Luxury Retail Construction in China

Luxury retail construction in Asia has been explosive over the recent years as everyone knows. I've just returned to the states from a two week visit in Beijing, Hong Kong, and Macau during the holiday shopping season. The shear magnitude and density of luxury retail, along with the customer presence, is incredible for a first time or repeat visitor. The Chinese mainland residents are some of the most dedicated, loyal, and avid consumers of luxury goods in the ever changing region and world. Beyond analyzing luxury retail marketing, quality, design, etc. that have obvious impact on securing these individuals' purchasing power, there are many other factors of influence. Right now there is a huge economic push by surrounding countries to divert sales with lower taxation. Much like the fast paced landscape of retail itself, local/ regional/ global developers and governing entities are coming together offering more agressive financial incentives (taxes) to woo the mainland shopper. Will we see some of the luxury brands suffer and canibalize their mainland China stores with the ease and affordability of Asian tourism and taxation, or will the influx of continued buying power localize?  China has taken some interesting and aggressive steps to the delight of consumers to combat the trend of "travel shopping"  in destinations like Singapore and Japan. With the addition of the Wuhan duty-free shop followed by the recent opening of the world's largest duty free luxury mall, Hatiang Bay Shopping Center, there are some great case studies underway. From the construction industry perspective this is a great but challenging time with things like sourcing, production, local law and regulation, customs, permitting, consultants, contractors, labor, contracts, deadlines, etc. Familiarity and the means to put in place a team to navigate these challenges can seem daunting even to the most established brands and construction management teams. Specific centralized real-time collaboration, methods, and processes should be in place for a more seamless and successful build. Technology plays such a vital roll in narrowing the disconnect that sometimes occurs in the construction management process saving money and time. For the foreseeable future in my opinion, China seems to be advocating and making policy changes towards securing its role in the luxury economy. 

Construction Management Software and the New Year

With 2015 upon us it's a great time to asses and possibly add some simple to use but robust construction management tools to the belt. I've had the opportunity to utilize both Smartsheet and Plan Grid for 2014 projects and had tremendous results along with a one on one demo of Latista. In no particular order lets start with Smartsheet, it's a versatile cloud based project management tool allowing you to accomplish anything from a basic work flow to complex Gnatt charts with a minimal learning curve. Inside your Smartsheet you can attach files (RFI's, photos, field revisions..), set reminders, and automatically update all or portions of the work in realtime and authorize other project members to collaborate. I found this particularly useful for instantaneous updates to other team members such as co-workers, clients, consultants, sub-contractors, vendors etc.. Plan Grid is also a cloud based application allowing you to upload construction document sets, addendum, revisions etc. throughout the building process when issued. Authorized users can view, markup, track RFI's, attach photos, and create punch list(s) with written and visual notations via mobile, tablet, or desktop. In a fast paced industry where many consultants in various physical locations can quickly collaborate in one place to find resolution, it's a great addition for any size project. Lastly is Latista, while I have not utilized Latista during the life of a project I did demo the software. It's also a cloud based field management software available across all devices. You can use Latista on projects of all scopes and sizes, but the system really separates itself on larger projects. Many top firms already utilize Latistas' capabilities to include its robust scheduling, reporting, project plan importing/ management, BIM, and more in real time to keep the entire team fluid from office to field and field to office. With schedule compression, field revisions, costs, and potential delays, I think we all welcome great solutions like these and the many others available.