The R/evolution Starts Now, Retail Refusing to Fail

In the past year, the CRE industry’s retail sector has undergone a market revolution. The most notable highlights include the tumbling demise of iconic brands like Sears and Toys R Us, while underdog niche brands like ASOS and Daniel Wellington rose in popularity, and behemoths like Amazon and Jet.com claimed their stake offline.

Provoked by the influx of digital technology, e-commerce brands race to keep up with the not-so-gradual transformation of the modern consumer and the ever-changing ways they shop. As time spent online continues to increase, the shift has dramatically impacted the consumer perception of the store environment as the epicenter of the shopping experience. The physical space is no longer the final destination, but one of many touchpoints available for retailers and brands to woo consumers to engage with products and services.

We will explore some of the futuristic technologies that will reshape the CRE industry and how they will transform the property buying and leasing experience in the retail sector.

Get ready for the R/evolution!

Key takeaways from this report include:

• Although online shopping is here to stay, Americans are almost evenly split on their preferred shopping channels with 51% shopping online, while 49% prefer shopping in-store.
• As technology becomes part of our everyday language, customization of the consumer journey will be an invaluable asset to maintaining brand loyalty and increasing revenue.
• As Virtual Reality technology, and its contemporary solutions, allow for greater viewability from ‘virtually’ anywhere in the world, the immediate benefit for CRE brokers and landlords is the potential to increase their reach and vastly expand the traditional prospect list.
• Mixed Reality, made up of augmented and virtual, is expected to grow into a $95 billion market by 2025.
• The integration of extended reality into a retail omnichannel strategy can unwittingly expand a retailer’s reach onto a whole new playing field, where consumers are willing to interact with brands.
• Brands are reinventing their approach to the 24-hour customer service cycle, making it more “lifelike” by providing relevant information and contextual data to shoppers.

For more insights, explore the Retail Market Spotlight Report.