CPI Property Group is launching its CPI Akademie Retail development and educational programme. It is designed for shop managers and salespeople in leased units across the Group’s 15 shopping malls in the Czech Republic. The aim of the unique project is to respond to the changing market and improve the competitiveness of traditional brick-and-mortar shops by creating a better customer experience at the point of sale. Another objective is to help shopping centre tenants retain skilled staff. CPI Akademie is run in collaboration with IPSOS whose selected lecturers and advisers boast more than 15 years of experience in Customer Experience Management projects.
CPI Property Group, the biggest owner of shopping malls in the Czech Republic, is taking another major step in the development of its shopping centres. The Group’s launching of its long-term educational project, devised to provide a major qualitative uplift in customer service, will come in March. “It’s already a matter of course for us to invest in revamping and expanding our shopping centres. Now we want to go a step further and offer something extra directly to our tenants,” explains Petr Brabec, Head of Asset Management, Shopping Centres, at CPI Property Group, who is the brain behind the project.
CPI Akademie Retail will provide the means to shop managers and salespeople to further their professional development and learn the right responses to use in a range of situations. They will be able to practice, for example, dealing with the most common complaints, resolving issues, working with prices, presenting arguments, displaying products in a professional fashion, or approaching different generations in different ways. “We are going back to the basics. Some of the course’s activities focus on establishing a rapport with the customer, addressing them and actively listening to them, including the adoption of the proper posture. Sales teams will also become acquainted with the latest trends in sales practices,” adds Petr Brabec, while also noting: “It is important for us to make sure that customers enjoy their time in our shopping centres and are happy to come back.”
A wealth of materials, video clips, online courses and motivational mechanisms have been created for the project. “CPI Akademie will arrive in several stages. The initial stage, featuring workshops for shop managers, will launch across nine selected shopping centres in early March. It will be followed by e-learning courses for salespeople,” discloses Petr Brabec, adding: “We plan to support participation via gamification, offering participants the opportunity to win valuable prizes, such as weekend stays in resorts or various vouchers.” Actual impacts of CPI Akademie Retail will be tested via, among other things, mystery shopping at all the leased units of a participating shopping centre.
Shopping centres in Czech Republic owned by CPI Property Group:
- Quadrio Prague
- Zlatý Anděl Prague
- Spektrum Čestlice
- Fénix Prague
- City Park Jihlava
- IGY České Budějovice
- Géčko České Budějovice
- Futurum Hradec Králové
- Futurum Kolín
- Královo pole Brno
- Olympia Plzeň
- Olympia Teplice
- Olympia Mladá Boleslav
- Bondy Mladá Boleslav
- Nisa Liberec
