Expert series

When Chaos Hits, Nobody Remembers a Keyboard Shortcut

In the modern workplace, ensuring employee safety and facilitating rapid responses to threats has become a critical priority for every organization, a subject explored in this professional overview by Peter Endress, Managing Partner at EVALARM and an expert in crisis management. Below, the author analyzes why physical IoT buttons represent one of the most reliable …

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Beyond AI: The human imagination rewriting retail’s future

In this issue, our guest author Peter Thommen—a global strategist with 30 years of retail experience and a specialist in strategic foresight—challenges conventional retail wisdom by looking beyond data-driven responsiveness. Using the viral sensation of the Swatch × Audemars Piguet “Royal Pop” collaboration as a case study, he explores how anticipatory leadership, human imagination, and strategic foresight …

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Why specialized training for the modern mall manager is essential

In this issue, international retail property consultant and executive Lance Stanbury explores the dramatic evolution of modern shopping centers into complex, multi-functional lifestyle community hubs. He explains why specialized, continuous professional development is absolutely essential for today’s mall managers, who must navigate a rapidly changing “phygital” landscape to protect multi-billion-dollar assets, maximize tenant profitability, and deliver the …

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The shocking truth about Dubai’s hospitality panic (and who is secretly getting rich)

Today we welcome guest author Will Odwarka, an International Hospitality and Franchise Expert with decades of executive leadership experience. Odwarka examines the profound impact of recent geopolitical tensions on Dubai’s hospitality sector, exploring how sudden revenue shocks are forcing a rapid structural shift. He argues that operators must move away from event-heavy, transit-reliant models toward more …

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Gift Cards as the Most Underrated Marketing Tool of Modern Destinations

In a world driven by metrics, data points, and digital noise, it is easy to forget that the heart of any successful modern destination isn’t just its infrastructure—it is the emotion it evokes. As shopping centers and public spaces evolve into experience-driven hubs, the tools we use to engage visitors must evolve with them. True …

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The Pop-Up Playbook: Management Strategies for Experiential Retail Success

In this issue, retail strategist, four-time author, and pop-up expert Ghalia Boustani takes us beyond the hype of temporary retail to reveal the operational engine behind successful brand activations. In The Pop-Up Playbook: Management Strategies for Experiential Retail Success, she argues that pop-ups have evolved from simple short-term marketing stunts into a critical, multi-billion-dollar strategic channel. …

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Your Frontline Team Is Your Brand: Why Retailers Are Losing Customers Before the Sale Even Starts

In this issue, Linda Johansen-James, CEO of International Retail Group, explores a critical blind spot in modern commerce: why brands are losing customers before a transaction even begins. Drawing on a career spent coaching over 54,000 employees, the retail industry veteran argues that a front line team isn’t just a step in the buyer’s journey—they …

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From Gold to Currency: Why Data Sharing is the Future of Physical Retail

In this issue, Reinhard Winiwarter, Publisher of ACROSS Magazine and a veteran of European retail real estate, explores how customer insights have evolved into the industry’s most valuable asset. Drawing from his extensive career in center management and retail development, he examines thewidening data quality gap between retailers and property managers. Winiwarter argues that overcoming these …

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Clicks, Bricks, and Heavy Lifts: Decoding the Divergent Retail Playbooks of Gymshark and Squat Wolf

In this issue, Alex Andarakis, the Founder and Managing Director of Andarakis Advisory Services, explores the diverging retail strategies of Gymshark and Squat Wolf as they navigate the high-stakes transition from digitally native disruptors to physical retail powerhouses. While both brands achieved rapid scale through the Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) model—leveraging influencer ecosystems and social media dominance—their shift into brick-and-mortar storefronts …

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