International real estate advisor Savills has expanded its European investment offer to include a dedicated omnichannel retail team, allowing the firm to advise clients on the whole retail supply chain in this market.
The new team will be led by Marcus de Minckwitz, who moves from Savills UK Investment team. He will be working alongside Oli Fraser-Looen, Savills head of retail investment in Europe.
'Retailers’ real estate strategies are central to them successfully adapting to the structural changes in the retail markets and we believe there is a unique opportunity as investment advisors to offer retailers, logistics providers, developers and investors a bespoke service that considers the whole supply chain,' said Fraser-Looen.
E-commerce is growing rapidly across the continent and is forecast to grow by another 5-10% this year, according to Savills. As a result, the logistics market is currently one of the most in-demand sectors in Europe, but is not without its challenges, Fraser-Looen said.
'In order to help our clients capitalise best on this structural change we are expanding our offer to ensure we are able to provide them with best in class advice on multichannel retailing across the continent. Currently logistics and retail are considered very separate asset classes, but we believe the future on a pan-European level will be a highly fluid one where parts of the retail and logistics supply chain merge into a new asset class,' added Fraser-Looen.
'The logistics markets across continental Europe are now experiencing the same impact that e-commerce has had on the UK over the last five years where retail linked tenants have accounted for over 60% of take-up during that time period,' said Marcus de Minckwitz, European cross-border logistics investment, Savills.
'Average online sales across Europe are still less than half of those in the UK but it is clear that the rapid growth of e-commerce we have seen in the UK is already well underway on the continent and this is translating into occupier demand for the logistics sector.
'At the moment the real estate profession is taking a multichannel approach to the way in which it advises on the different properties within the retail supply chain. Our new omnichannel retail group combines our retail and logistics expertise across Europe to provide an integrated advisory service to our clients,' de Minckwitz concluded.
