The European retail market is undergoing massive changes as e-commerce grows and consumer habits change. Here are our 10 key takeaways from the annual RICS European Retail conference that was organised in Amsterdam this week.

Colliers International is predicting it will be a further seven years before there is a rebalancing of the physical and online retailing sectors across Europe.

There is room for online and conventional channel retail to continue co-existing side by side in the short to medium term in the CEE-6 markets, according to Colliers International. The solid further €71.5 billion expansion of retail sales out to 2022, 4.9% growth per annum overall, creates enough evolutionary room for multiple concepts to continue thriving. Conservative growth scenario sees e-commerce in CEE-6 expanding 8.8% per annum from a baseline of €13.1 billion to €20 billion.

What is the size of the e-commerce marketplace in the CEE region? How much more might online sales activity grow in the coming years? What are the implications for the demand for the logistics and retail real estate arenas in the CEE-6 countries? The latest research by Colliers International assesses these key questions that will shape the marketplace for real estate space in these sectors going forward. 

LPP SA, the owner of brands including Reserved, Cropp, House, Mohito and Sinsay, has leased 16,000 sqm at Panattoni Park Gdańsk III, which will be dedicated to e-commerce. The complex is currently under development, and the tenant will be moving in already in Q3 2018.

The rapid growth of e-commerce is changing the way warehouses are being built. In many BTS buildings, automated or semi-automated racking systems and robots are deployed for product storage and picking, says Krzysztof Czekalski, Technical Director in the Industrial & Warehouse Department at Cresa.

Occupier activity set an all-time high on the Polish industrial market in the first three months of 2018, which pushed the country’s vacancy rate down to its lowest on record. Demand came mostly from e-commerce (24%), logistics operators (23%) and retailers (19%). Cushman & Wakefield presented a summary of the first quarter of 2018 on the Polish warehouse and industrial market.

With consumer habits changing rapidly and technology reshaping the entire real estate industry, the only way for shopping centres to stay in the race is to innovate. Ingo Nissen, Sonae Sierra’s Managing Director for Romania talked about the future of retail and the Romanian retail market in particular.

The pace of change in property is undoubtedly getting faster. The way real estate is being built, managed and valued is being digitised which means that sooner or later many of the current job titles will disappear. Property Forum reports from MIPIM where a discussion held on the Colliers International boat provided a deep insight into the future of the property business.

EPP published its financial results for the full-year of 2017. During the period, the distributable income was at €76.6 million, exceeding the forecasts. At the same time, the company kept building its strong presence in Poland’s key cities, while EPP-owned properties enjoyed growing footfall and increasing sales. The value of asset portfolio rose by 29%, to €1.95 billion.