Despite the growing role of algorithms, consumers continue to place a high value on experiences that digital sales channels cannot offer, according to JLL’s new report, “Resetting the Retail (Algo)Rhythm”. In a survey conducted in June 2026 among 1,121 adult consumers in the United States, 83% of respondents said they enjoy discovering products in physical stores that they had not previously searched for online. At the same time, 45% believe that algorithmic recommendations limit their choices.
– The growth of e-commerce has not diminished interest in physical stores. Their advantage has always lain elsewhere: in the opportunity to experience a brand in a real space, talk to a sales assistant, touch a product, try it on or test it. What is more, we already know that these two worlds work very well together. The report ‘The Scale of Omnichannel in Retail Properties’, prepared for PROH in 2024, shows that as many as 61% of customers engage in omnichannel behaviour at retail properties. One example is examining a product in a physical store before buying it online – says Anna Malcharek, Managing Director of Gemini Holding.
She adds – AI will make this process more structured. It will help people find a product faster, compare options or identify a specific solution. At the same time, an algorithm guides the user towards the best-matched answer, leaving less room for chance discoveries or spontaneous choices. That is precisely why, as AI develops, even greater importance will be attached to what cannot be reduced to a formula: contact with a product, another person and an experience that cannot be fully planned.
A shopping centre is a place as well as a sales channel
Visits to shopping centres increasingly meet needs that go beyond simply purchasing a product. Experiences and activities that cannot be transferred directly to the digital world are playing an increasingly important role in shopping centres.
– We see these changes as a natural evolution of the shopping centre’s role. If part of the shopping journey takes place earlier, through a search engine or an AI assistant, the centre must give customers further reasons to visit. That is why we are developing not only the tenant mix but a whole range of functions: services, health, sport, dining, entertainment and spaces where people can spend time. Gemini Park Tarnów is scheduled to welcome its first sport and recreation tenant, Xtreme Fitness Gyms, later this year. Lux Med Stomatologia will join the tenant line-up at Gemini Park Tychy, bringing comprehensive dental care services to the centre. Meanwhile, Gemini Park Bielsko-Biała has recently expanded its range of services with additions including Castorama Design Studio. It is this diversity of functions that allows a centre to become part of the local community’s everyday life, meeting its specific needs rather than serving solely as a place for transactions – concludes Anna Malcharek.
