DALLAS—In today's ever-changing technological world, transactions executed on a laptop, tablet or smartphone has become commonplace. Taking it to the next level, certain appliances are now capable of signaling that the milk is low in the refrigerator or the ink is empty in the printer, order it and have it shipped that same day without any human intervention.
Commercial transactions conducted electronically—known universally as e-commerce—have been a boom for retailers but has left the industrial commercial real estate industry scrambling to catch up. And if keeping up with US demand is not difficult enough, the handling of imports is even more challenging.
“By 2020 we will have $140 billion of goods coming into the United States,” said Curtis Spencer, president at IMS Worldwide, during an e-commerce panel at RealShare Industrial in Plano, Texas. “This will require 160 new big box distribution centers, 110 sort centers—usually Class B space closer to populated cities—and even more facilities in the more-dense cities to solve the last mile problem for same-day delivery, which is here to stay.”
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Melissa Baer
Melissa Baer is an editor for GlobeSt.com. Her experience includes over 14 years in the publishing industry writing for various trade magazines largely focusing on sustainable architecture and design. In 2007, she founded a publication spotlighting green building and was the acting editor-in-chief for over seven years. She currently produces regional and national commercial real estate conferences for ALM’s Global Events.
