Traditionally, the German Council of Shopping Places, the trade association for the retail real estate industry, invites you to an industry meeting in Berlin once a year. There is always a motto under which people in the industry and experts discuss.
This year the motto was plain text. And the experts didn’t hold back when it came to plain language. We have collected and compiled some of their key statements in this issue. The condition of the city centers and online trading was looked at. There was also a discussion about the future of department stores and the demands of consumers. Problems and challenging developments were identified in all areas. “We have to get used to the fact that we no longer have 300,000 stores, but rather fewer than 200,000,” said Gerrit Heinemann from the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences, referring to the city centers. Wolfgang Merkle from the University of Europe for Applied Sciences looked at consumer behavior: “Only if the consumer goes into a concept that really excites them and is fascinating to them, will they stay there in the long term.”
The problems of retail and inner cities were brought to the point. And even though this has all been discussed many times, outside input is important. Supporting developments with numbers and looking at the big picture, as scientists do, is the basis for improving the situation. It is clear that the wheel cannot be turned back: the number of shops in the city center will no longer return to the level of the last decades. Consumers will also no longer want to do without the variety of offers. What can be worked on, however, is dealing with the changing conditions. Anyone who knows the numbers and has solid forecasts of development ready can better adapt to the market and make more productive suggestions to local politicians in order to improve the quality of life in the city center.
