News about Artificial Intelligence has become inescapable over the last year thanks to ChatGPT and a wave of similar applications. Now, commercial real estate owners and investors are finding unique ways to integrate AI into their assets to drive property success.
One area where AI has strong potential is retail. In addition to helping retailers improve their wholesale business operations, AI is now being infused into retail properties to enhance the consumer experience. With individuals continuing to seek fresh and intriguing experiences post-pandemic, AI is becoming a natural fit for the retail sector.
As a seasoned design-and-build specialty construction company and an industry leader in creating one-of-a-kind water features, rockwork and themed environments, Outside the Lines Inc. has seen firsthand the powerful impacts of utilizing the right technology in retail amenities. We have seen in our own projects how these technologies drive increased traffic, community engagement and bottom-line profitability for retail property owners now and in the future.
Encouraging interactivity
AI allows customers and visitors to interact with their surroundings in new and exciting ways. These technologies are a tremendous crowd pleaser as they encourage interactivity, curiosity and play for people of all ages, ultimately leading to increased foot traffic, engagement and time and money spent at retail centers.
We witnessed this phenomenon at the Illuvia fountain show that we recently designed and built as part of a multi-phased expansion at EpicCentral, a 172-acre mixed-use site in Grand Prairie, Texas. The park drew in more than 30,000 guests each week in July of last year. Flocks of people were drawn to the fountain which features large-scale projection and specialty lighting effects, music, air-fired jets and robotic nozzles that propel water to heights of more than 60 feet.
Illuvia is about to become even more enticing. We are installing AI technology into the show fountain that will provide interactivity for park visitors unlike anything they have ever seen before. In fact, even as our artisans and technicians were working on the project, children visiting the park became curious and wanted to play with it before it was deployed. We have often observed children’s inquisitive nature leading them to test interactive water features by stepping on a rock or pressing a button or a lever in an effort to cause water to shoot up out of a fountain’s nozzle. In this case, those playful efforts to activate the fountain will actually work, thanks to AI.
Interactivity in retail settings is compelling. When AI is combined with a retail amenity it gives individuals and families an additional reason to visit a venue and spend more time there. This leads to augmented sales for retailers in and around the venue.
Promoting cost control
With energy prices rising due to inflation, operating expenses for commercial properties are skyrocketing. Incorporating AI into retail properties can help stakeholders control costs and maximize operational efficiencies.
An important way to manage these expenses is understanding when energy-related expenses are highest, which will be different for each property. AI sensors and data can provide retail owners and operators with a clear picture of when these expenses will hit, allowing them to forecast peak crowd times and size, equipment usage, maintenance costs and potentially equipment replacement costs. The ability to create expense forecasts will help stakeholders plan and budget and have more control over where their money goes.
Utilizing AI technology to control costs is a process we are developing with several of the water features our firm designs, builds and maintains in markets around the world.
Fostering ongoing innovation
Along with adding value to commercial properties, supporting emerging technology like AI enables ongoing innovation in the retail space. Future iterations of AI will have an increasingly profound impact on the profitability of retail centers.
For example, the AI we are incorporating into Illuvia and other projects allows the system to identify not only people but their poses and actions. Machine learning enables the system to determine how to provide exponentially more captivating attractions for these venues through these identifications.
AI can also be used to control smoke and fog machines, pyrotechnics, laser projectors and other equipment related to fountains. In the future, it may be used to coordinate a fountain with lights and other elements in the retail space allowing everything to be controlled by the same system.
By investing in AI we can continue increasing the processing power of these projects, their ability to react to the people who visit them and their potential to attract larger crowds — and more dollars — to the sites in which they are located.
AI is establishing itself as a key element in driving foot traffic, community engagement and bottom-line profitability for retail stakeholders and is promoting the health of experiential retail well into the future.
Jason Baldwin is the manager technical services and RD for Outside the Lines, Inc., a design-build themed construction company that specializes in creating one-of-a-kind rockwork, water features and themed environments for retail entertainment, hospitality, gaming and golf properties around the globe.
