MAPIC 2020 conference programme

“With the Covid-19 pandemic and the huge difficulties the retail and leisure industries are facing and will face, the world of retail will rely more on collaboration: on sharing data, new leasing models, with humanity at the heart of the business."

As she officially launches MAPIC 2020, event director Nathalie Depetro reflects on how we must all share these difficulties and adapt through new business models.

Right now the retail market is facing a day-to-day challenge, from how to look after staff to how to pay rent, keeping each business viable, working with the supply chain, so that the industry can come through this crisis together and rebuild. This will require Embracing Collaborative Retail to focus on new business models for retail, mixing uses, compelling cities, refurbishment and extensions, sustainability and the innovation that underpins all of these.

Collaboration? This new approach requires retailers, brands, operators, developers and investors to create mixed-use projects that enrich their environments, enhance their locations and create a profitable and sustainable future. Our industry's revival relies on us pulling together and rebuilding with each other. Retailers and brands must rethink their business models, productions, their use of physical and digital assets and how they create new customer experiences. But these changes will have to be executed in a sustainable way.  Investment, development and consumer priorities all require that new and redeveloped assets must be sustainable, ethical, reflect and meet local production and community needs. Technology and digital innovation will be at the heart of many of these new business models.