The new normal of a much more flexible Retail

Most experts in the sector focus on e-commerce and agree on it being the main disruptive factor transforming the retail sector is, taking into account the experience gained in more mature markets.

Let’s imagine that 20 years have passed after Covid-19. We go out and take a walk through some of the main avenues of our cities. Will we find a commercial volume comparable to that existing today? The answer is no.

In the case of retail, changes in shopping access habits are predictable, which will impact the contractual rental models being used until now, characterized, among other factors by a high standardization.

What will be the most relevant changes? In Flexible Places we believe that flexibility will become the fundamental pillar of the new leasing contracts in the retail sector.

Co-working and, more recently, co-living have become popular concepts in this sector, arising as proposals to meet the incessant need to share spaces, in order to adequately respond to the contingent needs of its users, diluting costs for the common interest.

Flexibility is strengthening in the retail market, and it is accelerating also, as a consequence of this new situation arisen from the Coronavirus in Spain, allowing it to meet its destiny: the flexibility of time.

There are some questions arising that we would like to share with you: Will long-term leases continue to make sense? Will the clauses regulating compulsory deadlines containing penalties in case of breach be maintained? Furthermore, if access to establishments and their capacity are limited to avoid large crowds, will it make sense to keep a fixed rental or should we lean towards a variable rental that shall meet the income actually received by the tenant?

We will have answers to these questions shortly, even though it is predictable that the new contractual models will lean towards the COLLABORATIVE ECONOMY. We are headed to collective and collaborative trends, essential factors to respond accurately to the uncertainties that the future brings. That is the reason for us to adapt to the new times in which traditional retail gives way to the incessant challenge that began in March 2020.