3 Positives in the Retail Space that Could Stick Around - September, 2020

 

3 Positives in the Retail Space that Could Stick Around

Tallahassee, Florida – September 18, 2020 – For months now, retail headlines have been filled with scary stories about how the pandemic is threatening the shopping industry as we know it. Yes, it’s true that the pandemic is putting retail through the wringer, but it’s also initiating some long-pending changes. NAI TALCOR professionals are on the ground every day talking to local retailers to really look into what is changing for them.

While this period is hard for everyone, that doesn’t mean that everything coming into play as a result of this historic era will be negative.

The fact is, more change has emerged during 2020’s first two quarters than we’ve seen in a very long time. Of course, it’s due to unfortunate and stressful circumstances, but we can’t ignore all the positive growth that’s happening right now... especially in retail. Tallahassee and other local areas will have to make some changes to keep up, especially in the soft retail side of the industry.

Here’s how the pandemic is set to positively impact the retail sector all over the nation moving forward:

RESTRUCTURING INVENTORY

As shoppers abandoned stores and purchased their goods online, it has forced retailers to reconsider how they’re using their physical space. “One important question to ask is, ‘Why do we need so much merchandise in a store?’” Sephora’s former CEO, Howard Meitiner, said to Chain Store Age.

Instead of packing multiples of every product into one store, the pandemic has pushed retail further into omnichannel integration.

“People can buy online and pick it up in a store. Or they can go into a store and make a purchase and have it delivered at home”, Meitiner continued. “The blurring and integration of these lines shouldn’t matter to a company. You now need to serve every individual customer with an invisible linkage, not force them to buy the way they used to.”

There are so many options available for nearly instant deliveries, there’s no reason for retailers not to take advantage of today’s tech compatibility. Now that COVID forced retailers to start reconsidering in-store inventory, shopping is being modernized before our very eyes.

LEASING DONE DIFFERENTLY

Throughout the pandemic, companies have announced plans to simultaneously close store locations and open others. A changing retail landscape is on the horizon, but CRE needs to support these adjustments.

As retailers are reconsidering their physical footprints by adjusting their locations, commercial leasing is set to change.

Tenants want more freedom to experiment, but they need the freedom to adjust as needed. Experts expect to see more cooperation and negotiations between landlords and retail tenants through creative leases that enable growth and optimization in the post-COVID world.

A NEW PLAYING FIELD

All in all, it’s clear that the pandemic is pushing retail forward. It’s important to remember that most of the conditions that retail brands are facing now aren’t solely a result of the pandemic. Many of the factors have already been in the works, and the pandemic only made them more apparent.

Retailers who were stalling on making changes were the ones who faced the most challenges during the pandemic’s sudden shifts, while pivot-ready companies could adapt more easily.

Meitiner commented on this factor, stating, “Digital disruption, changing behaviors of consumers, questionable viability of historically robust business models, the emergence of new players—those were all in place before the coronavirus happened. Good things come out of crises like these. It’s moved companies to achieve in a few months something that might have otherwise taken them five years”.

The pressure is on and the heat is cranked up high, but challenges are often what generate the very best results. Retail is in a difficult space right now, but it’s introducing significant benefits for the shopping industry as a whole.

 

ABOUT NAI TALCOR

With 70 team members including 31 licensed commercial sales advisors, NAI TALCOR is the leader in the North Florida, South Georgia and South Alabama markets. NAI TALCOR is a full service commercial real estate brokerage, property management, development and construction management firm. Providing commercial real estate services since 1990, NAI TALCOR has steadily grown by meeting client needs and partnering with others to promote mutual growth and prosperity in all aspects of commercial property ownership.

NAI TALCOR clients receive global reach with local expertise, a truly distinct advantage in commercial real estate services. Whether real estate requirements are in one market or many, we help our clients understand the market, acquire, dispose of, develop or manage their property with ease.  

NAI TALCOR provides comprehensive brokerage, leasing, property management, receivership services, and facility/construction management to the North Florida, South Georgia and South Alabama commercial real estate marketplace. Our collaborative services platform is an expansive, yet nimble, responsive structure which enables efficient, full services delivery of all elements of Commercial Real Estate Services to the region. NAI TALCOR is involved with the leasing, selling, and property management throughout North Florida, South Georgia and South Alabama. Our skilled professional specialize in office, retail, multi-family, special-purpose, medical, and other properties.

ABOUT NAI GLOBAL

NAI Global is a leading global commercial real estate brokerage firm. NAI Global offices are leaders in their local markets and work in unison to provide clients with exceptional solutions to their commercial real estate needs. NAI Global has more than 400 offices strategically located throughout North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, Africa and Asia Pacific, with over 7,000 local market professionals, managing in excess of 425 million square feet of property. Annually, NAI Global completes in excess of $20 billion in commercial real estate transactions throughout the world. Whether you need to buy, sell, lease, finance, or manage commercial property in your town, across the U.S. or in Asia, Europe, Latin America, and beyond, your nearby NAI Global local office is your local point of entry into a world of creative solutions in commercial real estate.

Exceptional global commercial real estate solutions begin with local market leadership and expertise. NAI Global offices are respected local-market roles models that are passionate about the commercial real estate business. With long histories of success across market cycles, NAI Global offices have a hard-earned, unusually deep level of local market knowledge and insight beyond the commoditized data you find elsewhere. This depth of knowledge is borne from their local relationships nurtured for generations-relationships that give our local-market leading offices the edge with the know-how, who, what, where, and when to achieve exceptional results for clients.

As an organization, NAI Global actively manages this industry-leading platform of local market knowledge and leadership, providing support and services that yield seamless integration and the consistent delivery of exceptional services to clients worldwide.

To learn more, visit WWW.TALCOR.COM or www.naiglobal.com