Seattle-based e-commerce retailer Amazon confirmed with Retail Insider this week that the popular Amazon Prime Day is formally cancelled in Canada this year. It follows Amazon’s having already delayed the event due to the pandemic. Prime Day is expected to return to Canada in 2022 as more Canadians are vaccinated and things return to a degree of normalcy.
Amazon provided a statement to Retail Insider on Tuesday: “Due to the impact of COVID-19, we have decided to not move forward with Prime Day in Canada this year while we focus on the health and safety of our employees, customers and selling partners.”
Many had anticipated Prime Day to take place in the fall of 2021 after being delayed from the summer. In the United States, Amazon Prime Day took place over the course of June 21-22nd of this year.
On Amazon’s Canadian website, the Prime Day page states that it will return with no date given.
GIF image from Amazon’s Canadian website
In 2020, Amazon moved Prime Day in Canada from July to October due to concerns surrounding the pandemic, including warehouse workers falling ill with the COVID-19 virus.
This spring, three of Amazon’s distribution facilities in the Greater Toronto Area were mandated to close entirely or in part after some workers tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. Amazon has since come out with a health and safety protocol for its work spaces which include fulfillment centres as well as its offices including regional headquarters in downtown Vancouver and downtown Toronto.
Amazon had initially told employees of its downtown offices that they were to return to work five-days a week and the decision was recently changed both in the United States and in Canada. Amazon employees will be able to work from home two days per week while in-office work will be mandated for three days a week. Employees can also work remotely for a month in another location within Canada as an extra benefit.
Amazon does not break down its Canadian sales numbers which are said to be in the billions of dollars annually. The massive retailer has been growing rapidly in this country with increased sales and several recent announcements of new fulfillment centres in major markets. Amazon is also expanding its base of employees at its downtown offices and will eventually move into the 1.1 million square foot office component of the mixed-use development The Post in downtown Vancouver which is being developed by QuadReal.
The loss of Amazon Prime Day 2021 will not only impact Amazon’s bottom line, it will also affect thousands of vendors in Canada selling through the platform. We recently featured an article interviewing Canadian business owners finding success using the platform.
Amazon’s largest sale day in Canada will go ahead in 2022 on the same day as the US. The dates have been announced as July 12 and 13. Online retailers are gearing up their promotions and it is expected to be one of the largest shopping events since before the pandemic. You can see many of the best Amazon Prime Day home deals here.
Commercial real estate firm JLL has partnered with Adeptmind, an AI-based search product company, to provide Canadian landlords with a new omnichannel digital retail solution.
The platform allows consumers to shop and purchase products from multiple retailers, anytime, anywhere. Shoppers can search for specific products, browse by category or by store.
Adeptmind powers more than 400 partner websites and applications. Shopping centre operators such as Cadillac Fairview, Centennial REIT, Oxford Properties, Radiant Partners, and Bayer Properties are using Adeptmind’s innovative solution to deliver real time discovery experiences to shoppers.
Lee Jackson
Lee Jackson, Vice President, Retail Business Development, JLL Canada, said the consumer appetite for the brick and mortar environment has not been suppressed, simply the appetite for convenience has increased.
“I think ecommerce has been growing year over year pre-pandemic and the pandemic has obviously accelerated that. There’s been a major spike. From a shopping centre perspective that’s the bricks and mortar sites that the customers have traditionally visited and the marriage of digital and physical for the centres is something I think has been lacking for some time,” he said.
“We’re excited about this partnership with Adeptmind because it does just that. It creates an opportunity for I call it the omnification of shopping centres where you can offer that digital discovery experience and look for the item before going to the centre or be at the centre and make that real time discovery experience.
“I think ecommerce is going to continue to grow but I think the lines are going to become blurred because the experience is actually going to be omni based. You’re going to be looking for that product online but purchasing it in store because of convenience, because of ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance), because of cost, because last mile cost is starting to flow back to customers in a big way. And you have this massive fulfillment centre which is the local shopping centre that has the product sitting on the shelf. They’re helping you to discover that product today.”
Image: Adeptmind
Research indicates that during the pandemic e-commerce sales have increased exponentially. In North America, retail e-commerce sales represented 14 per cent of total retail sales growing by 32 per cent in 2020. In Canada, retail e-commerce sales increased by 70.5 per cent in 2020.
