Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
Issue link: https://sct.epubxp.com/i/231459
THE COMMON AREA E-commerce influences real estate strategy E-commerce is changing the way retailers use real estate, said Wall Street analysts at the ICSC Real Estate Capital Marketplace Conference, in New York City. E-commerce has enabled many retailers to open stores in locations and properties they never considered before, said Matt McClintock, vice president and senior retail soft-lines analyst at Barclays Equity Research. A retailer might not consider a market as small as Greensboro, N.C., for a new store if the choice is based purely on brick-and-mortar sales projections, he said; but if a retailer factors in existing and potential e-commerce activity in the trade area, a new Greensboro store might be approved. The downside of this trend, at least for landlords, is that retailers will probably not want to open new stores in saturated markets, he said. Further, e-commerce is influencing some traditionally mall-based chains to open shop at open-air properties. Aeropostale, for example, is moving into more strip centers, where it can ship goods to nearby e-commerce customers and still serve brick-and-mortar shoppers, McClintock said. "Combining e-commerce and brick-and-mortar strategies makes sense," he said. Space needs may increase as well, he noted, pointing out that Urban Outfitters may boost its store size based on e-commerce shoppers' preferences for a wider range of goods. Other chains may want certain stores to have more space for displaying items that are in high demand among e-commerce customers but not frequently purchased in-store, McClintock said. Urban Outfitters, Gap and Macy's are among the apparel retailers at the forefront of omni-channel retailing, McClintock said. Gap, in particular, has seen its stock price surge over the past year, attributable more to making it easier for customers to shop than to staying ahead of fashion trends, he said. Gap's e-commerce site details nearby stores that stock a certain item and enable the customer to reserve that item online for store pickup. "Gap is done opening stores," he said. "Its future sales growth will come from increasing the effectiveness of omni-channel selling." Butting out Simon Property Group's Pier Park, in Panama City Beach, Fla., is kicking butts. The open-air beachfront shopping center has joined recycling advisory firm TerraCycle's Cigarette Waste Brigade program. Cigarette butts collected from the property's smoking towers and trash cans are sent to TerraCycle for recycling into various products, primarily plastic pallets for industrial use. For every pound of cigarette waste thus handled, the program donates $1 to the Keep America Beautiful campaign. Storing sunlight The sun is becoming an increasingly practical source of energy for shopping centers as providers develop new technologies to help store solar energy for later use. For its part, San Mateo, Calif.–based solar energy provider SolarCity has launched DemandLogic, a system that allows its customers to reduce energy costs by using stored electricity to reduce peak demand, and can also provide backup power during grid outages. Developed with advanced battery technology from electric-automobile maker Tesla, SolarCity DemandLogic storage includes learning software that automates the discharge of stored energy to optimize utility charge savings for its customers. "Utilities have altered their rate structures such that demand charges are rising faster than overall energy rates, and businesses are bearing the bulk of those increases," said Peter Rive, SolarCity's chief technology officer and chief operations officer, in a press release. "Time is money, but so are control and predictability." J AN UA RY 20 14 / SC T 9