Cotswolds Designer Outlet to launch new app for customers and brands

The “Club Cotswolds” app will launch on August 11, offering exclusive member offers and brand discovery, alongside latest news and updates, and an interactive map.

The new destination opened in mid-July, offering a host of brands and retailers such as Marks & Spencer, Tommy Hilfiger, Rituals, Lindt, Adidas, Hobbs, and ProCook.

For retailers at the outlet, footfall intelligence technology has been added for them to gain real-time insights such as visitor flow and behaviour which contributes to sales through increasing basket value, and boosts new purchases through exclusive collaborations and in-app offers.

Cotswolds Designer Outlet centre manager Adrian Field told Retail Week that the app has learned and adapted from other apps in retail and property management Multi Realm’s portfolio.

He said the app can direct users to a specific shop, alert customers to offers, provide information on services such as when the next shuttle bus will be or how busy the car park is.

“It’s a way of further engaging with guests and creating a level of rapport and loyalty,” he explains. 

“Using a heat map, we can also see where the customers are coming from and assess the impact of the marketing campaign. Through the use of beacon technology, we can identify who’s going to which shop and tailor our marketing or events to this data.”

He adds that many decisions are made based on data the team receives, and that the app can further solidify decisions.

Sales data and footfall data, along with customer feedback from the app will help form phase two of the Cotswolds Designer Outlet, which is an extension of the offering already found at the current space.

Multi Realm managing director Dan Mason said: “Customer feedback from the app will allow us to be really scientific, and by interpreting that data, it will allow us to make the right decisions in phase two and understand where or who we’re marketing it to.”