Jesse Michael
“Whether it’s on the web or in an app, landlords can easily plug in Adeptmind’s Marketplace solution giving their shoppers access to all tenants in their enclosed, outdoor air, or strip centre destinations,” said Jesse Michael, Managing Director at Adeptmind. “Shoppers can search for specific products, browse by category or by store and post-search through image guided discovery or traditional filters, quickly narrowing down to what they’re looking for.”
Michael said Adeptmind’s platform enhances the digital shopping experience at shopping destinations and facilitates an end-to-end digital marketplace. This allows consumers to shop and purchase the products on the shelves of multiple retailers, anytime, anywhere. This ability to shop multiple retailers online, combined with the central locations of shopping centres within the community, enables customers to get products faster (same day delivery) and cheaper (curbside/centralized pick up) than they can from pure play e-commerce retailers and other digital marketplaces.
Shopping centres pioneering in this space will be more connected to the consumer and to the retailers who tenant their centres.
Adeptmind has been around for five years and is based in Toronto and works with some of the top 400-500 retailers in the world.
LiVE by CF will be rolled out at all 19 CF shopping centre properties across Canada in English and French. (CNW Group/Ravel by CF)
The company has neighbouring offices with Cadillac Fairview and the shopping centre landlord learned about what it was doing in that space and approached Adeptmind more than two years ago. They wanted to launch an app and make the malls searchable. LiVE by CF was launched from that initial discussion.
“That was our first entrance into this space but then realized in those conversations and subsequent other conversations with a number of landlords, not only in North America, but Europe and the Middle East that there was a place for this,” said Michael. “Really focused around product discovery and pre-planning of the trip. That’s really how it first started.
“What we brought to the table was a patent pending feature the ability to bring local inventory of each store into the experience. We’ve got technology that brings this to life for retailers.”
The company has a growing presence in Canada, the US, the UK and France.
“There will be a number of others I’ll be able to announce at a later day that we’ve signed agreements with.”
Mingle Mask is targeting Canadian retailers and foodservice businesses with its eco-friendly invisible, ergonomic mask that provides protection while also allowing one’s face to be completely visible. Retail Insider readers get 10% off orders with code RI-21 and can contact Kara Kelly at kara@theminglemask.com.
The Mingle Mask is said to be comfortable enough to wear all day long — the one-size-fits-all face mask has an innovative chin guard that comfortably rests against the face, ensuring eyeglasses don’t fog up. The chin guard also helps keep material away from the face which makes it easy to wear lipstick, lip balm and lip gloss while keeping the face cooler than a regular mask. Many may have already seen restaurant workers in Canada wearing them.
“Mingle Mask is the ideal transitional mask for consumers who still want protection but don’t require a medical-grade mask,” said Rick Sutton, founder and CEO of Mingle Mask. “Mingle Mask offers a transparent plastic barrier to help protect the wearer from airborne droplets. The unique design allows for easy breathing and maximum air flow while keeping the wearer and anyone around them safe. The mask opens at the top for easy breathing and maximum airflow.”
The highly breathable masks use Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved reusable and recyclable materials. Each mask is lightweight, includes comfortable ear hook holders designed for long-term wear and easy to clean and sanitize in-between uses.
“Mingle Mask is perfect for consumers who want to reduce health concerns such as pollution and flu exposure, protect themselves from new COVID variants, attend large social gatherings or prefer to gradually adjust to going back to normal,” said Sutton. “They also solve the problem for businesses who are not ready to eliminate the mask mandate for fear of exposing their workforce, such as employees at restaurants, schools, foodservice venues, hotels and more.”
Mingle Masks are reusable and easily cleaned. Breaking down communication barriers created by the visual obstruction of traditional masks, Mingle Masks increase customer engagement and general morale in retail and hospitality environments.
The masks are 100% Canadian made, with the distribution centre located in Ontario. The company ships nationwide and provides wholesale pricing for resellers and distributors.
Those interested in bulk orders can contact Kara Kelly at Kara@theminglemask.com and get 10% off your order with code RI-21.
*Partner content. To work with Retail Insider, email craig@retail-insider.com
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, e-commerce boomed across the world. More and more people turned to online shopping due to store closures and lockdowns.
One of the countries facing steep warehouse shortages is Canada, where Amazon has taken over much of the free space to resume its operations. Unutilized (available) warehouse space has shrunk to just 0.5%, presenting new challenges for retailers and their respective supply chains.
Some of the largest Canadian cities, like Toronto, Victoria, Montreal, and Vancouver, are struggling to find warehouse space for businesses to store their goods. Overcrowding of products in warehouses can lead to safety issues for employees, and a lack of floor space makes it challenging to store merchandise properly.
