To retain customers and compete against online retailers such as Amazon and Zalando who are stealing their market share, landlords from the U.S.A., Europe and Asia, are investing heavily in technology to help arm them against the changes shaking the retail sector. “The property technology sector is heating up, and creating a lot of noise,” said Hongwei Liu, C.E.O. of MappedIn, a Canadian firm providing indoor mapping and service location software for more than 300 U.S. malls. Driven to lead with the best technologies for their business, the world’s largest property owners such as Simon Property Group, Westfield and Unibail-Rodamco have quietly put aside millions of Dollars for incubators. Risks are similar to acting as venture capitalists.
However, this new retail landscape is littered with broken promises.