Paris, 2016-Oct-05 — /EPR Retail News/ — Innovation will lead the way at MAPIC this year, with a host of new exhibitors, pitching formats and conferences shining a spotlight on how retailers and developers can respond to today’s connected consumers.
Organized by Reed MIDEM, the 22nd edition of MAPIC – the International Retail Property Market – will be held in Cannes from 16 to 18 November.
“Looking at the line-up of innovative companies due to take in part in MAPIC this year, I am astounded at the level of talent and creativity that will be showcased. Without question, those retailers and real estate players coming to MAPIC will see for themselves innovative solutions that are up-and-coming, never-before seen and in some cases, truly revolutionary,” says Nathalie Depetro, Director of MAPIC.
Pepper the Humanoid Robot
Softbank Robotics will be attending MAPIC for the first time this year with a very unique guest. Launched in June 2014, Pepper is the first social humanoid robot capable of understanding and reacting to human emotions. Pepper is well equipped with features and a high level interface for communicating with those around him. He can analyse expressions and voice tones using the latest advances in voice and emotion recognition. In a retail context, Pepper can welcome customers, drive traffic, give information about products and services and even collect data – in short he is redefining the customer experience.
Jet-Propulsion Underwear
Innovative French underwear brand Undiz has developed Undiz Machine; a revolutionary point of sale that provides customers with interactive devices allowing them to view and access all the offers in-store, regardless of the location of the products. Once a product is selected, it is sent in a reserve capsule by jet propulsion and once received, the customer can pay instantly. This is a true example of phygital shopping and MAPIC attendees will be able to see a live demonstration of the Undiz Machine on site. “The jet-propulsion system allows us to manage 600 to 900 capsules per day in store, with a peak of 150 per hour. In our flagship Undiz Machine store, the figures indicate that a capsule is sent every six minutes. And after six months since opening, the digital terminals were used over a million times,” explains Sebastien Bismuth, Director General of Undiz.
Trends HQ
New to MAPIC this year is the MAPIC Trends Hub: a 1,000 m² space dedicated to showcasing the latest trends in the industry. Over 70 companies will be exhibiting in the Innovation Forum (housed in the MAPIC Trends Hub) and will be providing an entire range of innovative solutions to retailers and shopping mall developers, including digital signage (Samsung Electronics, ClearChannel, VIADIRECT); digital transformation (Symag); indoor mapping (VISIOGLOBE); data and analytics (Retency, ESRI, Coniq); shop fitting (SITOUR, POPAI FRANCE); as well as body scanning technology for retail (SIZZY).
Press Start for Innovation
Startups with solutions for shopping centres and point of sales will be pitching their solutions, services and technologies in the new MAPIC Startup Lounge (located in the Trends Hub). Over 30 startups will be alternating over the 3-day event in a series of pitching sessions. Diakse, Huntertainment and Skyboy are 3 exhibiting startups that propose virtual reality technology which can be used to greatly enhance shopping experiences, such as having a famous designer or stylist appear in front of a point of sales to provide shopping advice, or to have a celebrity welcome people to the store as part of a savvy marketing strategy.
Another solution that will be well-represented in the Startup Lounge is that of connected shopping and payments. From unique payment bracelet systems proposed by PayinTech, to mobile commerce payment systems developed by HEXAPAY. Another startup operating in the connected shopping sector is Think&Go, whose connected screens allow consumers to engage, interact and exchange information between images and phones, or watches, in less than a second. This solution can be used for marketing, service distribution, or direct payment on screen, paving the way for street e-commerce.
Let’s Get Phygital
Rapidly shifting consumer behaviour has placed online-to-offline (O2O) at the top of retailers’ agendas – with O2O being selected as the theme for MAPIC 2016.Two major changes are currently being observed in the industry: on one side, pure players are opening physical stores (the O2O phenomenon) and on the other, consumers are adopting a hybrid customer experience that combines online and traditional sales. Indeed, according to research commissioned by MAPIC, 70% of consumers search the web before concluding a purchase in store and conversely, 68% of consumers are researching in store before buying online.
For the first time at MAPIC, the conference programme (comprising over 25 sessions and 200 speakers) will have a dedicated O2O track, giving attendees a 360 degree view of the way the online meets offline in different markets and retail environments.
The O2O Experience – Welcome to my Phygital World (16 November), will be the key conference session on O2O and will discuss questions such as: What are the best digital solutions to increase traffic, business and revenues? Are pure players dead? How to integrate physical commerce into your 360° strategy? How do brands and pure players create the best physical experience to enchant their customers’ journey? Speakers include François Loviton, Director of Retail France at Google France, Wojciech Grendzinski, Vice President and Sales Director of IMS and Brian Kean, Head of Communications & Chief International Officer of Ulmart.
USA – Click to Bricks & Innovative Retail: Be Connected to the New American Dream! (16 November) will look at O2O from the US market perspective. Patrick McIntyre, Director of Global Retail at MARS and Darren Williams, Country Director of T2 Tea will feature on the panel.
For more information on the 2016 MAPIC, visit our pressroom.
About Reed MIDEM:
Founded in 1963, Reed MIDEM is an organiser of professional, international markets that are essential business platforms for key players in the sectors concerned. These sectors are MIPTV, MIPDOC, MIPCOM, MIP CANCUN and MIPJUNIOR for the television and digital content industries, MIDEM for music professionals, MIPIM, MIPIM Asia, MIPIM UK, and MIPIM Japan for the real estate industry and MAPIC, Retail Real Estate Market brought by MAPIC in Shanghai and MAPIC Italy in Milan for the retail real estate sector.
About Reed Exhibitions
Reed MIDEM is a division of Reed Exhibitions, the world’s leading event organiser, with over 500 events in 43 countries. In 2015 Reed brought together over seven million active professionals from around the world generating billions of dollars in business. Today Reed events are held throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Africa and organised by 41 fully-staffed offices. Reed Exhibitions serves 43 industry sectors with trade and consumer events. It is part of the RELX Group plc, a world-leading provider of information solutions and analytics for professional and business customers across industries. www.reedexpo.com
For more information, please contact:
My-Lan CAO
Press Director
Tel.: +33 (0)1 79 71 95 44
mylan.cao@reedmidem.com
Jessica Whyte
Press Manager
Tel: +33 (0) 1 79 71 95 46
jessica.whyte@reedmidem.com
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Source: Mapic