“Lord Wolfson, chief executive of British retailer Next, has called for lower rents and shorter leases on the 240 Next stores due for renewal over the next three years.”

Ken Hughes presented the industry meeting in the Catalan capital and captivated the auditorium with his keynote speech about Generation Z.

Commentary by Nelson Blackley, Retail Research Associate at Nottingham Trent University.

Currently, studies say that more than 50% of all purchases at brick-and-mortar stores are prepared online in advance.

An important judgement clarifying European rules on retail establishment; a very strict EU data protection regime; a binding number of charging points for e-vehicles for buildings with more than 10 parking spaces. These are a few examples of important, new rules for the retail property industry adopted by the EU in recent years — and together, they’re a good example of why European policymaking is increasingly important for our sector.

In recent years, fashion retail has proven that there is a fine line between whether fashion and lifestyle brands are successful or become insolvent. These days, celebrity endorsements, collection collaborations, new “it” pieces, retail and e-commerce presence, as well as retail excellence and customer loyalty determine whether fashion and lifestyle brands are in or out.

In Romania, repeated and unplanned changes in legislation hinder the process of building authorization, as well as the legal steps required at the time of completion.

Since the liberalization of opening hours – determined by the “Salva Italia2” decree passed in 2011, during Mario Monti’s legislature – retailers in Italy have been free to open on Sundays and festive days, according to their own commercial strategies.

The Polish real estate segment is changing. What we are seeing, apart from traditional real estate investments in office and retail, is there has been growth in new formats, including mixed-use projects with multifunctional concepts, and a growing potential for small-convenience schemes and retail parks.

Real estate investors both in and out of Germany rely on specialist retailers and specialist retail parks: They offer constant pulling power, stable revenues, and solid customer footfall – all of which require clearly positioned product and sector concepts, which signal to investors that their investment is both solid and sustainable.

Outlet Centers are still a niche market in the international retail real estate business and an asset class of its own. Today, there are more than 200 outlet centers spread over Europe but there are significant differences regarding the degree of saturation and maturity levels.

People say that predictions are hard, especially when they have to be made about the future. Be that as it may, ACROSS asked leading industry-players what to expect from the coming twelve months.

In today’s environment of complex and fast changes in all fields of real estate development, particularly affecting retail and all the complementary activities making these developments possible, inevitably, the architectural profession will have to adapt by preventively responding to future trends and demands.

In 2018, the current retail (r)evolution continued and did not slow down. Omnichannel has become a reality: Today’s consumer, whether 7 or 70 years old, searches the web to make in-store purchases and does the exact opposite five minutes later.