ACROSS: AT REDEVCO, WHAT IS LOCATION SELECTION BASED ON?
BART VINK: Redevco chooses to invest in carefully selected cities and locations with enduring qualities that will appeal to future generations.
The way we identify those locations, is based on a well-researched view on the attractiveness of cities, changes in consumer behavior, and how that impacts to the retail landscape.
This helps us to identify opportunities and informs the way that we adapt our property offering to the needs of our retail customers.
ACROSS: WHAT DOES THAT MEAN IN PRACTICE?
BART: Over the years Redevco’s Research & Strategy department has developed a proprietary model that ranks and scores cities according to their attractiveness for high street investments.
It draws on a wide range of sources to analyze and rank main high street locations in 825 European cities within 25 countries. The 19 different indicators are grouped into four main categories: population, economy, retail property market and city quality, which are scored and weighted to derive a city’s ranking.
This ranking is then enriched with the local knowledge of Redevco’s seven country teams that enables the grouping of locations into five ‘Quality Baskets’, ranging from ‘Excellent’ to ‘Poor’, to identify a total investment grade universe of around 165 European cities. The model is constantly under review in relation to sources and indicators to reflect the current trends and market conditions.
ACROSS: HOW DO YOU INTEGRATE THE IMPACT OF CHANGED CONSUMER BEHAVIOR IN THE MIX?
BART: How people shop and what they expect from a shopping trip, has changed over the years, due to technological developments amongst others. Before e-commerce, shops were the prime destination to buy goods. Consumers didn’t have a lot of information about product availability and pricing and therefore completing a shopping list could turn out to be a timeconsuming, stressful and unenjoyable task.
With online shopping available, consumers can buy (almost) everything online or are pointed towards those locations where the shopping list can be completed. This results in the shopping trip being more about having a nice time in a high quality environment and less about the actual buying.
More and more consumers perceive those shopping trips to be more fulfilling and relaxed and their retail state of mind, as we call it, has shifted from a ‘need to buy’ to a ‘need to enjoy’. This has implications for Redevco as to where we can offer a shopping experience that consumers nowadays expect to have.
ACROSS: SO, HOW DO YOU FIND THESE LOCATIONS?
BART: To be able to find exactly those locations, we strongly believe in and rely on the power of the local network. We have teams on the ground that cover specific regions.
These teams consist of real estate professionals that include specialists with the necessary transaction and asset management skills to ensure that properties and portfolios in all locations deliver the best performance.
These colleagues, our transaction managers, portfolio directors and asset managers, are in deep contact with the local real estate parties, such as other investment managers, investors, brokers, advisors and the municipality representatives of the cities where we purchase, develop, let and manage properties.
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