Mark Pilkington has surveyed the post-Covid state of retail around the world in his new book, Retail Recovery. He focuses in on the strengths of both ecommerce and physical stores and how they are coming together by blending the practical efficiencies of digital with the emotional and experiential strengths of the physical store.

We’ll have an in-depth discussion that covers the pre-Covid structural issues in retail and how the meteoric rise of ecommerce during the past 18 months is impacting retailers and shopping centers as we head towards a post-Covid world.

Join us as we explore how shopping center design is changing and how it is embracing the digitally empowered consumer.  From architecture, community, and the development of “3rd spaces” that seamlessly provide for social interactions interwoven with entertainment and commerce.      

• How is shopping center design changing to enable online marketplaces? the heightened desire for experience? culture? and community?
• What will these centers of commerce look and feel like?
• What new amenities, experiences, and uses might be part of a modern shopping place?
• What about existing suburban enclosed malls? How might these be reimagined?
• How do shopping centers change to maintain relevance? 

The public narrative of the Retail Apocalypse dates back to the dawn of the Internet and ecommerce.  For nearly twenty years, we’ve heard the end is coming for retail.  Join our panelists for a discussion on the origin of the “Apocalypse”, if there’s any truth to it, and if not, why the narrative persists.

• Where did the apocalypse narrative come from?
• Is there any truth to it?
• Why does it persist?
• What are the consequences? 
• What can be done about it?
• When is it likely to end?

Rather than seeing the shopping center as simply one of the available “channels” in a retail omnichannel strategy, we are discussing an omnichannel strategy for the shopping center itself and how this can drive sales for tenants and meet consumer needs at the same time.  Hear from an innovative retail real estate CEO offering the first shopping center ecommerce marketplace in Europe, and other industry insiders for a candid conversation on the potential and challenges of going omnichannel.

• What is a marketplace? In the context of a shopping center? 
• Do ecommerce marketplaces make sense for shopping centers? What is the real opportunity?
• What are the benefits to Landlords? Retailers? Shoppers?
• Why it's important to get in the game now and what can shopping centers expect over time.

As we have seen with consumers, the fundamentals of the retail real estate business are evolving.  Successful landlords, retail tenants and  analysts are measuring new parts of the business.  We’ll discuss how technology is driving new measurements and how they are being leveraged to benefit the industry.

• What new things can be measured that would be beneficial? 
• Are shopping center landlords and retail tenants measuring the right things?
• How can these new measurements deliver new business models that work for both landlord and tenant?
• Are Landlords and Retail tenants ready for a data coop?
• Can direct consumer relationships be treated as an asset? If so, how can they be deployed?

Asia Pacific is a retail powerhouse driven by economic and social developments, population growth, and changing consumer trends, coupled with rising purchasing power. Get inspired and see what’s next.

• Interesting trends and concepts
• Changing shopper behavior
• Retail/Shopper technology
• Cool retailers and real estate projects
• What the future holds