Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa November 2016 | Page 42

RETAIL

Malls go High-Tech

High-quality convenience centres in demand as developers up the ante
BY DREW HOOK

I

N the fiercely competitive South African retail
sector, mall developers are upping the ante
to include a high-tech, interactive shopping
environment in a bid to lure shoppers to their centres
for longer.
This is one of the strongest indications that
technology – specifically Internet access – is in fact
facilitating bricks and mortar retail development,
rather than hampering it through the rise of online
shopping platforms, according to leading national
developers Abacus Asset Management.
In addition to acclaim for several malls in its
portfolio*, Abacus recently scooped the top honours
for its mixed-use retail development in Johannesburg,
Dainfern Square, at the SA Council of Shopping
Centres’ (SACSC) annual Retail Design and
Development Awards**.
The company says that although the days of building
new mega malls are numbered, there is a rise in demand
for “mixed-use destination retail developments”,
ranging between 15 000m² and 25 000m², which cater
to high living standards measure (LSM) shoppers.

DIGITAL DRIVE:

With online shopping in South Africa accounting for
just 1% of total retail spend, landlords are incorporating
a greater digital experience than ever before into new
retail developments, according to Abacus managing
director Gavin Blows.
“At first free Wi-Fi was the limit to which developers
were willing to spend on digital platforms in their
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NOVEMBER 2016 SA Real Estate Investor

centres, but now multiple platforms are emerging in
new developments,” said Blows. This included hightech features such as a central digital management
system which governed a mall’s website, mobile app,
Wi-Fi offering and linked to Bluetooth location
beacons throughout the centre, he said.
“This allows the mall’s management and marketing
team to have a coordinated, meaningful engagement
with their shoppers,” he said. “The enhanced
experience also has a positive effect on shoppers’ dwell
times, which in turn increases turnover for the mall.”
To this end, the company introduced a full fibre
optic backbone and unique Bluetooth beacon location
technology to Baywest Mall when it opened in June
2015. This has enabled shoppers to interact directly
with brands and stores at the mall via a multi-platform
Baywest Mall smartphone application, said Blows.
The move was made possible thanks to a partnership
between Abacus and Skybird Technologies, which is
tasked with driving the “digital vision” of new Abacus
developments.
“In addition, we have entered into a national
partnership with Vodacom, which will light the fibre
and provide FTTB [fibre to the business] services for
tenants in our new developments,” said Blows.
More and more landlords were becoming savvy
by implementing Bluetooth technology and Wi-Fi
capabilities into developments, he said.
“The digital platform is the new tenant in the mall.
We don’t expect online shopping to impact massively
on retail developments. Online shopping will be used
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