Adhering to Government advice, UK shopping centres are tentatively opening their doors to the public after three months of closure. Across Europe, many have already reopened and are reporting a cautious return to normality with footfall levels in Italy standing at 70 per cent compared with last year; in Germany the figure is 80 per cent and in Spain, 20-30 per cent.

Although it’s too early to predict how UK consumers will respond, Savills research indicates that 40 per cent have missed going shopping. Coupled with the fact that 57 per cent miss socialising with friends, appetite amongst shoppers to return to browsing and buying is certainly there.

Despite the demand, the challenges the retail sector was facing pre-pandemic will be the hardest thing for it to shake off as we begin a new normal. It is inevitable that there will have been and will be casualties along the way but, like every crisis before it, this one will open up space for new contenders and could just be the start of the new chapter the retail sector was waiting for.

Where consumers have been easily able to adapt their shopping habits to the restrictions (shopping online instead of in person), it has not been as simple for retailers. Those who were ahead of the curve with an omnichannel approach will have weathered the storm better than those for whom a bricks and mortar shop was their only offering.

Nevertheless, we must not be naïve to the fact that this diversification in strategy does not happen overnight; it costs time and money and should sit as part of the wider marketing of retailers’ brand and, most importantly, must be supported by other parts of the retail chain including the landlord.

We are no strangers to the rocky saga of landlord vs tenant. There hasn’t been a day in the last three years when business rates, CVA and administration haven’t been in the press. Yet as we slowly emerge into a world of social distancing, surely this is the chance the sector was waiting for to shake off the struggles of the last few years and focus on implementing long-lasting changes, with landlords and tenants working in unison.

In the immediate term, both must ensure that they regain the trust of their audiences by making them feel safe and secure from the get-go. This will include PPE/safe queueing systems and using technology to plan visits.

Longer-term, it will be up to landlords not to replicate the same experiences across the UK/Europe, and considering what consumers want to see will be even more important than before. Innovation will be top of the agenda for landlords and retailers alike with more attention towards an omnichannel strategy to attract digitally literate customers.

The above will be paramount for the retail sector to shake of the heavy coat of gloom it was subjected to before the pandemic and to start afresh where the ability to be flexible, collaborative, engaging and creative will likely be the key tools to moving towards a new era.

Further information

Contact Savills Property Management