The future of retail is about to head in directions we never expected. We in the commercial real estate business could not be happier!
Retail is a tough market – the competition is cut-throat, the price of failure is quick and painful, and the future has always been a murky ball of something undefined.
The continuing death of shopping malls has been that dreaded elephant-in-the-room that retailers don’t dare speak of – as if the mere mention will cause manifestation like a poltergeist! Don’t fear change! There is a NEW retail about to change the future.
(Great article about the economics of dying malls by the NY Times – link in pic below)
Retail is about to be hit with a perfect-storm of technology, social media, and economic forces that will turn it into the next wave of commercial real estate. About time!
Think smaller, specific, unique, personalized, and connected – forget about the days of long rows of pants and shirts by the hundreds hanging around waiting for purchase, or waiting in long lines at the discount store, or even leaving a store with a pile of bags and boxes.
Where did all the employees go? – Leading the change in retail is the lack of employment opportunities – you just don’t need hundreds of employees to staff a retail store anymore – the growth of has been stagnant for many years as consumers are becoming quite sharp at arriving at a store knowing exactly what they are looking for – thanks to that thing called google, as well as numerous other pre-shopping sites.
Same day Delivery? – How about same hour! – Saved by the drone! What used to be improbable for retail brick-and-mortar is about to become a saving grace. No more leaving a store with a car packed full of bags, or carrying all those across a parking lot to your car. Delivery will be fast, cheap, and in that more saving to consumers who live locally – a BIG way to attract return customers and build clientele.
Shopping by visuals alone – Long gone will soon also be the days of walking long isles of cloths looking for your size. The new retail with be small and very specific. Walk into your favorite clothing store (one that caters to just your style) pick from a few basic categories of clothing, and change the color, weight of fabric, type of fabric, and then set the delivery directly to your home by drone. The size of shoes, pants, shirts, will all be saved and set specific for your style from store to store as you look.
This is just a few examples of the amazing new future for retail that is much closer than you think – it really opens your eyes to how adding current technology to the old-school retail experience can increase revenue for designers and manufactures, reduce the stress of shopping for buyers, and greatly reduce the footprint size of retail stores and the amount of inventory they need.
The Business Insider report is linked below and makes a great read – enjoy and FYI: now is a good time to start thinking about buying commercial retail space! The future won’t wait for you!
Horizon Resources Inc 