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Customers are constantly being offered more opportunities and methods for consumption, both online and offline. Every retailer has to recognize and follow this trend in order to avoid losing out to the competition. We must find a combination of e-commerce, mobile apps or social media, and traditional retail stores. Today’s end consumers are digitally networked at all times and around 63% of buyers use devices like mobile phones and tablets to learn about products in advance or to buy them online.

These days, there has been a large debate about the crises of the bricks-and-mortar trade and the threat from e-commerce.

The physical store no longer holds a virtual monopoly on retail transactions. Consumers can now shop anytime, anywhere, and are not bound by opening hours or physical proximity.

Designer outlets have been one of the most widely misunderstood, but strongest performing, real estate sectors in Europe over the past decade. The strong consumer demand for the outlet sector is reflected in the high levels of footfall, extensive catchment areas, and strong sales densities. In turn, strong occupier demand accounts for very high occupancy rates across quality outlets: Tier 1 assets have an average vacancy rate of just 2%.

The quality of the retail offer presented by a shopping center is the route to leveraging customer preference. It is therefore key to retailer success. The art of leasing is central to our business.

As the retail and shopping center climate continues to heat up across Europe and ongoing investment strongly suggests that the future looks promising, it is vital that we remain clear on what it is that really drives our market: the people within it.