Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
Issue link: https://sct.epubxp.com/i/448937
aggressively. Meanwhile, online grocery concepts will eat into supermarket sales even further in coming years, says Susan Porjes, a market analyst for research firm Packaged Facts. "Back more than 10 years ago, investors were leery of online grocery shopping, due to some spectacu- lar failures, like Webvan," said Porjes. "But online grocery sales are poised to take off on a high-growth trajectory." Indeed, U.S. online grocery sales are set to grow from about $23 billion last year to nearly $100 billion by 2019, which would amount to 12 percent of total grocery spending, according to Porjes, who wrote an October 2014 report on the phenomenon. Others see it too. Ul- timately, untrammeled growth of online grocery shopping could spell trouble for supermarkets, write the JLL analysts. "If Amazon figures out a successful solu- tion to a wide-scale implementation of its AmazonFresh model, it poses a sig- nificant threat to groceries, particularly supermarkets with thin margins." But even this trend could at the same time create certain opportuni- ties for landlords, Porjes notes. Com- panies such as Chronodrive, which has 74 stores across France, specialize in building drive-through, Internet- enabled grocery stores. "That model has been successful in France," Porjes said. "You place your order, and on the way home from work you go to the drive-through and they have everything ready for you." The stores, which Porjes likens to small warehouses with limited assortments, represent a new poten- tial retail tenant, particularly for shop- ping centers that lack grocery anchors. Drive-through grocery Zoomin Market launched this concept in Olathe, Kan., last April — local shoppers place orders 36 S C T / F e b r u a r y 2 0 1 5 F r a n c e ' s c h r o n o d r i v e l e t s y o u s h o p w i t h o u t g e t t i n g o u t o F y o u r c a r . "You place your order, and on the way home from work you go to the drive-through and they have everything ready for you."