Below are some tips that can help combat the warehousing shortage challenges resulting from the e-commerce boom.
Tips to Maximize Warehouse Space
Businesses need ample space to store their products and goods, so industry leaders should focus on space optimization and finding new areas to build warehouses.
Here are some ways warehouse employees can improve the space they do have so businesses can still rely on them for storage and supply chain operations.
1. Extend Racks Vertically
In cases where there’s a lack of floor or pallet space, it’s best to “look up” and see how much space above can be utilized. More and more companies are considering automating their business processes. This can be applied to warehousing with automated retrieval systems or forklifts to access these elevated areas. Adding storage space by extending racks vertically takes some planning and foresight.
Warehouse managers must train their employees on the best practices to follow when retrieving merchandise from elevated spaces. This will help reduce injuries to employees, which can impact efficiency and productivity.
2. Review Current Warehouse Layouts
The layout of a warehouse is a major contributing factor to overall space availability. To choose the most appropriate design for a warehouse, calculating the storage area size can be a helpful tool. Once the size is computed, it’s much easier to determine how much storage space is available, and managers can organize goods accordingly.
3. Communicate With Employees
One of the main reasons why warehouses become cluttered so quickly is because there’s confusion surrounding what spaces can and cannot be used for storage. Employees and warehouse managers should all be on the same page when it comes to space optimization.
Educating current employees and training new employees is a vital part of a successful warehouse operation. Using technology like phones and two-way radios can be helpful in improving communication between employees.
4. Use the Pareto Principle
Also referred to as the 80/20 rule, the Pareto Principle focuses on the 20% of items that move the most within a warehouse. Storing items in accessible locations based on their popularity and how often they’re being shipped out can help improve efficiency and maximize the storage space within a warehouse.
For pickers in a warehouse, convenience is key. Picking from a convenient location allows workers to spend less time searching for the correct item and more time fulfilling their orders to completion.
5. Minimize Aisle Widths
Narrowing the width of an aisle is a standard solution in a packed warehouse. It’s crucial to make aisles wide enough to accommodate employees and keep them safe on the job. However, in some cases, corridors can be made more narrow, opening up floor space for more storage for goods.
If an aisle can be reduced to anywhere from 5 to 8 feet in width, it can free up 15% to 20% of the overall storage space. This can make a significant difference in the optimization of the space available in a warehouse.
6. Consider Installing a Mezzanine
A mezzanine storage system can be a game-changer for warehouses in Canada struggling to find ample storage space for products and merchandise. In essence, a mezzanine system uses all the vertical space available between the warehouse floor and the ceiling. Using a freestanding structure is helpful because it can be moved easily to whichever location is most efficient.
Consider using a mezzanine level in a warehouse that’s tight on space. Many of the warehouse challenges in Canada are storage-related, and finding unique ways to optimize space will help warehouses continue functioning properly.
Making the Most of Warehouse Space
The country is desperate for innovative solutions that manage these shortages and support the businesses that contribute to economic growth. The last thing businesses need is to run out of space to store their products — some type of intervention is required to prevent this from occurring, and it starts with recognizing pain points, using space thoughtfully, and knowing when to invest in new solutions.
Craig and Lee talk about Vancouver’s Gucci in Fairmont Hotel Vancouver expanding into the Omega space, Gucci temporarily moving onto Alberni Street, and Omega’s new location within the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver.
The Weekly podcast by Retail Insider Canada is available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players. Also check out ourThe Interview Seriespodcast where Craig interviews guests from across the Canadian retail landscape as part of theThe Retail Insider Podcast Network.
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Grocery-store cashiers and other frontline retail workers have helped get us through the pandemic, but do we value them? Why are retail jobs middle-class in Sweden, but low-wage work in Canada?
These were some of the questions I tried to answer over several years of published research on grocery-store workers in different countries.
My research has shown that in the late 1970s, Canadian grocery-store jobs were middle-class union jobs. Full-time hours were common, and Canada’s grocery store-workers were well paid by global standards for the industry.
Major grocery chains held oligopolies in their respective provinces and had considerable discretion in setting prices, focused more on quality, and could use these aspects of their business strategy to justify high wages in the industry.
The opening of discount chains like Super Carnaval in Québec in 1982 and megastores like the Real Canadian Superstore in 1979 forced traditional grocers to rethink their human resources strategies. In addition to making profit margins narrow, many of these new discounters — like Walmart which entered Canada in 1994 — were non-union.
