Enhanced buying experiences in smart cities: The SMARTBUY approach

The establishment of shopping malls and the growth of online shopping increasingly diminishes the turnover of “small”, independent retailers in urban environments. However, retailers could reverse this trend through complementing the offline experiences they already offer with online offerings and establishing business “alliances” to achieve economies of scale and enable the provision of innovative digital services. The EU-funded project SMARTBUY aims at realizing the concept of a “distributed shopping mall” ecosystem which allows retailers to band together in a large commercial coalition which generates added-value for its retailers-members and customers: centralized products and services inventory management; geo-located marketing of products/services; location-based search for products offered by nearby retailers; personalized recommendations for purchasing products based on innovative recommendation systems. In effect, SMARTBUY proposes a blended shopping paradigm, wherein the benefits of online shopping are combined with the appeal of traditional store shopping. The article provides an overview of the main outcomes and achievements of SMARTBUY. It also reports on conclusions drawn in the context of the project’s official pilot execution in four European cities.