The MAPI, the largest commercial real estate show from 28 to 30 November 2023 at the Cannes Festival Palace on Radio.Immo.

And back on the Radio.Immo set here at the Cannes Festival Palace on the MAPIC show for this last day, this last straight line,

with Martin Swanson, who is the CEO of CentreChat, and who will explain to us a little bit how he will revolutionize the animation of social networks for shopping centers.

Hello Martin.

Hello.

Where are you from?

I come from Cape Town, originally from South Africa.

And what have you built as a technology, as a company, as a product to revolutionize social networks?

So, you know that in the world of technology, there is a constant evolution.

And recently, I say 2018, Meta, Facebook, has opened the gateway for an app called Messenger.

Two years ago, they did the same thing for an app called Instagram.

And so, I found positioned myself acccordingly.

The market is in full evolution, to the point that I created a platform to manage the content in these apps, again WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger, for shopping centers.

This means that without the teams touching the technology, they can just simply add a list of stores, promotions, featured products, events, etc. etc. on this platform.

So, it makes the task a little easier, it's easier for the team to manage the content in the chatbot.

Is it a chatbot?

Yes, of course.

After that, in terms of the user it is very rare that they do exactly what we want, they do the opposite, often.

So, in this case, you absolutely need to have a project, because it's very annoying to see a chatbot that doesn't understand what you're saying.

Yes, of course.

In fact, that's it. So, it damaged the market a little bit at first.

And so, we're calling on a few technologies. The first one is called Google Dialogflow, which has been around for a very long time, long before ChatGPT.

Yes, yes.

It's called Natural Language Processing.

So, it's a way to teach Google DialogFlow, to understand what the person is saying, and to respond in a way that we manage.

If, in the hypothesis, he/she doesn't understand, we call on a second technology, which is a Generative Text Technology, called ChatGPT.

And for ChatGPT, what we did, we formed ChatGPT on each store in the center, PDF, menus, everything you can imagine is happening in the center.

We fed the chatbot.

You fed all the intelligence.

And so, in the hypothesis that the user is lost, it's certain with us, he's going to have an answer that corresponds to his request.

So, today, it allows you to push offers, or information about the brand, but through a dialogue that is almost a friendly, simple dialogue, and that is quite intimate.

Absolutely.

But if I can go straight to the point, in fact, with the center which which I am currently working, they pay suppliers to take nice photos, they take videos, they put them on social networks, and then nothing happens.

In fact, you can take the hypothesis of a shopping center that I know well, with 600,000 people who come in and out every time, which does not correspond to the people who follow it on social networks already.

So, if we say 600,000 people, if they have 100,000 people who follow it on Facebook, it's already a lot. And from there, the commitment or the reaction every time this supplier publishes something on this page is non-existent.

And how do we create the community, get back those who are really loyal? Do you connect with a country with loyalty cards, because it may be the first place where you will find it, and potentially on a shopping center with all the brands that are present on the center?

Absolutely. We will start more banally, more carefully. In fact, we look at social networks as a trampoline into something else. And this other thing is to send people in the messenger /instagram app. It's very easy to do, you just have to ask to do it, send a link in a posting.

So it's not a criticism of social network providers, in fact it's an extra, it's something we're going to add.

We add in addition to have a real interactivity because suddenly on messenger they interact directly with you.

And when someone is a subscriber, we know his name and first name. We will ask for his email address, which is quick because Facebook is just to confirm that Facebook already knows.

So suddenly we have a list of marketing that is largely different compared to 100,000 people who know nothing about your Facebook page. It changes everything.

And that means that now we're going to change the way we think that a Facebook page is the final act or the destination for my work. In fact, in marketing, it's the beginning of something very interesting where we can ask in a way of a conversation (where we can tag or remember someone's behavior).

Very interesting things, for a very long time, personalised and on a massive scale.

And that doesn't exist on the market?

