The CBRE report outlines four of this season's trends. These trends center on improvements in e-commerce logistics as well as shoppers' demand for new and unique options.

1. The mainstreaming of “rogue retailing”: Shopping center owners and retailers are working to woo shoppers with unusual concepts that make each visit unique. Temporary, pop-up stores and more independent, craft stores are among the strategies. Mall owners such as Westfield Group, as well as several established retailers like Nordstrom, are actively embracing the pop-up format.

2. Expanded e-commerce: Online sales are again expected to outpace in-store sales this season. What's not as well-known, however, is who is driving those clicks: Brick-and-mortar retailers dominate online sales, and they're investing in their platforms to do more. And mobile commerce has emerged as the fastest growing sector of online sales.

3. Improved logistics beget e-commerce profits: This could be the season in which the technology, analytics, delivery networks and past experience amassed by retailers and shippers coalesce to produce ideal holiday logistics—to the point of making e-commerce profitable. That includes shoring up strategies for minimizing returns of goods bought online and quickly processing those that are sent back.

4. The holiday promotions shuffle: A proliferation of landmark shopping days, from Black Friday and Small Business Saturday to Green Monday and Free Shipping Day, is allowing retailers to spread their promotions and shopper traffic across the entire season rather than just a couple of key days. Many thus can better manage their inventory. Shoppers, meanwhile, tend to dwell longer and spend more absent the hectic crowds.

“This holiday shopping season is all about thinking outside the traditional retail box,” says Melina Cordero, CBRE Head of Retail Research, the Americas. “Retailers are innovating their store formats and revamping their e-commerce fulfillment systems. Owners are adding new and intriguing stores to their mix. It will add up to a very different and more efficient holiday shopping season.”

Which retailers will win in 2017? Check out one viewpoint.

ATLANTA—Innovation and consumer choice are fueling the most significant trends shaping this holiday shopping season, including a proliferation of “rogue” retailing and the refinement of e-commerce distribution and returns. That's according to a new report from CBRE Group.

“The logistics and back end fulfillment of online retail sales will continue to dominate the industrial real estate landscape in 2017,” Blaine Kelley, senior vice president of CBRE Global Supply Chain Practice, tells GlobeSt.com. “In fact over 50% of big box warehouse demand is driven by e-commerce retail and distribution projects.”

Most forecasters are predicting a healthy but unspectacular increase in holiday sales this season. Many storylines are likely to focus on the changes within retailing rather than the season's volume of sales.

“The new stress point is the location of 'last-mile' delivery centers in the urban core,” says Kelley. “Our clients are now using old stores, underutilized office and repurposed industrial facilities to get even closer to the population and meet delivery expectations.”

The CBRE report outlines four of this season's trends. These trends center on improvements in e-commerce logistics as well as shoppers' demand for new and unique options.

1. The mainstreaming of “rogue retailing”: Shopping center owners and retailers are working to woo shoppers with unusual concepts that make each visit unique. Temporary, pop-up stores and more independent, craft stores are among the strategies. Mall owners such as Westfield Group, as well as several established retailers like Nordstrom, are actively embracing the pop-up format.

2. Expanded e-commerce: Online sales are again expected to outpace in-store sales this season. What's not as well-known, however, is who is driving those clicks: Brick-and-mortar retailers dominate online sales, and they're investing in their platforms to do more. And mobile commerce has emerged as the fastest growing sector of online sales.

3. Improved logistics beget e-commerce profits: This could be the season in which the technology, analytics, delivery networks and past experience amassed by retailers and shippers coalesce to produce ideal holiday logistics—to the point of making e-commerce profitable. That includes shoring up strategies for minimizing returns of goods bought online and quickly processing those that are sent back.

4. The holiday promotions shuffle: A proliferation of landmark shopping days, from Black Friday and Small Business Saturday to Green Monday and Free Shipping Day, is allowing retailers to spread their promotions and shopper traffic across the entire season rather than just a couple of key days. Many thus can better manage their inventory. Shoppers, meanwhile, tend to dwell longer and spend more absent the hectic crowds.

“This holiday shopping season is all about thinking outside the traditional retail box,” says Melina Cordero, CBRE Head of Retail Research, the Americas. “Retailers are innovating their store formats and revamping their e-commerce fulfillment systems. Owners are adding new and intriguing stores to their mix. It will add up to a very different and more efficient holiday shopping season.”

Which retailers will win in 2017? Check out one viewpoint.