Launch of the
UK digital Innovation centre
Nick Holyoake gives us a glimpse of one of the most exciting developments about to land...the UK Digital retail innovation centre (UK dric).
Gloucester’s physical rejuvenation and the growing success of the Quays is widely known about and the subject of much discussion.
Less immediately obvious is the nationwide reputation that Gloucester is building as the perfect test bed for new digital technologies that are focussed on improving people’s retail experience and retailer profitability.
The digital side of Gloucester’s growth is attracting national interest as the city has a wide representative demographic and a compact city centre that makes it an ideal place to try out new ideas.
Most importantly the City has proven itself highly receptive and supportive of innovative retail ideas. Trials of products and services developed with funding from Innovate UK and the Great British High Street Project are already in place.
The GL Card app and physical data booths allow retailers to drive footfall with daily offers. Supporting this is an infrastructure of ibeacons that use bluetooth technology to locate shoppers with a 1 metre accuracy, a WIFI infrastructure that combines 4g and CCTV and a dashboard of real-time information on all the social media conversations happening about Gloucester. Corporate partners such as Google’s Niantic labs, are using the city centre to test geofencing, virtual reality and push notification technology.
Thanks to funding from Gfirst LEP and the vision of the team at Marketing Gloucester this track record of supporting digital retail innovation now has a physical national presence develop from and to extend its reach to all parts of the country.
The UK Digital Retail Innovation Centre at The Eastgate Centre is developing into both a physical and virtual community of innovators, solution providers, partners, mentors and entrepreneurs who are seeking to develop and deliver innovative digital solutions for retailers and high streets across the UK.
Looking around the UK Digital Retail Innovation Centre you can see that a digital innovator, place manager or retailer who needs to discuss concepts, develop ideas, run product events or upgrade digital knowledge could find the national centre with co-working desks, event/meeting space and incubator pods to be just what they are looking for.
info@ukdric.org
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Government is keeping a close eye on Gloucester’s innovative experiment to bring more business to the city’s shops.It will mean, that for the first time, Gloucester’s traders will be given the social media tools free to know more about their customers’ needs and attract more new shoppers.
Ian Mean, Director of Business West Gloucestershire tells us more:
The plan was revealed to members of the Gloucester Business Improvement District(BID) who were surprised to be told by Polly Barnfield, chief executive of the Maybe* social media platform, that Gloucester was rapidly climbing the online ladder.
Polly told the BID meeting of traders held at the new UK Digital Retail Innovation Centre-actually housed in the Eastgate Shopping Centre:
“Give yourselves a pat on the back—Gloucester as a place now ranks 12th out of the UK for social media performance.
“We at Maybe* working with Marketing Gloucester and GFirstLEP want to make Gloucester rock. You are the first city about to have access to all our social media tools for a free trial.
Shops
“Can you all honestly say you know what your customers are saying about you today? In the palm of your hand, you will be able to now see where you rank as a business, who your customers are and how your competitors are working. Never forget, it is your customers you are in charge of—you need to understand what they are saying about your business and Gloucester as a place”. said Polly.
I have to say—like most of the audience at this meeting—I was shocked that the social media presence for Gloucester as a place by the community is so high.
Cheltenham as a community is no. 8 in the social media league and Birmingham ninth.
A government minister is due to officially open the UK Retail Innovation Centre at the Eastgate centre at the end of this month. And the eyes of the rest of the UK are bound to be on it as towns and cities struggle to meet the challenge of the High Street. Chaired by Nick Brookes, Gloucester’s BID is starting to go places with enthusiastic backing from the Marketing Gloucester team.
The City Council needs to bottle the enthusiasm from the meeting I attended and start really looking at a Proper vision for the shops and businesses in Gloucester.
When we started the Gloucester Heritage Urban Reg eneration Company in 2006, we developed a very clear vision of how we wanted to try and regenerate Gloucester.
That must now happen with the city council. For far too long the city’s shopping proposition has been too poor.
And we must try and bring back people to live in the centre of our historic city. It needs far more life 24 hours a day to attract young people and create a safe night time economy.
As director of Business West here, I am willing to do all we can to try and get landlords of a lot of these empty properties in the city—we have 18% of our shop units currently vacant-around the table to make a start.