FROM PRECISION TO PREZZEE

A COMMERCIAL PROPERTY BARON AT 24, PRECISION GROUP BILLIONAIRE SHAUN BONÉTT HAS BUILT HIS CAREER ON UNDERSTANDING THE RETAIL MARKET. NOW HE’S INTRODUCING PREZZEE, THE DIGITAL GIFT CARD PLATFORM THAT’S CHANGING THE WAY WE GIVE.

- MICHAEL WAYNE

Shaun Bonétt doesn’t fear risk. The billionaire and self-proclaimed entrepreneur behind Precision Group makes decisions based on what he calls a strong intuitive strategic sense. “I don’t give up easily,” he says. “And I believe there are multiple ways of achieving an outcome. I move through, over or around obstacles, but almost never let them stop me.”

It was Bonétt’s willingness to confront risk that led to his entry into the commercial property market in 1994. Almost three decades and six major retail hubs later, his instincts have placed Precision on the front line of what he calls the “phygital” revolution.

“The best example of a ‘phygital’ company is Apple,” Bonétt shares. Apple’s heavy staffing in its stores encourages people to come in, ask questions and play around with the expensive phone they were thinking of buying, and the customer can then either buy it instore or online later.

Precision developed the largest Apple store in Australia at the MacArthur Central Shopping Centre in Brisbane, which Bonétt says presents shoppers with a taste of retail’s future. “A sale is not either online or offline; most are an indeterminable combination of both,” he points out.

Nevertheless, Bonétt believes that shopping centres are the “village square” of the modern age – a place to connect and feel a sense of belonging with retailers who can demonstrate their understanding of shoppers’ wants and needs – and cannot be replicated online. It’s for this reason that Precision continues to develop integrated retail hubs that provide unique and memorable experiences in the way it has always done.

TO BE PRECISE