The meet up which took place at the offices of CMS Albiñana & Suárez de Lezo in Madrid hosted the most influential players from all segments in real estate. Albert Castro, CEO, and founder of Círculo Inmobiliario Meridiana presented, at the beginning of the session, MAPIC’s news and trends for this year, such as the online sales peak and the solutions retail can offer to combine them with physical spaces.
Next, partner at legal firm CMS, Álvaro Otero, moderated the round table which gathered the sector’s key players who provided great insights on the future of the real estate and all its different segments. The whole event was attended by an audience highly involved in the debate on the plan to be followed in the coming years.
«People go to shopping centres and leave with a purse, we want them to leave with a story», commented Gastón Gaitán, theleisureway’s CEO on the occasion. In his opinion, people look for a space where, besides shopping, they can also eat, enjoy their time with their families and take part in multiple entertainment activities.
María José García, leasing manager at Sonae Sierra, highlighted that «shopping centres have changed drastically, we have to transform them into something more». One of the trends that will change shopping centres in the future is the integration between the shops, the leisure areas and food areas, without disregarding the mall’s funtion. «One of the most important factors to be taken into account in the future is to diversify the offer and to include services which are working wonderfully in other countries, such as integrating a clinic or a university inside the shopping centre», María José defined in this way the shopping centres of the future.
One of the keys, from the investor’s point of view, is to first value the location pertaining to the needs and targets of the companies which will be occupying the shopping centres, highlighted Javier Basagoiti, Inbest’s partner and CEO.
On the other hand, Basagoiti also spoke about online sales, which in the case of High Street retail may cause some maladjustments, such as the prices being the same in retail and wholesale. Still, e-commerce may add value and that, without a doubt, will be one of the themes which will be discussed at the next edition of MAPIC.