Search Results for: retail real estate

Under the motto “Creating beloved places – social, sustainable & successful”, the 2025 European Shopping Places Summit brought together leading experts in the retail real estate sector from 14 different countries to discuss how to make shopping places more sustainability-oriented, successful, and impactful on a social level, while giving voice to the different markets in Europe.

Retail real estate is back on the menu and continues to qualify as a significant portfolio component in the portfolios of institutional real estate investors, says Steffen Hofmann, Managing Partner at ambas. Even very large assets have proven eligible for transactions in the challenging investment market environment. Therefore, he is rather optimistic about the upcoming months. In this interview, he takes a look at the 2025 investment market.

“We need something that is consistent between retailer, operator, landlord and investor, and can be the key behind every decision, and shopping experience is the obvious answer.” Our latest Retail Talk, “Uncovering the REAL Issues, Problems and Challenges of Retail Real Estate”, revealed that many of the retail industry’s current issues can only be tackled if first we solve the problems that stem from within, as skills such as leadership, fast adaptability to the changing market environment, courage, as well as mutual understanding during the decision-making process are necessary yet barely present in the industry.

The challenges facing the retail real estate sector are more significant than ever. Future-oriented solutions for retail properties such as retail parks are urgently needed – this is precisely where the Retail PIN comes in. This newly founded think tank, an initiative of six leading companies in the retail real estate industry, pools strategic expertise and a shared vision: to actively and sustainably shape the future of retail locations.

In order for retailers and retail property operators to inspire and retain customers in the long term, it is essential that they rethink their spaces and develop innovative concepts, according to HBB. Such new approaches include the redefinition of multi-sensory shopping experiences and strategies to enhance the customer experience.

Shopping centers with high vacancy rates vs. booming outlets – so why not combine shopping centers and outlets? Haslinger Retail Real Estate Consulting is doing just that in St. Augustin, Germany: Huma World is a hybrid center with an outlet on the upper floor and a classic shopping center offering on the lower floors. In short, it is a weatherproof outlet with many restaurants and extended services. Michael Haslinger explains the advantages for brands, owners, and customers and why hybrid centers are not cure-all for the struggling shopping center sector.

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) and Union Investment have maintained a very successful partnership for many years in relation to Köln Arcaden, Riem Arcaden in Munich and Spandau Arcaden in Berlin, which are among the leading retail properties in the sector. With the management contracts, which have now been extended ahead of schedule on a long-term basis, the two companies are once again confirming their cooperation and creating a long-term joint perspective for the three top assets. In future, the focus will be on further optimising the tenant structure in line with the major sector megatrends as well as on mixed-use components and sustainability measures.

This year’s MAPIC Awards honored winners across thirteen core categories, in addition to the People’s Choice categories and the winners of the MAPIC Academy—MAPIC’s inaugural start-up incubator sponsored by Nhood. The Awards reward exceptional retail brand performance and development, the latest cutting-edge solutions in sustainability and innovation, and the most recent real estate projects and redevelopments.

Shaping a sustainable future in retail real estate: HyperIn hosts panel on “Artificial Intelligence (AI) – Practical Approaches and Strategies for a Better Productivity in Retail Real Estate” at MAPIC 2023.

“Despite the significant challenges of recent years, it is clear that retail real estate is a stable and resilient asset class,” says Joanna Fisher. In an interview with ACROSS, the CEO of ECE Marketplaces talks about the opportunities of a once again dynamic market, dealing with industry changes and ESG, and her goals as the new Chairwoman of ECSP.

Retail property revitalization and valuation is a complex process that aims to increase a property’s value and make it more attractive to retailers and customers. HBB sheds light on the various aspects of this process, including analyses, costs, steps, success factors, and necessary partners. A site-specific approach is elementary, as the Rathaus Galerie Essen example shows.

The German transaction market for retail space recorded a low transaction volume of around EUR 2.8 billion in the first half of 2023 – compared with around EUR 7.8 billion in 2022 as a whole. Overall, it can be seen that online retail is having a negative impact on the development of sales in stationary retail even after the Corona pandemic. However, stationary retail for everyday needs in particular, such as retail parks in residential areas with a high population density, is proving robust and benefiting from the new situation. These trends extend much further than just Germany, as similar patterns can be recognized on other European markets as well.

Digitalization in the retail sector is in full swing. This is leading both to a changed shopping experience for customers of local suppliers and discounters and to simplified processes in the management and purchase and sale of retail real estate. However, retailers should be mindful of customers’ interests when using artificial intelligence (AI) in sales. While functioning digital systems are important, completely digital smart stores without personal support miss the mark when it comes to consumer needs. This is shown in the third GRR Basic Retail Report, which GRR Group is presenting with its cooperation partner Savills.

The property expert WISAG Facility Service offers specialized solutions and service packages for different market sectors. This also applies to retail real estate. WISAG deals with all the fundamental questions of the retail sector, far beyond the company’s core business. Joaquin Jimenez Zabala, who is responsible for WISAG’s business activities in the retail real estate sector, explains this and more to us.

A crisis forces us to think in new and different ways. It is a challenge – but finally, almost always, it leads up to new ideas and helps to speed up the much-needed change, states Caroline von Westerholt, Head of Strategy & Repositioning of Retail Properties at Twenty One Media GmbH. She explains her biggest learnings from the current crisis.

Finnish retail real estate tech company HyperIn’s latest mall retailer data shows that sustainability-related tenant offers have risen significantly in 2022, with the word green appearing in up to four times as many offers over the last year. The trend is an indicator for retailers on ad targeting, pointing towards an increasing share of ads for green products and experiences.

Ukrainian Council of Shopping Places, a member of the European Council of Shopping Places (ECSP), has published a report providing insights on how retail destinations are adapting to the war and the impact it is having on the market. This report, which is exclusive to ACROSS, calculates losses and damages suffered by the shopping centre industry, retail turnover losses and shows reopening plans for some shopping centres.