RECon Europe delivers fresh deals

ICSC Europe embraced the retail, proptech, experiential, and place making communities with RECon Europe, its annual retail property deal-making event, which took place on 6 March 2018 at the Business Design Centre in London.

Joining major European developers and retail property owners this year were dele-gates across the fields of travel, retailtainment and leisure, innovation and technology, cities and high streets, as well as food and beverage (F&B).

The unique insight of the participants enriched the event, which represents 40 million m² of retail space across more than 1,600 shopping destinations in 39 countries. Attending this year were leading retailers including Inditex, Uniqlo, Sephora, Calzedonia and Vapiano.

Ahead of the event, retail representatives and leasing professionals met at the ICSC Leasing & Retailer Group Meeting, which is chaired by John Scott of TM Lewin and serves as the Planning Committee for RECon Europe. Their discussions identified future trends and tenant requirements, as well as ratifying plans to move RECon Europe to a new location as of next year.

Data takes the spotlight

Dominating debate at RECon Europe this year was the theme of data sharing, particularly in the light of the enforce-ment of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) from 25 May 2018. Bill Kistler, Executive Vice President of ICSC said that client information nevertheless represented a game-changing asset and its correct collection and deployment could be an opportunity, even after GDPR.

‘Think about the Amazons of the world and the data that they are able to collect about their customers,’ Kistler said. ‘If we in the place-based retail world could create remotely comparable information, that could be effectively shared between landlords and their retailers – that would be a powerful asset.’

The working group is putting together a committee to explore data sharing prac-tices and pursue innovation in more detail and are seeking collaboration partners for the enterprise.

RECon Europe on the move

RECon Europe – which will remain the ICSC’s one-to-one business meeting for tenants and landlords seeking to strike deals – is also evolving and will move to Barcelona next year, the same location as this year’s ICSC European Conference, delegates learned.

Innovative new format

Debuting an innovative new format, going forward the event will combine the thought-leadership and networking opportunities of the annual flagship European Conference with the focus and deal-making of RECon.

‘We are proud that the ICSC has chosen Barcelona again as the location for a key international conference,’ said Javier Hortelano, President of Spanish Council of Shopping Centres & Retail Parks (AECC). ‘It offers us a unique opportunity to showcase the vibrant retail real estate industry in Spain to our friends from around the world.’