For its third season, UR Link, the startup accelerator of Unibail-Rodamco, opened the Group’s shopping centres to 5 startups to give them the opportunity to test their concepts. Jam, a chatbot for millennials acting as a digital and interactive urban guide, implemented its Proof of Concept (POC) at the Forum des Halles.
Created in April 2015 by Marjolaine Grondin and Loïc Delmaire, Jam is a conversational chatbot on Facebook Messenger helping its users – mainly young people, – to find things to do at any time of the day or the night in Paris: exhibitions, restaurants, movies, bars, etc. Jam promises you’ll never live the same day twice!
Following this perspective, every day, the chatbot pushes new suggestions of cultural, sports, culinar or shopping activities, and helps its users get out of their routine. Today, the chatbot brings together a community of 200,000 users, and now aims at expanding to new horizons.
Jam, a new guide for customers at the Forum des Halles
To develop their solution for a broader audience, Jam partnered with Unibail-Rodamco as part of the third season of the startup accelerator of the real estate group, UR Link, and gained access to one of its many shopping centres. Thus, a few months ago, the team started to experiment Jam in the heart of the Forum des Halles, with the objective of making visitors aware of all the new services and events of the shopping centre, from the most famous ones to the most secret and confidential features of the mall, therefore bringing the Shopping Experience to the next level.
This full-scale test truly challenged Jam’s teams as the experimentation was the opportunity to push new contents – such as new activities and pieces of advice – and offer a tailored experience to customers in a physical location.
For the pilot project, still ongoing today, Jam acts as a digital and interactive guide, designed to interact with guests and push the information they need on the centre. Visitors can simply type “Forum” in their Messenger conversation with Jam to receive information and promotional offers, to participate in mini-games linked to the shopping centre and its brands, and to discover fun facts and secret features of the mall.
Did you know about the pool hall and the hip-hop centre at the Forum des Halles? You will also know what people think about the different shops in the mall, and get to know what’s on at the UGC cinema of the Forum. It’s a great way to seize the day!
Developing new ideas and improving Shopping Experience
For Jam, this full-scale experimentation was also the opportunity to refine its data analysis features and to optimise user satisfaction by improving interactions with the chatbot. Jam is also a great way for Unibail-Rodamco to create links with a community of thousands of millennials, gather new ideas, and improve shopping experiences in its malls.
Moving forward, Jam wishes to continue its experimentations with other agents in the retail ecosystem, expand its user base in France, and, soon, all over the world.