Retail Revival: A new golden age looms

Retail has been at the epicentre of cyclical and structural change. Prior to COVID-19 the sector was grappling with rapid ecommerce growth and changing consumer habits. The pandemic compounded those challenges and adversely impacted occupancy, rental collection and market sentiment. Look closer though and pockets of resilience exist. Many occupiers have not just survived, but thrived over the last two years. With the pandemic becoming endemic, a golden age beckons for future-proofed physical retail formats, assets and locations and informed investors who position their strategies accordingly. The pain has been realisedThe pandemic had an immediate and dramatic impact on physical retail. Non-essential retailers were forced to closed and high street footfall collapsed and has yet to recover (figure 1). Poland’s ecommerce penetration rate was 8% in 2018 and is expected to reach 14% in 2022 with online spending boosted by the pandemic. Retail capital values fell by 20% over 2020 and