The whole Black Friday—now Cyber Monday shopping spectacle has turned into a Pavlovian binge by consumers—people rush into stores and now onto their computer devices lured by the prospect of bargains and buy plenty of other things they don’t really need, because it’s the time of the year to behave this way.
And as predictable as sidewalk Santas showing up on the Friday after Thanksgiving, we read headlines in the week following about record sales and various retail analyst predictions for holiday bottom lines, which never seem to pan out. Typically holiday receipts turn out lower than the initial indicators as retailers have been forced into further discounts as Christmas Day approaches. Expect that to happen again this year since the economy is hardly operating on all cylinders.
For all the media frenzy about bleary-eyed shoppers going to malls in the middle of the night bloated after eating too much stuffing and pumpkin pie and stumbling all over each other for a big screen TV or the latest android phone, the one clear trend is the steady gains made by e-commerce retailers.
Folks actually want out of the lines and all the pushing and shoving. Better to sit at home with a cup of coffee and find deals on the I-pad in the comfort of that favorite chair than grope and grab through store aisles. And who needs the hassle of finding a parking spot, not to mention going out in the cold, lugging boxes and bags back to the car. Shopping as entertainment somehow loses its edge and the need for instant gratification isn’t as paramount when the whole idea is opening your presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day—still weeks away. Add in the free deliver and (still) no sales tax, and the e-commerce retailers gain more and more traction.
Of course, the bricks retailers get the picture and have boarded the e-commerce bandwagon. They look to sell more on line, while downsizing store formats and consolidating in the best locations and malls. They want high profile, high traffic locations to showcase their brands, but will rely increasingly on web portals to handle actual sales. It’s all more efficient and profitable anyway. They can spend less on store rents and store personnel, and ship directly to consumers from centralized warehouses, avoiding all sorts of expensive intermediary stops and steps. They can also track consumer sales patterns and tailor marketing gambits to individuals’ buying habits more easily and directly. Just shoot an email offer back at their customer.
Again this year, the shopping center owner with a surfeit of empty space must be getting a bit of an extra chill as he or she looks what’s happening in on line buying. Of course, people will always want to shop in stores and touch the merchandise and get personal attention from a sales person. But they also know they don’t have to go to a store to get what they need, and if they don’t need it immediately or don’t get a special shopping experience when they go to a store, why make the trip—save the gas and the time, and go on line instead.
The store thing just isn’t what it used to be.
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.
Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
*May exclude premium content© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Jonathan D. Miller
A marketing communication strategist who turned to real estate analysis, Jonathan D. Miller is a foremost interpreter of 21st citistate futures – cities and suburbs alike – seen through the lens of lifestyles and market realities. For more than 20 years (1992-2013), Miller authored Emerging Trends in Real Estate, the leading commercial real estate industry outlook report, published annually by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Urban Land Institute (ULI). He has lectures frequently on trends in real estate, including the future of America's major 24-hour urban centers and sprawling suburbs. He also has been author of ULI’s annual forecasts on infrastructure and its What’s Next? series of forecasts. On a weekly basis, he writes the Trendczar blog for GlobeStreet.com, the real estate news website. Outside his published forecasting work, Miller is a prominent communications/institutional investor-marketing strategist and partner in Miller Ryan LLC, helping corporate clients develop and execute branding and communications programs. He led the re-branding of GMAC Commercial Mortgage to Capmark Financial Group Inc. and he was part of the management team that helped build Equitable Real Estate Investment Management, Inc. (subsequently Lend Lease Real Estate Investments, Inc.) into the leading real estate advisor to pension funds and other real institutional investors. He joined the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the U.S. in 1981, moving to Equitable Real Estate in 1984 as head of Corporate/Marketing Communications. In the 1980's he managed relations for several of the country's most prominent real estate developments including New York's Trump Tower and the Equitable Center. Earlier in his career, Miller was a reporter for Gannett Newspapers. He is a member of the Citistates Group and a board member of NYC Outward Bound Schools and the Center for Employment Opportunities.
