20/07/2026
“I’ve got one space, and I want a florist.”
That was the brief, handed to us at a meeting earlier this year. Anyone on the property will know why it gave us pause. A single unit is hard enough to let. A florist is harder still. They run on high labour and thin margins, which makes them famously difficult to place.
So we took it on.
The space was at The Royal Exchange London, managed by Janet Leatherland, who set the challenge in the first place. It came with steps up to the entrance, which added its own puzzle to solve.
We ran it through our AI procurement system. The first email to land in Jen’s inbox came from the system, not from a person. We kept it warm and human in tone, and every conversation after that was handled by our team on the ground.
Jen runs Jen’s Plants and Florists. She was already looking to move her Brick Lane store, with the landlords selling up, and wanted to stay close to her customers.
When she came to see The Royal Exchange, it just fit. A former business analyst, back in the city, this time with flowers instead of spreadsheets.
Two weeks in, she calls it a blank canvas and an explosion of creativity. You can see it the moment you walk past.
This is how we think about AI in procurement. The system does the outreach and the matching. The people do everything that matters after that.
If you manage a property, a shopping centre, a town centre, or a retail park and you’re looking for a different approach to procurement, please get in touch.
