MAPIC 2015: Around 60% of EU internet users now shop online and in 10 years’ time between 20-25% of all retail spend is expected to be generated online, according to a new report by Savills.
The report, Megatrends: What lies ahead for the European retail industry?, states that retailers across Europe need to start future-proofing their businesses in order to remain competitive and profitable in the next decade.
However, the firm still predicts that the largest share of retail activity will still take place in physical shops.
The report suggests that in the future people of all ages will become omni-consumers, where they combine the online and offline world in their daily lives.
Eri Mitsostergiou, director of European research at Savills, said: “We have seen how the most successful retailers in Europe have kept in step with these cultural changes, and have merged the digital and physical models of their businesses in an integrated channel.”
Larry Brennan, director of European Retail at Savills, added: “The evolving retail world will create new challenges. Retailers and logistics providers will have to be capable of managing much more complex order and distribution channels.
“For parts of Europe that are remote, or underdeveloped, or where internet usage is in its infancy, this will be particularly difficult.”
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