Innovative spirit

We change with the times in order to provide our visitors with new experiences

Changes in consumer and lifestyle trends have a profound impact on our business. Knowing how to best interpret and manage these new trends is a unique characteristic of our group. We strive to meet the needs of the increasingly knowledgeable and practical consumer, who has different priorities with respect to the past, by offering the right mix of shopping, entertainment and services in a timely manner.

IGD intends to be at the forefront of the sector in Italy and for this innovation is a priority for our management.

The spaces inside the shopping center become dynamic, modular, in order to adapt to market trends and meet the needs of consumers and retailers.

Food is always crucial, but in a different way

The food anchor – namely the hypermarket in the shopping center – was predominant for a long time and is still important to attracting and stabilizing traffic, but in the past few years has lost its premier position.

At the same time, the space dedicated to food, food preparation and consumption, is increasing in order to provide places to meet, be together and enjoy leisure time. For this reason we are paying increasingly more attention to food courts which become places to meet your friends, relax and have fun.

Personal services

Not only shopping: more services, like dental studios and medical offices, gyms and fitness centers, play areas, garages and municipal offices are being included in our shopping centers.

IGD is also very focused on providing small services which enhance the shopping center experience like charging stations for cell phones and tablets, secure shopping carts, free wifi and playground area for kids.

Shopping centers could also provide safe, sanitized and well equipped co-working spaces in order to support new remote working styles and the service industry’s need for greater flexibility.

The shopping center, e-commerce and digital products

The food courts and personal services also provide us with an opportunity to strengthen the categories less impacted by online sales, namely areas in which the physical experience cannot be substituted with a virtual one.

At the same time, we strive to meet the needs of e-commerce which requires new spaces and pick-up stations for items ordered online. Among the services proposed, a greater diffusion of the “Click&Collect” is being considered, to allow people to collect items purchased online from the stores inside the shopping centers, taking advantage of the warehouse space freed up by the hypermarkets after they were downsized, or using the space currently occupied by stores facing the mall.

We work, therefore, with a view to integrating the different retail channels, for example, by providing locker services in all our shopping centers, where people can collect products ordered online.

The focus on new technologies

In order to keep up with the latest trends, we pay maximum attention to technological and digital evolution:

Beginning in 2016 we worked to standardize all the Facebook pages of our shopping centers and increasingly use social networks to create communities.
In 2017 we installed interactive totems in all the shopping centers which make it possible to provide information to visitors and can be used for loyalty programs.
In 2018 we added chatbot (virtual assistant) in three shopping centers: Centro Casilino in Rome, Centro Città delle Stelle in Ascoli Piceno and Centro Puntadiferro in Forlì.
We are also experimenting with Virtual Reality initiatives.

A dynamic management of our properties

The changing consumer trends and consumers’ different needs push us to be more dynamic in the management of our shopping centers.

Being dynamic means remodeling interiors, restyling, extensions, changing layouts to reflect new trends, living the spaces through events. In this way we can enhance the most appealing categories and attract new domestic and international brands.

This dynamic management is also used to reduce the environmental impact of our properties. We have undertaken many initiatives which include the use of LED lighting, solar panels and charging stations for electric cars.

Find out more: take a look at our future projects