Sydney-based proptech startup Pathzz has partnered with CBRE to deliver a new and disruptive customer analytics product to market for commercial property.

The product applies advanced artificial intelligence algorithms to a stream of mobility signals and a wide range of other descriptive data sets, making it possible to gain a high-level of customer insights – something previously difficulty in the commercial property sector.

Pathzz chief executive Jason San Diego said the proptech platform has been designed in such a way that users can access meaningful insights across any location, business or place-of-interest to inform their business strategies in real time.

“The demand for this type of information has intensified during the pandemic, as businesses, government entities, property owners and managers analyse and adapt their strategies in a fast-changing environment,” he said.

“Developing our own machine learning technologies has given us the ability to process vast and complex information through Pathzz in real time – providing an easily accessible platform to inform business decision making.”

CBRE’s head of retail analytics Matt Copus said Pathzz said the technology was exciting as it allows an analysis of everything from an individual business to a comparison of an entire region.

“Pathzz empowers our clients to understand their own customers in unprecedented detail, but we can also get the same insights across brands, competing locations, acquisition targets, development sites, city precincts and beyond.” he said.

“It provides insights on consumer profiles, shopping habits and demographics, allowing our clients to create rich profiles on the type and volume of people who visit any location in Australia and map how these trends change over time.”

Pitt Street Mall is in a clear recovery pattern

CBRE is currently using the proptech technology to monitor the resurgence of suburban Sydney retail precincts in Mosman, Balmain, Double Bay and Neutral Bay as the sector recovers from the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Even with the Sydney CBD in a recovery phase, these locations are still benefiting from a big upsurge in visitation as local residents enjoy more flexible work hours and increasingly spread their time between the office and home,” he said.

“This localised trend saw visits to our basket of suburban retail precincts increase by 46 per cent in December 2020 compared to the prior year, with Mosman having more than twice as much foot traffic at a time when Pitt Street Mall visitation had dropped significantly.”

Pathzz data also highlights that Sydney’s Pitt Street Mall is in a clear recovery pattern – with traffic in the last week of February increasing by 18 per cent when compared to the week prior – while retail hubs like Bondi Junction and Chatswood trade areas are continuing to contract as a function of changing customer behaviour.

“The question then is, how much of this change is structural, and what implications will this have on asset values in suburban locations and the portfolio strategies of retailers as these behavioural changes stabilise,” he said.