It exists, but not in most shopping centres. In South Africa, I'm in a centre with 120 stores, but still the cohesion / communication between the team that animates the social networks, who understand nothing of what I just said - and me, relevant to what needs to be done.

For example, I'm going to Bordeaux to a business school. I asked the Professor if I could talk to the Masters students because I said it's not possible that these people, with all the money spent, will leave school without knowing what's going on in the market. Because it's so fast, it's normal. It's not their fault.

It's just that the acceleration, especially now with the ChatGPT, it's even faster.

And what are you looking for here on an event like the MAPIC?

Contacts. Networking. I'm in an association in England called REVO, which took a stand here and REVO put us to a vote. We are on a list of four for a reward to be the Proptech 2023 in the United Kingdom.

So we have to vote for you.

Exactly.

To be the winners of the Proptech 2023.

If you're nice, yes. I'm not saying no.

Do you have a desire to expand here in France? Or first the United Kingdom and finally here at MAPIC you find the international?

In fact, it's the international at MAPIC, of course. I find the French a little rerserved and they distinguish with this behavior, but it doesn't matter. Maybe it's the rugby, we won.

Don't say it. Excuse me, what did I say?

It's okay, it's okay.

We're moving forward.

Yes, exactly. It's international here at MAPIC and we have the quality of contact. It's not nonsense here, there are good contacts here.

But it's true that the Anglo-Saxons start more easily. The French need to do tests, POCs(Proof of Concept), then another POC. And one of the problems of tech in France is to say how do we deploy faster?

I'll just give you a hypothesis because I come from Perigord. I live in Perigord, 5 minutes from my house. There is a shopping mall.

I even met the manager of the mall. I shook his hand. But it's been 12 months, even more. I can't even have an appointment to discuss what I'm discussing.

Here, it's like a gift. People are interested. It's complicated.

All we want is for you to be elected the Proptech of the year 2023 in the United Kingdom.

Martin Swanson, thank you very much. It was CentreChat.

Exactly. Thank you.

Thank you.

The MAPI, the largest commercial real estate show from 28 to 30 November 2023 at the Cannes Festival Palace on Radio.Immo.

And back on the Radio.Immo set here at the Cannes Festival Palace on the MAPIC show for this last day, this last straight line,

with Martin Swanson, who is the CEO of CentreChat, and who will explain to us a little bit how he will revolutionize the animation of social networks for shopping centers.

Hello Martin.

Hello.

Where are you from?

I come from Cape Town, originally from South Africa.

And what have you built as a technology, as a company, as a product to revolutionize social networks?

So, you know that in the world of technology, there is a constant evolution.

And recently, I say 2018, Meta, Facebook, has opened the gateway for an app called Messenger.

Two years ago, they did the same thing for an app called Instagram.

And so, I found positioned myself acccordingly.

The market is in full evolution, to the point that I created a platform to manage the content in these apps, again WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger, for shopping centers.

This means that without the teams touching the technology, they can just simply add a list of stores, promotions, featured products, events, etc. etc. on this platform.

So, it makes the task a little easier, it's easier for the team to manage the content in the chatbot.

Is it a chatbot?

Yes, of course.

After that, in terms of the user it is very rare that they do exactly what we want, they do the opposite, often.

So, in this case, you absolutely need to have a project, because it's very annoying to see a chatbot that doesn't understand what you're saying.

Yes, of course.

In fact, that's it. So, it damaged the market a little bit at first.

And so, we're calling on a few technologies. The first one is called Google Dialogflow, which has been around for a very long time, long before ChatGPT.

Yes, yes.

It's called Natural Language Processing.

So, it's a way to teach Google DialogFlow, to understand what the person is saying, and to respond in a way that we manage.

If, in the hypothesis, he/she doesn't understand, we call on a second technology, which is a Generative Text Technology, called ChatGPT.

And for ChatGPT, what we did, we formed ChatGPT on each store in the center, PDF, menus, everything you can imagine is happening in the center.

