MAPIC: 40% of retailers plan online offensive in 2013

Cross-border retailers will continue to develop online transactional capability in new markets in 2013, with 40% looking to expand their geographical online coverage, up from 28% last year, CBRE has found.

Last year, retailers’ plans were more focused on expanding online product coverage. Only 27% of retailers have no significant plans to enhance their transactional capability in 2013, CBRE's 'How Active are Retailers in EMEA?' report says.

Retailers' overall expansion ambitions for 2013 have not changed significantly from 2012. A similar proportion (44%) of retailers plan to open 10 stores or less. One third of retailers - more than last year - plan to open 11-30 stores, reflecting an ambitious level of expansion given the difficulty in accessing prime space in many markets. However, large-scale expansion plans are still on the agenda for many retailers with 20% looking to open more than 30 stores compared to 25% last year.

Peter Gold, head of cross-border retail EMEA at CBRE, commented: 'Multichannel retailing has come a long way in a short time, but contrary to some predictions the store will play a key role in its development. There is a close correlation between the role of the store and multichannel - online shopping drives traffic to stores and retailers use it is an opportunity for store fulfilment. CBRE research shows that in two years' time shoppers will equally favour collection from stores as they do delivery of online goods to their home or office.

'The news - direct from the retailers themselves - is that multichannel will lead to greater investment in new and existing stores, as it is seen as something that enhances rather than replaces the idea of shopping as a social activity. The internet has been regarded in apocalyptic terms by many retail market-watchers; however, we believe these fears are overdone and multichannel should be viewed as complementary as well as in competition.'