The growth of e-commerce coupled with evolving consumer shopping patterns will spur the growth of multi-channel retail strategies and impact commercial real estate markets, according to a new report from Los Angeles-based CBRE Group Inc.
While the growth of these strategies poses challenges for traditional brick-and-mortar retailing models, it also provides numerous opportunities for retail that will impact real estate markets. According to a new CBRE report entitled ‘The Future Impact of E-commerce on Industrial and Retail Real Estate,’ the need for multi-channel strategies will create new opportunities for retailers, such as programs that allow consumers to purchase a product online and pick it up at their convenience at a locker in a local store.
Additionally, CBRE predicts that popular same-day home delivery strategies will likely require that future distribution centers be proximate to consumers, which should create increased opportunities for urban in-fill development. CBRE adds that markets near UPS or FedEx hubs are most likely to attract major distribution centers to service e-commerce sales.
The CBRE report forecasts that the market for urban high-street retail will remain robust as prime retail rents, especially in coastal gateway markets, reach all-time highs. Furthermore, the aging of the U.S. population, coupled with the implementation of health care reform, is expected to increase demand for medical uses in retail centers.
‘The challenges facing retail real estate markets due to the rapid changes taking place in how and where consumers shop goods are well known, but there are also substantial opportunities in this evolving environment,’ says David Egan, director of research and analysis at CBRE.
