Reem Mall, an up and coming retail, dining, leisure and entertainment destination in Abu Dhabi, UAE has appointed Milat Sayra Berirmen as digital experience manager.

The move underpins Al Farwaniya Property Developments’ ambition to place the $1.2 billion Reem Mall project at the forefront of digital innovation in the retail industry, a statement said.

With a career spanning over 11 years across strategy and business innovation for some of the world’s leading business conglomerates such as Godiva, Groupon and Northstar Innovation (Yildiz Holding), Harvard-alum Berirmen will be responsible for developing business strategies, assessing and analysing relevant digital technology providers, developing comprehensive ecosystems pertinent to the application of digital technologies and supervising the overall execution of the strategy.

Prior to joining Reem Mall, he was in charge of developing multi-national strategy formulations, creating incubation centres and spearheading the implementation of digital.

Berirmen is set to bring a range of innovative immersion techniques to Reem Mall through efficient and practical e-commerce models.

Shane Eldstrom, chief executive officer of Al Farwaniya Property Developments said, “Our vision is to be the first fully digitally enabled mall in the world, and Sayra will play a key role in making this happen. He is a highly accomplished and innovative digital thought leader and will be deeply rooted in pulling together pertinent partners from across the globe to take our digital ambitions to the next level.

“For us, digital is all about adopting a forward-looking strategy that involves the emergence of digital products and technologies, helping us embrace customer needs and proactively producing innovative solutions in these dynamic times.”

Construction on Reem Mall began in late 2017 and is anticipated to be complete by late 2020. The retail, dining and leisure destination will offer 2 million sq ft leasable area comprising of 450 stores, including 85 dining options and a range of entertainment activities such as Snow Park Abu Dhabi, a destination snow park attraction.

Berirmen said: “There are many business pains within retail that can be alleviated by application of technology, from seamless shopping experience to the amalgamation of brick and mortar with e-commerce, there are immense opportunities. It is a thrilling endeavour that Reem Mall will be the foremost entity that will drive the digitalization of shopping malls.”

Reem Mall is being developed by Al Farwaniya Property Developments, a partnership between Agility, Agility affiliate United Projects for Aviation Services (UPAC), and National Real Estate Company (NREC). The project is located in the Najmat District on Reem Island, the residential and commercial master development by Reem Developers. Reem Island is planned to have a population of 200,000 at completion. – TradeArabia News Service