BLOOMFIELD HILLS — Taubman Centers Inc. says it is piloting a new mobile shopping app at its new Mall at University Town Center in Sarasota, Fla.
The free “Mall at UTC” iOS app offers indoor navigation technology for shoppers. It’s being piloted at UTC now and is scheduled to roll out to Taubman properties across the United States next year.
Taubman has two malls in Michigan — Great Lakes Crossing in Auburn Hills and Twelve Oaks Mall in Novi.
The app delivers step-by-step indoor navigation, location based marketing and analytics through Bluetooth and Wi-Fi technology developed by Spreo, a technology firm with offices in Israel and New York City. The app itself was developed by MXM Hyperfactory, an app developer with offices in New York City and Hyderabad, India.
Taubman says the app remembers users’ favorite stores and delivers personalized maps, style inspiration, sales and promotions direct to the phones of shoppers.
“Our new mobile app changes the shopping experience, bringing mall navigation and personalization to the forefront like never before,” said Ivan Frank, director of digital marketing for Taubman. “Taubman is pleased to be the leader in bringing this technology to shoppers to enhance their in-mall experience.”
The “Mall at UTC” app is now available through the Apple App Store with an Android version launching soon. Shoppers can “Map It, Plan It and Love It” using the technology in the following ways:
Map It: Easily locate stores, restaurants and entertainment as you shop. With Bluetooth on, the “Map It” screen recognizes your location within seconds. Users can click to view the location of any store – and then click again for directions to that store from their current location. Navigation directions then appear, helping users navigate step by step and floor by floor to their destination.
Plan It: Users can plan their shopping trips in advance, to get the most out of their visits. They can add stores to an itinerary any time by clicking on the “Plan It” icon.
Love It: Users can save their favorite stores for quick information and a personalized experience. When users first install the app, they are asked to mark their favorites. The app offers recommendations, including a personal “inspiration board” driven by users’ “Love It” favorites and their related stores. And users can customize tehir map by pressing the “Love It” filter so that only “Love It” stores appear.
UTC also features the Sarasota Visitors Center, electric car charging stations, free Wi-Fi, interactive touchscreen directories and numerous charging stations for electronics. UTC is the only newly built, enclosed regional shopping center to open in the United States in 2014. It has 880,000 square feet of retail space with Saks Fifth Avenue, Macy’s, Dillard’s and more than 100 specialty stores and restaurants.
More at www.taubman.com.