The project lead explains Transport for London’s Connected Retail competition.
Transport for London has launched a new competition – Connected Retail – to challenge retailers to come up with concepts that use technology to reimagine physical spaces.
The winner will get access to retail space on TfL’s estate for a year – valued at up to £100,000 in rental costs.
Here, TfL’s commercial development innovation lead and project lead for the competition, Candice Lemaitre explains what TfL is looking for.
What does your role involve?
I am in the innovation team and I am also involved with the commercial development of TfL. Part of my role is to engage with market innovators and look at how we can use innovation to amplify our commercial assets.
Why have you launched this retail competition?
Given how technology has impacted the retail industry, we want to look at how we can use new technologies to continue to provide the best offering for our customers. This is why we have decided to come up with this challenge.
What kind of concepts are you looking for?
We are looking for any type of business, small or big, that are using technology in their concepts. We can see that augmented reality and virtual reality have been used across the retail industry. We don’t have a specific concept in mind, but we are asking the market to come up with propositions.
What are the criteria?
The main criteria is a retail concept that leverages the use of new technology as our main goal to reimagine the use of the retail space.
The team is also important. We would like to work with a company that has a strong team and good knowledge and experience. TfL is an established network with millions of customers so they need to be ready to trade in a busy environment. We will also check financial clout: even if we provide the location will you still need more resources to run the concept? The winning business will need to have enough financing to drive their concept successfully.
What kind of retailers can apply?
There is no restriction.
How does the £100,000 prize break down?
We will provide the winner with retail space on our estate for a year (with a total annual rental value of up to £100,000), which could be in central or outer London. The winner will be able to use this space to pilot and test out their innovative concept for a year. After 12 months, if the business would like to continue developing and growing their concept on the network, it would become a normal tenant.
What kind of space will the winner get on your estate? Just a popup outside or an actual store?
It will be a retail unit. However, it won’t necessarily be inside a station as some of our locations are outside.
What is the timing for the competition?
The applicants have until 21st June. We will then shortlist the 10 best and invite them to our offices to discuss the concept more deeply. We will announce the winner in September.
Who is on the judging panel?
It will be a mix of retail managers at TfL and the innovation team. There will be no external judges.
For more information, including the full terms and conditions, click here.
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