Centennial is upgrading its shopping center-level e-commerce platform. The second phase of its partnership with artificial intelligence and e-commerce company Adeptmind will launch in March with a 90-day proof-of-concept trial at Santa Ana, California’s 1.1 million-square-foot MainPlace Mall, likely followed by a national rollout before year-end. The Shop Now platform enables shoppers to search for and buy products from different stores within their local Centennial shopping center, based on in-stock and available goods.

When Phase 1 rolled out in October, shoppers checked out with each retailer separately. Phase 2 will allow shoppers to check out with a single, shopping center-wide cart and will bring retailer participation up from 70 percent to 100 percent. The newest version also will add same-day delivery to the curbside pickup option, if the customer desires. Shop Now will notify customers about their purchases’ status, whether ready for pickup or out for delivery. And Phase 2 enables each center to bring in offerings from local businesses and add popup shops or temporary stores to the experience, giving local businesses another sales outlet.

“This is an absolute game changer in the relationship between the shopping center and the shopper,” said Adeptmind head of sales and enterprise commerce partnerships Jesse Michael. “It provides a platform where shoppers can search and discover what's available at their local center … now with the added ability to purchase select items directly and receive them faster than an Amazon purchase. It’s something that’s never been done before. It’s all about convenience and giving shoppers the options they demand in today’s world.”

The Centennial/Adeptmind relationship was sparked by a June Q&A I did for SCT and its online home, ICSC Exchange, called Shopping centers take note: E-commerce isn’t just for retailers. “I read your article and was fascinated by what Adeptmind had done with Cadillac Fairview,” Centennial COO Whitney Livingston told me. “In April we were mid-shutdown and our CEO, Steven Levin, and I were having regular conversations about the future of the business. We saw that all of our competitors were focused on being in a defensive mode, and we had to figure out a way to play offense. When I read this article, I had kind of an ‘aha’ moment: What if we could take this a step further? I have always been a strong believer in omnichannel retailing, and this was the first opportunity from a landlord side to embrace e-commerce to enhance physical retailing.”

So Livingston Googled Adeptmind and Michael, and Shop Now was born. “Frankly, as a landlord, we wanted to do whatever we could do to help our tenants, as well as meet the changing needs of our customers and make sure that our projects were still top of mind for them as they were thinking about shopping,” said Livingston. “Once they started using it, we started seeing exponential use thereafter.”

If Centennial was going to make a move so far outside tradition for a landlord, it wanted to get it right, Livingston says. “Generally in the U.S., there has been this standing premise that foot traffic drives sales and drives rents. And as a result, landlords have not been willing to embrace e-comm and in fact have often put up barriers against it. In breaking those barriers, we needed a tech partner that could not only deliver the solutions but that could help us from a business perspective with all of the options and really push the envelope so that the solution we delivered was something that would ultimately be worth the long-term investment.”

The platform is more than a short-term solution to the pandemic, she says. “We are going to have to continue to meet those customers where they want to be met, and now there are more channels to do just that. This software was designed specifically with the long term in mind, and this is Phase 2 but we intend for there to be many phases to come.”

Livingston advises landlords vetting technology to keep two major considerations in mind: How does it help tenants and how does it help the landlord? “Not only does this deliver foot traffic, it also is delivering customer loyalty and customer insights, information about our customers and what they are searching for and what is important to them, which ultimately helps us as a landlord merchandise, market and operate our centers. There is a lot of intrinsic value that goes above and beyond just traffic, sales and rent. And in this case we still get all three, which is pretty exciting.”