A message from Placewise CEO Peter Tonstad.

Conversation with Special Guest Steve Dennis

‍STEVE DENNIS is the author of Remarkable Retail: How to Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Digital Disruption and has been named a TOP 5 GLOBAL RETAIL INFLUENCER. He is a Forbes Senior Contributor and his thoughts on the future of shopping and how to reignite growth have been featured by BLOOMBERG/BUSINESS WEEK, THE BBC, CNBC, CNN, THE HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW, USA TODAY AND THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, and others.

As the nature of the landlord tenant relationship evolves, it is more important than ever for shopping center operators to develop direct relationships with consumers. What is the real value of a database and how are shopping centers around the world using shopper databases to generate revenue and support retail tenants.

• What’s the value of a customer database beyond brand and insight?
• How do you get consumers to participate? What’s in it for them?
• Is consumer data privacy an issue?
  

Once upon a time, e-commerce was seen as an existential threat to brick and mortar retail. Today, consumers are using e-commerce to enhance their physical shopping trips in ways that go well beyond the original idea of e-commerce. Covid has accelerated this and demonstrated the advantages of having both together, and increased the appetite of consumers for a new “channelless” version of retail. How does e-commerce fit into the mall?

• What is e-commerce now, anyway??
• What’s the opportunity for shopping centers in e-commerce
• What’s the upside to retailers to work in partnership with malls?
• How could having an integrated ecomm experience impact revenue, tenant curation, physical footprint of shopping centers.
  

With new pressures on the traditional landlord and retail tenant relationship, how do we remove barriers to create more productive partnerships and reach the optimal state of communication and support?

• How can technology help build partnership between landlords and retail tenants for all center types?
• How do we reach the ultimate level of partnership including data sharing and ecommerce?

To say Covid gave a giant boost to online shopping is an understatement. With limited choice many consumers were exposed for the first time, to digitally aided fulfillment options.  Covid has been an accelerator for digital consumer adoption but once things get back to normal what  choices and conveniences will shoppers want and expect?  

• Why did it take a pandemic to boost adoption of hybrid fulfillment models?
• Are these options here to stay?  Which ones?
  

As social beings, it’s difficult to imagine a world without social interaction around commerce. Beyond the apocalypse, beyond Covid - what does the future of the shopping center look like?

• What technologies look promising?
• What do we need to fix or change to ensure malls and centers remain relevant to shoppers?
• What are our greatest challenges?
• Opportunities?