Page 58 - December 2020 January 2021

EVENT REVIEW | MAPIC & LeIsuruP DIgItAL

A Digital Success

Established in 1995, MAPIC has always been at the cutting edge of the retail revolution.

Despite the many challenges 2020 has brought to the industry, MAPIC remains at the
forefront and this was in evidence once again on the 17-18 November as the very first

MAPIC Digital took place in an entirely online environment.

eaders in commercial real estate, retail and On the conference side, the itinerary of 25 live sessions gave
leisure have uncompromisingly analysed the the floor to 114 speakers and brought together between 150
transformation of the industry during the two days and 460 listeners per session who were able to take part in the
L of MAPIC Digital, taking place for the first time debate by asking questions using the digital conference service.
online with the next physical event pushed back to 2021. “Whether from the UK, Germany, the US, the Netherlands,
Senior delegates within the 2,300 e-participants highlighted China, Italy or France, a consensus emerged during the
three major trends to successfully transform the industry: the MAPIC Digital debates using analysis of how the industry
increasing development of mixed-use spaces, the customer is evolving. All stakeholders agreed that the real estate and
experience and the digital-physical complementarity. retail sector had rapidly accelerated its transformation into
The two days of MAPIC Digital live brought together 700 lifestyle and experience destinations. It is crucial to set up
retailers and leisure operators who discussed and debated a solid collaboration to define the community of uses of
the ever-evolving retail real estate and leisure market. The tomorrow in the territories – and we hope MAPIC Digital
new-for-this-year networking platform proved a phenomenal helped to support exactly that,” said Nathalie Depetro,
success with 1,272 virtual meetings organised among Director of MAPIC.
professionals, demonstrating both the vitality of the sector Francesco Pupillo, Director of LeisurUp, the recently
and the suitability of this forum for professionals’ needs. established leisure event created by MAPIC and which was
the subject of numerous sessions, added: “The retail and
leisure industry has demonstrated its resilience many times in
the past and there is no doubt that once the immediate health
crisis is over and we adapt, customers will happily return to
physical places. The spectacular rebound in the sector this
summer is proof of this. Retail will recover and pivot towards
more personal experiences, strengthened by the integration
of digital at all levels.”