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Search Results for: european retail real estate – Page 9

The European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will come into force on May 25, 2018. It harmonizes data privacy laws across Europe. Companies will be more accountable for their handling of people’s personal data and it will change how they handle information about their customers, their employees and their suppliers.

All through the years, commercial models in the retail sector have been evolving in alignment with changing consumer habits. It goes without saying that these consumer habits have experienced a huge transformation lately, especially due to the rapid advance of technologies and the digital era. However, I don’t believe that the boom of ecommerce will lead to the extinction of most shopping malls.

How retail technology and increasing digitalization are changing retail and the shopping center industry.

According to Stephan Austrup, Head of Retail in Germany at TH Real Estate, omni-channeling and digitalization are key drivers of change. In all acquisitions and in business plans for existing portfolios, he therefore considers the impact of this change on retail formats, retailers’ required floor plans, and whether the property provides the necessary layout flexibility.

According to a recent report by Cushman & Wakefield, the sales area of European retail parks will increase by 50% more in 2016 than in the previous year. This growth is due mainly to developments in France, Italy, and the UK.

Unsurprisingly, project development in the country has been interrupted. But in Kiev alone, about 20 malls with around 1 million sq m of GLA are currently at various stages of completion, possibly opening in 2017-2018, according to UTG.

GfK has carried out a comprehensive analysis of the European retail scene in 32 European countries. The study examines purchasing power, the retail share of the population’s total expenditures, inflation, sales area productivity as well as changes in retail due to eCommerce, as well as a turnover prognoses for 2015. The study will appear in the forthcoming edition of ACROSS Magazine, which will be published in June.

Henrike Waldburg, Head of Investment Management Shopping Center at Union Investment Real Estate GmbH, tells ACROSS about her most recent coup, the acquisition of the shopping center “Palladium” in Prague and why acquisitions are currently easy to finance.

Steffen Hofmann is a Managing Partner at ambas. Having worked in eight European markets, he has a deep understanding of the mechanisms of international investment markets. On the occasion of the 15th anniversary of ACROSS, he discusses the historic evolution of the retail real estate industry from the perspective of the financial market.