To make shopping safer during the holiday period, Ivanhoé Cambridge is introducing a virtual queue management system at its shopping centres across Canada.

The technology will also be offered free of charge to Ivanhoé Cambridge tenants who wish to implement it in their stores.

“The health and safety of our tenants, customers and visitors is our priority,” said Nathalie Palladitcheff, chief executive officer of Ivanhoé Cambridge. “Our virtual line-up management system will provide our customers and tenants with a turnkey way to minimise waiting times, while enabling them to better plan the shopping time with the greatest regard for health and safety measures.”

Shoppers will be able to reserve a time slot from home for their next visit to a participating retailer by accessing the virtual queue management system via the web sites of Ivanhoé Cambridge shopping centres. Once at the centre, visitors can access the system using the QR codes posted at participating retailers to reserve available time slots and to receive text messaged updates on the progress of the virtual queue at a shop or a service offered by the centre.

Ivanhoé Cambridge develops and invests in real estate properties, projects and companies that are shaping the urban fabric. It invests alongside strategic partners and major real estate funds. Through subsidiaries and partnerships, the company holds interests in more than 1000 buildings, primarily in the industrial and logistics, office, residential and retail sectors.

Ivanhoé Cambridge held C$64bn in real-estate assets at the end of last year, and is a real-estate subsidiary of the Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec, one of Canada’s main institutional fund managers.