Wages were reduced
The chains demanded that the unions work with them to lower labour costs and prevent them from losing money. Fearing what would happen to their members’ jobs if the chains went bankrupt (and some did), most of the unions worked with major grocers to cut wages and erode other key conditions set in collective agreements.
In Sweden, the wages of grocery-store workers in 1980 were good, but workers in some Canadian chains were better off. Like Canada, the Swedish grocery market was dominated by an oligopoly of players (until the early 2000s, when discounters like Netto and Lidl entered the market).
But unlike in Canada, working conditions did not erode with the rise of discount retailers in Sweden. In key areas, they improved.
What’s more, Swedish workers have substantial scheduling protections, including one month’s notice for schedules, strong rights to limit work performed on weekends and the right to be consulted on working hours. Swedish retail workers are also remarkably satisfied with their work.
In Canada, the most employees get is usually the right to a few days’ notice on their scheduled hours.
Sectoral bargaining is key
So why do Swedish retail workers have remarkably superior working conditions? In a nutshell, their labour laws strongly support what’s called sectoral bargaining.
Sectoral bargaining ensures every worker who works for a major retail chain in Sweden is covered by what’s called a sectoral bargaining agreement. This is a common agreement that stipulates working conditions for retail employees, and it applies across the entire sector.
Sectoral bargaining takes wages and other working conditions out of competition. In Canada, retail unions are always nervous that asking for high wages and significant improvements to other working conditions will hurt the profitability of their stores, which could lead to job loss.
Since working conditions differ across stores, even across unionized outlets, unions are forced to accept wage concessions to help their employers compete for low prices.
In Sweden, the opposite is true. Their retailers are not competing with each other by lowering labour costs. Grocers want all their competitors to offer the same working conditions. That’s because sectoral bargaining prevents a non-union market entrant from gaining an unfair price advantage by operating with lower labour costs.
Transit unions instructed their workers to stop delivering goods to the company. Bank unions told their workers to stop processing financial transactions for the company.
In the end, the company had no choice but to sign the collective agreement. In fact, they turned these stores into a franchise operated by Scandinavians, since the American managers discovered that they did not understand how to operate in countries like Sweden.
Conflicts like this have set the stage for retailers wishing to operate in the country. For example, Lidl, a German discount food retailer known for its anti-union stance throughout Europe, signed the collective agreement when entering the Swedish market in 2002.
In Canada, the law encourages collective bargaining by store or chain. Sympathy actions aren’t part of the system. Among stores that are unionized, it’s not always by the same union.
The result is a fragmented system where working conditions diverge considerably. When unionized stores are operating under different collective agreements, their unions face immense pressure to compete with each other to lower labour costs and hence maintain poor working conditions.
The existence of non-union operators like Walmart and Dollarama makes matters even worse. Many union officials argue that preserving modest privileges through collective bargaining is better than letting non-union chains dominate the industry, which would be considerably worse for workers.
Without providing Canada’s unions with legal supports to effectively extend workplace standards across all major chains, including Walmart and Dollarama, these workers will never win the conditions they deserve.
There are many benefits to supporting unionization in the grocery industry, including a wage scale, employee benefits and access to a voice for employees.
But if Canada wants to expand its middle class by substantially improving working conditions in sectors like retail, it must fundamentally reform its labour laws.
The COVID-19 pandemic of the past year or so has put a lot of pressure on many retailers in Winnipeg, but overall small business owners have survived in such a challenging environment.
“I think in Winnipeg no different than across the country, full service restaurants, the fitness industry, those have been absolutely decimated and I believe that many of those won’t be back or won’t recover,” said Kris Mutcher, VP Retail for Colliers International in Winnipeg.
“But I’ve been shocked that we haven’t had more failures and more vacancy come up. Our vacancy numbers continue to drop in the market and largely that’s due to the federal supports that have been put in place to help keep tenants afloat where in many scenarios 90 per cent of your rent is covered – that helps a lot.”
Mutcher said that a year ago he would have predicted that there would be an increase in retail vacancy of five to 10 per cent instead of it continuing to drop.
CF Polo Park. Image: Cadillac Fairview
“We’re below five per cent in the market right now and that’s as low as we’ve been in the last decade,” he said.
“Because of the supports that are there, businesses are keeping their doors open and they’re staying current on their rents. And the other thing is traditionally retail has always felt pressures from the new opportunity, the new shiny box of pulling people out of the old and into the new and we’ve seen virtually no construction.