We fed the chatbot.

You fed all the intelligence.

And so, in the hypothesis that the user is lost, it's certain with us, he's going to have an answer that corresponds to his request.

So, today, it allows you to push offers, or information about the brand, but through a dialogue that is almost a friendly, simple dialogue, and that is quite intimate.

Absolutely.

But if I can go straight to the point, in fact, with the center which which I am currently working, they pay suppliers to take nice photos, they take videos, they put them on social networks, and then nothing happens.

In fact, you can take the hypothesis of a shopping center that I know well, with 600,000 people who come in and out every time, which does not correspond to the people who follow it on social networks already.

So, if we say 600,000 people, if they have 100,000 people who follow it on Facebook, it's already a lot. And from there, the commitment or the reaction every time this supplier publishes something on this page is non-existent.

And how do we create the community, get back those who are really loyal? Do you connect with a country with loyalty cards, because it may be the first place where you will find it, and potentially on a shopping center with all the brands that are present on the center?

Absolutely. We will start more banally, more carefully. In fact, we look at social networks as a trampoline into something else. And this other thing is to send people in the messenger /instagram app. It's very easy to do, you just have to ask to do it, send a link in a posting.

So it's not a criticism of social network providers, in fact it's an extra, it's something we're going to add.

We add in addition to have a real interactivity because suddenly on messenger they interact directly with you.

And when someone is a subscriber, we know his name and first name. We will ask for his email address, which is quick because Facebook is just to confirm that Facebook already knows.

So suddenly we have a list of marketing that is largely different compared to 100,000 people who know nothing about your Facebook page. It changes everything.

And that means that now we're going to change the way we think that a Facebook page is the final act or the destination for my work. In fact, in marketing, it's the beginning of something very interesting where we can ask in a way of a conversation (where we can tag or remember someone's behavior).

Very interesting things, for a very long time, personalised and on a massive scale.

And that doesn't exist on the market?

It exists, but not in most shopping centres. In South Africa, I'm in a centre with 120 stores, but still the cohesion / communication between the team that animates the social networks, who understand nothing of what I just said - and me, relevant to what needs to be done.

For example, I'm going to Bordeaux to a business school. I asked the Professor if I could talk to the Masters students because I said it's not possible that these people, with all the money spent, will leave school without knowing what's going on in the market. Because it's so fast, it's normal. It's not their fault.

It's just that the acceleration, especially now with the ChatGPT, it's even faster.

And what are you looking for here on an event like the MAPIC?

Contacts. Networking. I'm in an association in England called REVO, which took a stand here and REVO put us to a vote. We are on a list of four for a reward to be the Proptech 2023 in the United Kingdom.

So we have to vote for you.

Exactly.

To be the winners of the Proptech 2023.

If you're nice, yes. I'm not saying no.

Do you have a desire to expand here in France? Or first the United Kingdom and finally here at MAPIC you find the international?

In fact, it's the international at MAPIC, of course. I find the French a little rerserved and they distinguish with this behavior, but it doesn't matter. Maybe it's the rugby, we won.

Don't say it. Excuse me, what did I say?

It's okay, it's okay.

We're moving forward.

Yes, exactly. It's international here at MAPIC and we have the quality of contact. It's not nonsense here, there are good contacts here.

But it's true that the Anglo-Saxons start more easily. The French need to do tests, POCs(Proof of Concept), then another POC. And one of the problems of tech in France is to say how do we deploy faster?

I'll just give you a hypothesis because I come from Perigord. I live in Perigord, 5 minutes from my house. There is a shopping mall.

I even met the manager of the mall. I shook his hand. But it's been 12 months, even more. I can't even have an appointment to discuss what I'm discussing.

Here, it's like a gift. People are interested. It's complicated.

All we want is for you to be elected the Proptech of the year 2023 in the United Kingdom.

Martin Swanson, thank you very much. It was CentreChat.

Exactly. Thank you.

Thank you.