Inospace marketing head takes over product innovation portfolio

Sher will remain as head of Inospace's marketing and brand agenda as well as all cross-company strategic product innovation initiatives. In this position, Sher will continue to report directly to Rael Levitt, Inospace’s Chief Executive Officer and founder.

"As a business, we believe that brand innovation and an extraordinary customer journey are vital interdependent functions,” says Sher. “Brand is a key differentiator for us. Today a building's visibility and value are no longer restricted to the offline world. How an asset looks online, and its services greatly impact its value. This is particularly true for assets that offer rapid leasing.”

As an industry expert, Sher has significant experience in product marketing, having spent over 20 years as a senior marketing executive, working for many of South Africa’s blue chip brands, developing client-centric models and driving experiential marketing as a key brand platform.

Inospace’s Unique Offering

As the largest owner in South Africa of branded last mile logistics assets, which are typically located close to urban centres, Inospace invests in its properties to ensure they best support the businesses they serve. The company is one of several branded operators that have grown in the post-Covid-environment.

Inospace not only focuses on the leasing needs of its tenants but also on resolving tenant points. This includes a host of client value-adding facilities and services. Sher will be responsible for helping to drive these client-centric technology innovations.

Inospace's growing branch network of almost 50 sites is a catalyst for product development, explains Sher. "For a growing number of retail, office and industrial customers, access is no longer about a single location but about being able to move freely within a network of spaces. The ease with which physical spaces can be leased and accessed is becoming a key differentiator".

In 2021, Sher headed up a highly successful property technology project at Inospace that has created an integrated lead generation, operating and leasing platform. More recently she has also developed a client engagement platform that will be rolled out to the company's 1,500 SME clients in the last quarter of the year.

"Even properties in the best locations are expected to offer a comprehensive solution to draw tenants. These solutions include not only functional benefits but also experiential and symbolic ones. This leads to the emergence of branded operators that focus only on the needs of some customers and adapt their assets accordingly,” says Sher.

Growing demand

Inospace, which owns 48 logistics parks measuring over half a million square metres, has doubled its portfolio of assets in the last eighteen months. The company acquires and operates industrial properties catering to small and medium-sized businesses.

"Our model is focused on activities that help reduce our tenant's operating costs by providing shared facilities and other value-adding products", says Levitt. "Jodi has been instrumental in rolling out our technology-enabled platform and our new last-mile hub in Cape Town, which offers fulfilment systems that coordinate the loading and unloading process of goods. She has created partnerships with couriers that provide our tenants with offerings and flexibility that isn't available elsewhere.”

"The activities in Inospace's value chain depend on one another. The role of marketing and product development are synergistic to every part of property and asset management. It is not standalone. In less than five years, Inospace's strategy enabled us to become South Africa’s largest owners and operators of serviced logistics parks", explains Levitt.  

Sher believes tenants in today’s environment require more. “It's not enough to offer a great office, workspace, or warehouse. Customers often face pains or gaps on their way to becoming successful. My strategy is to figure out what our customers are trying to achieve and what is currently preventing them from doing so. The more we understand our customer's needs, the better our products will be to support them. We will do this in many ways, but technological innovation will be my key strategy In fulfilling our 360-degree offering.”