Residents at the Msheireb Downtown Doha (MDD) stand to benefit from the first-of-its-kind “digital retailing” from a number of businesses who will operate at the ‘smartest’ and ‘most sustainable fully-built City District in the world.
“When retailers execute it, everyone (in Doha) will be seeing that for the first time,” Msheireb Properties’ marketing director Clark Williams told Gulf Times on the sidelines of Project Qatar 2019 conference, which concluded Wednesday at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Centre.
He spoke at a session titled “Smartest and Most Sustainable City in the World,” discussing the innovations implemented at the QR20bn MDD project.
The soon-to-open ‘smartest retail shops’ in the region at MDD, include Monoprix, HSBC, Huawei, Novo, and Juniverse.
“These retailers have competitors and they do not want to say in details what the (smart) solutions would be. Wireless automation at the retail level would be the ability to use augmented reality to choose vegetables (for example),” Williams said.
“They promised that it will be a game-changing type of smart solutions for the consumers, which we are yet to see in Doha,” he stressed.
With ready infrastructures of a Smart City, having all the buildings (gold or platinum LEED-certified), retail shops, museums, and a school, among others, all connected to its Command and Control Centre, he said retailers’ smart applications and services can be “executed seamlessly” at MDD.
The award-winning District adheres to the highest standards in green building and smart services, making it the most suitable platform for retail software solutions.
“The retailers who have a smart solution can come to us and actually develop and execute it whereas in another location they would not be interconnected,” Williams said.
Msheireb Properties and Ali Bin Ali Holding earlier announced that Qatar’s first ‘digitally smart’ Monoprix will rise at MDD later this year, giving its residents and visitors a one-of-its-kind shopping experience.
Msheireb Monoprix will be using one of the most advanced retail software solutions – set to be launched for the first time in the region.
Williams said he had seen some of the smart solutions being used in several cities overseas, including in Seoul, South Korea, such as ordering in the subway or ordering some goods before going home.
“And by the time you get home the product is in, they bring those products to you, using phone apps for ordering. I would love to see it (at MDD),” he added.
Williams said MDD is giving retailers the opportunity to bring some of their best smart solutions and is encouraging others to do the same or be more innovative.
“There is a viable business case study having these digital solutions they have invested in or they have to keep up with their competitors,” he noted.