Understand what you need
We start with your objectives, current skills and constraints to choose suitable tools and break the project into manageable steps.
Your consultant · AI guidance and training
Simon ZHU
Co-founder · AI consultant and trainer
Bring your complex projects to life with AI
I work directly with individuals and businesses to deliver their projects with AI, combining advanced technical expertise with practical work on their specific needs.
You learn by building your project with me, with the aim of understanding each stage and being able to develop it independently.
France · Paris & Île-de-France Français · English
- Bespoke AI projects
- One-to-one guidance
- Practical training
- Growing independence
Scope of my work at Mercialys
- 34 centres
- National portfolio supported
- €2.6M
- Annual marketing budget steered
- ≈ €700K
- Media investment allocated directly
- 4 + 5
- 4 direct reports · 5 under project leadership
Your project is our starting point
Practical support to make progress and work independently
The support centres on what you want to achieve, at a pace suited to your skills, with explanations that help you understand the tools, their capabilities and their limitations.
Build and solve problems together
We work directly on your project, tackle the technical challenges and test the results to understand and resolve any obstacles.
Help you continue independently
I explain the approach and help you take the lead gradually, so you can refine your project, develop it further and use the method again.
One-to-one, on your project
A dedicated guide to help you choose a direction, overcome a technical obstacle or deliver an ambitious project, even if you are new to AI.
In your business, with your teams
Working and training sessions around your business needs to build useful solutions and help your teams take ownership of them.
Practical experience to support your AI projects
My experience in project delivery, digital tools and business processes helps me connect AI capabilities with your practical needs.
At Mercialys, I lead digital activity for the B2B business and the La Galerie / Shop Park B2C brands across 34 shopping centres. My role connects acquisition strategy, lead qualification with Sales, team leadership and digital transformation. Through SZ Consulting, I draw on this experience to guide your AI projects and teach a way of working suited to your objectives. The results below relate to my work at Mercialys.
Leadership & collaboration
Lead teams and align business functions
4 direct reports
2 developers, 1 marketing officer and 1 apprentice. Recruitment, objectives, workload allocation and performance reviews.
5 project-led contributors
Digital project deployment and follow-up with the Deputy Marketing Director. Functional leadership without responsibility for annual appraisals.
External partners
SEO and social media agencies, a CRM consultant and 2 external developers. Performance evaluation, annual contract renewal or supplier replacement.
Mercialys · B2B acquisition
From leads to commercial performance
Translate leasing priorities into targeted campaigns on Google Ads, Meta Ads and LinkedIn Ads. Track qualification with Sales, then refine targeting and messaging using opportunity and performance feedback.
CE / Pop-up stores
- 3,000
- Leads generated
- 50%
- Sales-qualified leads (SQL)
- 17%
- Opportunity rate
- €300K
- Revenue generated
Commercial / Retail leasing
- 3,320
- Leads generated
- 35%
- Sales-qualified leads (SQL)
- 4%
- Opportunity rate
- €2.3M
- Revenue generated
Qualification and opportunity rates use all leads in each activity as their denominator.
Case study · Fenouillet
Secure replacement occupiers for two retail units
After Sales flagged two expiring retail occupancy agreements, I deployed local display campaigns to capture business-owner contacts. Sales qualified and followed up the leads, resulting in two signed temporary occupancy agreements.
2 signed agreements€70K revenue€1,200 advertising spend
Flagship programme · Mercialys
Brand and ecosystem transformation — La Galerie to Shop Park
A programme supporting Mercialys's progressive brand independence from Casino: identity transition, digital ecosystem switch and physical rollout across 34 centres.
- Mandate
- Lead the digital scope of the brand transition: identity, web ecosystem, social presence and customer data, with no break in commercial performance.
- Complexity & scope
- 34 centres, €2.6M annual marketing budget steered, including ≈ €700K of media investment allocated directly; external partners and brand-related legal constraints.
- Governance & authority
- Reporting to the Marketing Director, who retains final budget approval. Daily collaboration with Sales, Asset Management, Operations, Accounting, Legal and HR, alongside IT. Business cases presented to the executive committee.
- Strategic decisions
- Stopping an unprofitable marketplace, internalising social media steering, rebuilding the web ecosystem and delivering the CRM project with RCS, wallet and an email–loyalty programme connection for conversion tracking.
- Deployment status
- Brand identity, digital assets and social channels transitioned to Shop Park. Physical rollout progressing across the network.
- Team
- 4 direct reports: 2 developers, 1 marketing officer and 1 apprentice. Joint digital project leadership for 5 operational marketers with the Deputy Marketing Director. SEO and social media agencies, a CRM consultant and 2 external developers.
Management decisions
Investment arbitration
Stopping the post-Covid marketplace
Recommended shutdown despite sunk costs, backed by a performance report and business plan presented to the executive committee. Resources reallocated to levers with demonstrated returns.
Organisation
Internalised social media steering
Steering brought in-house at constant budget: content output roughly doubled and views roughly tripled between 2024 and 2025.
CRM & loyalty
Omnichannel CRM — connecting email and loyalty
Led and delivered the CRM project, adding modules including RCS messaging and wallet. Connected email campaigns to the loyalty programme to make conversions trackable, improve email conversion and drive more traffic to the loyalty programme.
