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Simon Mall

How a top retail estate trust pioneered the convergence of physical and digital malls

Publicis Sapient partnered with a top retail estate trust and mall operator to fulfill their vision of creating a truly integrated online marketplace platform. We leveraged their unique combination of strong retailer relationships, a vast VIP customer base, and a wide physical footprint to pave the way for the retail destinations of the future.

The imperative for change

Consumers today aren’t just looking for convenience; they also want engaging shopping experiences. This requires retailers to provide a truly integrated omnichannel shopping experience. As a mall operator with strong partnerships, our client is in the unique position of enabling retailers to physically reach customers. Together with Publicis Sapient, they set out to create an “Outlet Shopping, Anytime, Anywhere” experience —a digital platform that offers a vast array of products from leading brands online, while also increasing store footfall via targeted content – creating convenient and experiential luxury experiences for VIP shoppers.

 

The transformative solution

With the strength of our retail experience, our engineering expertise, and our “One Team Approach,” we created a digital marketplace where users can shop online, check in-store pricing and promotions, and experience retail brands seamlessly across all channels with a single shopping basket.

The solution enabled the business to create targeted marketing experiences that offer customers personalized trend, style, and promotional content while allowing retailers to remain in full control of their brand’s representation.

Using state-of-the-art technologies, we also created a sophisticated, highly scalable and fault-tolerant retailer on-boarding system for retailers who partner to use this platform. The platform enables retailers to easily get their products and promotions onto the platform without the hassle of having to deploy and manage the solution.

The business impact

The unique online Marketplace Platform was initially opened to four million VIP customers with a select set of brands. Since the VIP launch, multiple campaigns have been run with great success, enabling customer acquisition and retention while increasing sales.

After a successful three-month pilot, the site was made public with 23 high-end retailers offering a choice of more than 750k unique SKUs. Within one month of the full launch, the website received over 1.8 million page views. A few months later, the platform was host to 39 retailers.

A great benefit of our partnership has been ensuring the company now operates as a true digital engineering organization.

Most importantly, this platform has enabled the organization to forge an online outlet marketplace venture that is now poised to disrupt the $200 billion off-price online apparel market.

23
High-end retailers
1.8 million
Page views
750k
Unique SKUs