Retail Landlords Find Ways to Cope with Leaner Brick-and-Mortar Footprints
August 25, 2016 | Donna Mitchell | National Real Estate Investor
One year from now Macy’s expects to have closed 100 stores, leaving it with about 628 brick-and-mortar locations. The intent, gleaned from the company’s August 11 statement, is clear: to shed weaker stores, shore up the retailer in competitive markets and become as strong in omni-channel operations as it once was in traditional retailing.
Retailers continue to adapt to a business environment in which they have to battle for dominance on two fronts: competition from peers and the steady growth of e-commerce’s share of overall retail sales. Figures for e-commerce’s share of all national retail sales vary, especially when comparing industry figures and those from the U.S. Department of Commerce, which also tracks retail sales. The overall trend, however, is harder to overlook. Global consulting firm Deloitte predicts that online purchases will account for roughly 30 percent of all U.S. retail sales by 2030, according to “E-Commerce Implications for Retail Real Estate,” a 2015 report by USAA Real Estate Company. It is a potentially daunting picture of the future.
“Modern shoppers want both the ease and selection of the online marketplace,” Anthony Buono, executive managing director of global retail with real estate services firm CBRE, said in a statement. “Today’s most effective retailers aren’t focusing on brick-and-mortar or e-commerce exclusively.”
