مقاله انگلیسی رایگان در مورد چگونگی تغییر املاک خرده فروشی و خیابان های بزرگ در همه گیری COVID-19 – الزویر 2021

Abstract

Keywords

1. Introduction

2. Relevant literature and theoretical underpinning

3. The change in retail asset management strategy

4. The function evolvement of physical stores in the multi-channel retailing

5. Summary of implications for the high street

6. Concluding remarks

Declaration of competing interest

References

Vitae

Abstract

This paper aims to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on retail real estate and high street landscape through acceleration of e-commerce and digitalization. The retail business have been evolving over the past several decades, accentuated by the evolution and development of digital technologies. Almost all parts of the world have witnessed the changes in consumer behavior, the nature of retail, and reshaping of the high street landscape due to the e-commerce revolution and continued expansion. Especially due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the retail platforms powered by digital technology had to be adapted quickly, and it is expected to continue to support this change as consumers and retailers adjust to new normalities. Moreover, retail real estate is intricately linked with the retail sector dynamics. While lockdown and social distance rules have devastating impacts on “traditional” retail property sector, it may accelerate the evolution process of multi-channel retail and the channel integration role of physical stores and thus, bring in transformations in urban-retail landscape. It is not necessarily leading to an end of high street stores, but it may have a significant impact on retail real estate business. There remains a lack of understanding of how these changes may pan out with a rigorous academic investigation. To close this knowledge gap, we analyze both the strategy event data of a range of UK retailers as well as the insights from interviews with retail asset manager and landlords using a mixed-method approach. The findings indicate an urgent need for physical shops to reposition the functions of their multi-channel business. Our analysis provide significant insights and highlight several implications for retailers, landlords and, also policy-making units dealing with urban regeneration and local economic development in the post-COVID-19 world.

1. Introduction

Arguably, two concurrent mega-trends with profound economic and social implications that we are experiencing are digitalization and urbanization fuelled by population growth. Retail real estate is right in the middle of these two megatrends. Basic economic needs of a vast population are continuously fuelling the emergence of technological innovations to cater to those needs. As a result, the traditional way of retailing has been going through massive transformations over the last couple of decades to address continuous disruptions. The recent COVID-19 pandemic experience has instigated even much sharper and sudden disruptions. It is not quite possible to see how exactly all these will pan out in future, and what shapes and formats of retail business will sustain coming out the COVID-19 crisis. Nonetheless, we undertake both primary and secondary research to highlight some issues and trends that can facilitate in understanding disruptions and the transformations that are starting to take shape.