I recently presented a project at the “SmartCity 2017” fair in Wex (Marche en Famenne, Belgium) to use logic and marketing tools to help retailers in downtown areas.
If this analysis was based on the findings made on the territory of the City of Herstal, as part of my mission at the head of Urbeo Commerce, the same logic adapt this project to many areas after analysis, including in rural areas. Other problems will then be encountered.
Herstal city center, like all city centers, has difficulty maintaining a Retail business that sees its business volume grabbed by peripheral supermarkets, E-Commerce and the new modes of consumption.
Today, urban centers are confronted with a “disintegration” of the retail trade, often for the benefit of peripheral shopping centers as well as E-Commerce. There is, however, a rather low level of entry from the retail trade “excluding large retailers” to online sales.
Wallonia, together with the Digital Agency, have set up various operations in this context: the “Connected Commerce” program, the digital component in the “Commerce Plan” …
Urban centers are nevertheless often close to, or crossed by, flows of consumers or close to certain large pockets of potential customers, such as industrial zones or zones of companies and science parks which bring together many workers of cities.
Do not hesitate to contact me if you are interested in the topic or if you want to apply the scheme to your locality.