“So with less larger anchor tenants out active in the market and construction prices going through the roof and obviously the overall hesitancy given the climate of what’s going on right now, there’s been very, very limited new construction which is usually one of the major pressures on vacancy because retail in Manitoba and in Canada over the last 20 years there’s always something new, there’s always some new centre, there’s always somewhere new to go. The amount of square feet of retail space has been constantly growing and I think COVID has put a bit of a stop on that which has helped to control the vacancy.”
According to a report by Colliers on the sector, the Winnipeg retail sector closed 2020 with many challenges and mixed messages while certain essential uses and quick serve restaurants thrived, others such as fitness facilities and service-based retailers suffered. In 2020, the retail vacancy rate in Winnipeg experienced a surprising decrease of 1.2 per cent to finish the year at 5.3 per cent based on the inventory tracked in the Colliers Retail Market Survey.
Kildonan Place. Photo: Primaris Management Inc.
“As we work through a return to normal in 2021 these support programs may fall away, and vacancy rates are expected to rise as tenants work to adapt to the rapid change seen across the retail sector,” said the report. “Regional malls were a major driver in the decrease in vacancy due to additions of large format stores such as Winners, Marshalls, and GoodLife at St. Vital Centre, EQ3, a full floor call centre at Polo Park and the redevelopment of Kildonan Place, with Save-On-Foods backfilling part of the vacant Sears tenancy.
“Power centres also decreased in vacancy by shifting their leasing strategy and completing deals with service-based retail, fitness, cannabis, discount retailers or other non-traditional uses that were not typical tenants a few years ago. The addition of these non-traditional categories pushed average rental rates down and with limited new supply being built, power centres posed an attractive option for tenants looking to relocate. Tenants now find it desirable at the end of their lease terms to consider relocating to new premises or other vacancies and receive significant contributions towards building out their new store. This has allowed strong desirable tenants to reposition, “right size” and in some cases consolidate store counts, allowing for current prototype store finishes.
“The cannabis market was active across Manitoba as the provincial government entered into a new phase of expanding licensing for smaller-scale cannabis retailers in Q3 2020. The focus of this second phase was on local and independent retailers while limiting the further issuing of licenses to national brands that have already established themselves in the market. As we move into 2021, the cannabis sector will continue to establish itself and mature as the market is expected to stabilize after what has been a busy pipeline of openings over the past few years.”
Colliers said the grocery sector continued to be very active in 2020 with significant investments in store renovations, re-branding and new store commitments. Safeway /Sobeys completed substantial renovations and storefront upgrades to five locations in Winnipeg and could potentially see two others renovated in 2021. In addition, Safeway / Sobeys started conversions of three of its locations to its Freshco Brand. Co-op completed a new store in St. Norbert and started construction on a new store at the Seasons development, added the report.
Rendering of the exterior of CF Polo Park and new EQ3 store. Rendering: Cadillac Fairview
It said Save-On-Foods continues to expand its presence in the Winnipeg market with two new stores under construction in a partial conversion of a Sears store at Kildonan Place as well as a conversion of an existing building at Pembina Crossing.
“It’s easy to get to the negative of a lot of this,” said Mutcher of the past year or so and its challenges. “But it’s been unbelievable the resiliency and the ingenuity that a lot of the operators and retailers have had and have found ways to make it through this.”
After more than 20 years in the business, handling commercial real estate for some of Canada’s biggest retail landlords, Toronto-based Nick Iozzo, in the past year, set out on his own. He formed a new consultancy agency to help North American clients discover new creative sources of revenue from existing real estate.
Image: Nick Iozzo
The focus has been on pop-up and automated retail, brand activations, experiential entertainment, sponsorship, digital & static out-of-home advertising, location filming management, event planning and business development.
“The real estate industry has been evolving, and over the last year, that change has accelerated. The shopping centre is no longer just a place for commerce, but also a place to build a brand, elicit meaningful and memorable sensory responses in a world of digital engagement, and evolve the omni-channel world of learn, purchase, and play,” said Iozzo of the launch of The Ancillary Agency.
Iozzo said The Ancillary Agency’s priorities are fourfold:
Maximize Revenue – discover new sources of revenue from existing real estate, improving net returns;
Drive Traffic and Impressions – work with brands to attract physical visitors to the property, while cultivating social media impressions;
Elevate the Guest Experience – enhance the shopper and visitor experience, driving loyalty and improved dwell time; and
Business Development – connect best-in-class brands and service providers, growing the business opportunities within the marketplace.
