The Mapic commercial real estate show will be held at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France, on November 4-6. It is expected to host 160 exhibitors and to welcome some 4,000 visitors, including 1,800 representatives of retailers looking for new commercial premises. The organisers are keen to attract more international exhibitors, and have tweaked the show format for this 30th edition to adapt to new market conditions.

The main event is scheduled on Tuesday November 4 and Wednesday November 5. On November 6, the invitation-only NextGen Retail Day will feature meetings and workshops focusing on Gen Z consumers’ expectations, attended also by students from three leading French business schools.

“Mapic’s role in promoting business opportunities is still highly recognised by retailers and real estate developers, but nowadays it’s harder to deploy human and budgetary resources to come and spend three days in Cannes,” said Francesco Pupillo, the show’s director. “Based on this observation, we have completely revised the event’s format … We refocused our value proposition on contacts relevance and quality, on a wide range of retail brands, and on ease of connections,” he added.

The Retail Leaders Cocktail, a networking event, is one of the show’s new features. It is set to bring together the senior executives of 50 of the largest retailers present at Mapic, as well as the CEOs of about 40 major developers specialised in commercial real estate. The show’s opening cocktail party and the gala dinner on November 4 will be combined into one large-scale event open to everyone.

A special focus in this edition of Mapic will be new brands from Asia and the Americas. Additionally, retailers and real estate developers from new regions, notably the Middle East and India, will also feature at the show.

Regional expansion plans

A survey of some 1,000 retailers attending Mapic identified a number of preferred expansion regions. For example, Aesop is keen to expand in Europe, as are apparel brand Funky Buddha, childrenswear brand Flying Tiger, and yoga apparel specialist ALO.

Primark, Parfois and L’Oréal are instead reportedly targeting Saudi Arabia, JD and Diesel are said to be focusing on North America, while H&M is setting its sights on South America. As well as Europe, India is a preferred destination for Danish brand Flying Tiger and it is for Swarovski too, while Deckers is very interested in the Chinese market. In Africa, Monoprix and Kiabi are keen to expand in Egypt, while Turkish apparel brands AC & co. and Avva are said to be targeting Algeria.