Innovation & business case
EasyPopup — from concept to launch
Concept and business case designed and presented in late 2024 using internal data, market research and requirements gathered from the relevant teams. The project was approved in 2025 and launched in July 2026. No commercial outcome is claimed yet because the measurement period remains too short.
Measured outcomes
Business indicators resulting from the decisions and arbitrations above, at controlled scope and budget.
- x8
- Confirmed revenue versus B2B media investment
- −70%
- Annual cost of a strategic digital solution
- x2
- Social content production, at constant budget
- ≈ x3
- Social views, 2024 → 2025
Experience — Mercialys
July 2022 — present · Paris
Chef de projet digital (Digital Project Manager)
January 2026 — present
- Leading the digital scope of the La Galerie → Shop Park brand transformation programme.
- 4 direct reports: 2 developers, 1 marketing officer and 1 apprentice. Joint digital project leadership for 5 operational marketers with the Deputy Marketing Director. SEO and social media agencies, a CRM consultant and 2 external developers.
- Delivered the CRM project: integrated RCS and wallet, connected email campaigns to the loyalty programme and enabled conversion tracking.
- Designed and delivered a 360° analysis combining commercial and asset management data, news, social media posts, centre footfall, retailer turnover and advertising data to explain performance changes and provide actionable recommendations.
- Business cases and recommendations presented to the executive committee.
CASE STUDY · SEOPerformance evidence · Shop Park SEO
From redesign to measurable organic visibility
Visibility trajectory for shop-park.com observed from 10 April to 9 August 2026, after the digital ecosystem switch. Estimated organic traffic reached 31,875 and the keyword portfolio 1,669, after a July peak followed by consolidation.
shop-park.com · 10 Apr – 9 Aug 2026
- 31,875
- Estimated organic traffic / month
- 1,669
- Organic keywords
- 311
- Keywords in France Top 3
Shop Park · Aug 2026 · Semrush estimate, France desktop
Shop Park · Aug 2026 · Semrush estimate, France desktop
Shop Park · Aug 2026 · Semrush estimate, France desktop
No paid search traffic detectedGrowth observed with no paid search traffic detected in this Semrush export. — Growth observed with no paid search traffic detected in this Semrush export.
Semrush · France desktop · 9 Aug 2026Source: Semrush Domain Overview, France desktop. Estimated data as of 9 August 2026.
Traffic Manager
July 2022 — December 2025
- Steered acquisition and performance across the full centre portfolio.
- Continuous arbitration between organic and paid search, with investment decisions based on measurement.
- Internalised social media steering and rebuilt B2B acquisition programmes.
Redesign evidence — before / after
An immediate view of the transformation: the former La Galerie site on the left and the new Shop Park ecosystem on the right.
Entrepreneurship & strategic advisory
Activities run alongside corporate roles, focused on decisions and execution.
CHEZSMART
2020 — 2022 · in parallel
Co-founder · strategy, e-commerce & growth
- Built CHEZSMART: business plan, business model, recruitment, organisational structure, e-commerce, acquisition and operations.
- €110K revenue in the first year of activity.
- Equity transferred to the other partners in 2022.
Independent consultant
2024 — present
Selected assignments, in parallel
- Diagnosis, strategic prioritisation, roadmaps and decision support.
- Selected work for a wine distributor, a tasting application and SME growth projects.
- Clients remain anonymous for confidentiality.
Other experience
Frison Scooter
October 2020 — July 2022 · CHEZSMART run in parallel · Île-de-France
Responsable marketing (Marketing Manager)
- Revenue grown from €1.6M to €2.4M, including B2C from €15K to €410K.
- Designed and launched the e-commerce site, Top 3 Google rankings on strategic keywords.
Interouge.com
September 2017 — October 2020 · Clermont-Ferrand
Digital marketing officer · project & business development
- Supported Interouge’s integration into TOMTOP: organisational change, employee training and standardisation of French employment contracts.
- ERP rollout and sales/logistics data analysis with the TOMTOP group.Managed acquisition channels and seasonal budgets.
Smartox
October 2016 — July 2017 · Grenoble
Business development & consulting
- Opened distributors in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong and Chengdu.
- Methodology for opening a sales office in Boston and a VIE roadmap with Business France.
The skills to design, build and teach
AI design and implementation
- Technical scoping for complex projects
- Solutions and workflows designed around your needs
- Troubleshooting and improving results
Guidance and training
- One-to-one work on your own project
- Explaining decisions, project stages and tool limitations
- Teaching a method you can use independently
Project delivery and business processes
- Breaking objectives into manageable steps
- Workflow automation and digital transformation
- Coordinating teams and contributors
Performance marketing, CRM & data
- Google Ads, Meta Ads, LinkedIn Ads & SEO
- CRM strategy & customer data
- Lead qualification, opportunities & revenue measurement
- Omnichannel strategy & content
Education & certifications
Master's — Economics of organisations, organisation and change management
Université Grenoble Alpes · 2016 — 2018
Bachelor's — Economics and management
Université Grenoble Alpes · 2013 — 2016
Bachelor's — Business administration and management
Nanjing Normal University · 2012 — 2016
Advanced Google Analytics
Google · Certification
Let’s discuss your AI project
Tell me about your idea, your current skills and the challenges you face so we can define the support your project needs and the independence you want to develop.