Iozzo said he saw a huge void while working with the creative industry. He said there are sponsorship, experiential and media agencies that work with brands. The key is connecting those brands to people in this very digital world.
Disney Lunar New Year Sponsorship (Image: The Ancillary Agency)
“There are a lot of benefits to that digital reach, but a lot of brands still want to physically interact with their customers and future customers. They may want them to try their products, taste their products, smell their products, interact with the knowledge-based staff of that brand. And I believe that shopping centres, office buildings and hotels will continue to drive that traffic, especially in a Canadian environment where we’re very hot in the summer, very cold in the winter and especially in an enclosed shopping centre environment it becomes a hub for seniors, for parents, for teens, for that community,” said Iozzo.
“I’m also working with the creative agencies who do phenomenal work in creating brand awareness and campaigns but need help to execute them in the commercial real estate world. I’m working with a number of agencies to help secure real estate for them, working with those agencies to help brainstorm campaign ideas in the physical real estate world, and really be that liaison where if a creative agency has this crazy idea that they don’t believe will ever fly, having somebody with 20 plus years in the industry and knows a lot of the people and the players and the companies, to help them get those campaign ideas approved and executed.”
While at Cadillac Fairview, it was a great opportunity for him to work with first-to-market brands. He also leased the CF Shops at Don Mills, the only outdoor lifestyle centre in the Cadillac Fairview portfolio.
“It really gave me a new insight for leasing. Cadillac Fairview had two shopping centres within four kilometres of each other. That was a challenge for Don Mills because if we were going to go after a lululemon in the market, it went to CF Fairview Mall. If we were going to go after an Apple, it went to Fairview Mall,” said Iozzo.
“Don Mills really challenged me to think outside that box, to look at the future of merchandise mix for retailers and to just really try to find new avenues to address the customer base.”
That included bringing in furniture store deals, entertainment, health and fitness – even a tattoo parlour.
“That creative retail leasing thinking to survive within your own CF ecosystem challenged me to really think outside the box, go after a lot of up-and-coming brands, go after who were the hot brands on direct to consumer and online. That allowed me to go from a shopping centre when I took over that was below 70 per cent leased to over 85 per cent leased out shopping centre over four years,” he said.
Image: The Shop, United States for Waterloo Sparkling Water, Dallas
Iozzo also credits his work with CF Lime Ridge Mall in Hamilton, Ontario in enhancing his leasing experience because that included not only convincing retailers to come to the shopping centre, but he also had to convince them to come to Hamilton. He worked with the Mayor’s office, economic development and the Chamber of Commerce in leasing up the mall.
While at Oxford, the focus was to help drive revenue for the company, drive traffic to the shopping centre and elevate the customer experience.
“The team I had oversaw specialty leasing not only for the shopping centre portfolio, but we managed all the office and hotel assets in the portfolio. We then moved into residential. We saw an untapped market in residential. And to be honest, even in industrial,” said Iozzo.
“Part of my program was overseeing pop-up retail, brand activations, and sponsorship. I oversaw the digital and static out-of-home media program as well as the film management. That was everything from getting TV commercials to TV shows to Hollywood blockbusters filmed in our portfolio.”
Iozzo said he took all his successes in the projects that he was working on at Oxford to his new venture.
Image: Carlo Bake Shop Vending (Image: The Ancillary Agency)
“I truly believe we (Oxford) created a very unique offering in the Canadian marketplace. I think there were some other landlords in the U.S, that had a similar structure. I saw the void in the Canadian marketplace, really the North American marketplace, and that’s what the Agency is focused on – that specialty leasing and ancillary revenue opportunities.
“And we’re really focused on three sectors. One is the landlord sector. On the landlord side, what we want to do is help drive that creative revenue, drive footfall traffic and social media traffic and to help elevate that guest experience, especially in the age of COVID where the financial results of a lot of the shopping centres, especially the enclosed fashion-centric type of shopping centres, have suffered and landlords are really looking for new revenue streams for those assets. Secondly, the creative brand and agency sector as a liaison to real estate and inventory for their campaign. Thirdly, with several decades of experience in commercial real estate, our business development offering can connect products and service providers to the decision makers in the real estate, media, and property management sectors of the the industry.”
“But we also really need to work on bringing people back into that shopping centre environment and that’s driving that traffic, driving that social media impression that a lot of landlords have to pay to get. And elevating the guest experience is to not only welcome them back but they extend that dwell time to make sure that the visitors to shopping centres feel accepted and respected within that shopping centre.”
