How Westland Shopping Centre, AG Real Estate and JC Decaux are rethinking the in-mall experience, one touchpoint at a time.

There is a moment every shopper knows: stepping into a large mall for the first time and wondering, just for a second, where everything is. That brief hesitation is exactly what Westland Shopping Centre, one of Brussels’ most established retail destinations, has decided to eliminate.

The centre, located in Anderlecht and managed by AG Real Estate in partnership with JC Decaux Belgium, has chosen ViaDirect to bring a new layer of intelligence to its visitor experience. Four interactive kiosks — elegant, luminous, and positioned across the mall’s key circulation points — greet shoppers with instant, intuitive navigation.

A relationship built on trust

Westland is not the beginning of the story, it is its continuation. AG Real Estate and JC Decaux Belgium first worked with ViaDirect at City 2, another landmark Brussels shopping centre. That experience laid the groundwork for something more: a long-term vision of what a digitally connected mall can feel like for the people who walk through it every day.

Each project teaches the partners something new. At Westland, the approach is more refined: the kiosks stand on their own design merits, with luminous PMMA totems that draw the eye without relying on oversized embedded screens. The result is a presence that feels architectural rather than merely digital.

“Westland is our second project alongside AG Real Estate and JC Decaux Belgium, and it shows how strong partnerships evolve. Each deployment is more considered than the last.”

Solution deployed

• 4 × Gazelle 43″ kiosks — white finish, landscape orientation, with anchor points and lockable maintenance access
• 4 × PMMA LED totems — luminous totem signage for high visibility across the mall floor
• 5 × Samsung 43″ Full HD screens 
• 5 × NUC media players 
• 5 × VDBox remote control units — for centralized management and remote monitoring
• Welcome screen integration — existing display repurposed into the ViaDirect network

Rethinking what a kiosk can be

The Westland installation goes beyond wayfinding in the traditional sense. Yes, a shopper can find the nearest restaurant or the quickest route to a specific store. But the platform also brings the mall’s marketing team directly into the equation. They control the content, the design, the tone. The kiosk becomes an extension of the brand, not just a directory.

One particularly thoughtful element of the project: an existing welcome screen near the mall entrance, rather than being replaced, has been woven into the new ecosystem. The screen gets a second life, connected to the same platform, speaking the same visual language as the new kiosks. It is a small detail that says something larger about the philosophy behind this deployment nothing is wasted; everything is considered.

Already have hardware? ViaDirect works with what you have.

At Westland, ViaDirect’s software was integrated directly onto an existing screen, no new hardware required. This is not an exception. It is one of the things ViaDirect does best: breathing new life into kiosks and displays that are already in place, connecting them to a unified, centrally managed platform without the cost or disruption of a full replacement.

A model for shared ambition

Behind the scenes, the project reflects a modern approach to how large retail spaces invest in digital infrastructure. Rather than a single owner bearing the full weight of the investment, the costs are shared intelligently between the property owner and the media concessionaire — each contributing for the long term, each with skin in the game.

It is a model that makes projects like this viable, replicable, and ultimately more ambitious. And it is one that ViaDirect hopes to see adopted more widely across European retail.

Ready to transform your visitors’ experience?

Whether you are planning a new installation or looking to get more from existing hardware, our team will help you find the right approach. No two venues are the same, let’s talk about yours.