is announced as 56,000 square meters. The mixed project will include a residential block and an office block. The residential block will be put up for sale on September. The Maltepe project, due 2017, features an outdoor space in the center, where people can have a pleasant time and attend concerts and various activities. Projects with a total leasable area of 63,000 square meters in Karşıyaka and 50,000 square meters in Bayraklı, İzmir, and 60,000 square meters in Bursa run at full speed in the concept and project design phase.

Optimum Shopping Centers

Optimum Shopping Centers, serving in the outlet concept, will soon be transformed into regular malls. The transformation initiated with the conversion of Adana Optimum Outlet shopping center to a regular one will continue with İzmir Optimum, one of İzmir’s most popular shopping malls. We will add various new facilities, such as private children’s play areas, new restaurants and coffee shops, and Optimum’s total leasable area will go up from 58,000 to 86,000 square meters. The Optimum transformation project that we plan to complete within 2017 will add 84 new brands to the existing 162 stores.

The Rönesans Signature on the Black Sea’s Largest Shopping Center

Rönesans Real Estate Investment, which puts an emphasis on investments that add value to Anatolia, has developed Optimum malls in Ankara, İstanbul, Adana, and İzmir; Piazza malls in Samsun, Kahramanmaraş, and Şanlıurfa as well as Kozzy in Istanbul and Sanko Park shopping center in Gaziantep.

Among the Renaissance Real Estate Investment projects; Optimum opened in 2004 as the first outlet shopping center in Ankara, Sankopark inaugurated in 2009 is the first shopping center in Gaziantep, Adana Optimum opened in 2011 is the first and only outlet mall of the city, and Piazza launched in 2013 is the first shopping center in Kahramanmaraş. Samsun Piazza stands out as the largest shopping mall of the Black Sea region. The nine active shopping centers hold a total leasable area of440,000 square meters. Those shopping centers, also managed by Renaissance Real Estate, host a total of 97 million visitors annually. A first in Turkey: the 5,000 square meter children’s playground.

Thirty five percent of Rönesans Real Estate Investment portfolio is placed in İzmir. They develop projects in Karşıyaka, Bayraklı and Turan districts of İzmir. Their projects in Turan will be predominantly residential. The shopping center in Karşıyaka will consist of two floors rising above 82,800 square meters, of which 5,000 square meters is allocated to children’s use. The 5,000 square meter children’s playground is Turkey’s first free-of-charge facility for children. This area will feature custom-made toys to deliver positive impacts on children’s physical and mental development.” There is another shopping center investment in Nilüfer district of Bursa, close to metro station.

Rönesans Real Estate Investment is looking for potential shopping center areas in Antalya, Konya, and the European side of Istanbul.