Despite the pandemic and the shift of retail spend online, investment into retailers and their associated brand industries (apparel, consumer durables, restaurant and leisure) has been on an upwards trend. Investment over the last 18 months has slowed but 2021 was a new three-year peak totalling £284bn globally, with retail companies receiving 61% of this investment.

But, does this tell us anything about future expansion into physical space?

Typically, fresh investment often translates into new space requirements, albeit this will be dependent on the types of companies receiving investment. In the case of recent trends, the bulk of activity has been focused on verticals related to E-commerce, with some of the largest growth seen for verticals covering supply chain technology (+150% 3yr CAGR) and mobility technology (+152% 3yr CAGR). There has also been increased investment into companies that are more likely to take physical space. Beauty, for example, has seen cumulative investment expand 79% per annum over the last three years. Wellness-focused companies have seen inflows increase by 60% per annum on the same basis. Likewise, restaurants, leisure and hotels have seen a 17% increase per annum, with significant growth in E-Sports (+80% per annum) and Gaming (+71% per annum) concepts.

These recent investment trends are already starting to feed through to space requirements, some of which are explored in more detail below.

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