With more and more people using public transportation and air travel, it is no surprise that retailing in transport hubs like airports, train stations, subways and highways have taken center stage in market trends. The Airport retailing market alone is set to grow by more than 60% by the year 2015 representing an estimated $44.1 billion. As the industry grows to cater to over 760 million travelers annually, global operators and contract holders are thinking about developing their real estate into commercial assets by expanding their logistics and distribution chains and transforming their air and train terminals into fully functioning shopping malls.
Surrounded by hundreds, sometimes thousands of hectares of undeveloped land for environmental buffer, airports are sitting on a potential goldmine of real estate opportunity. One of the top performing channels in retail, investment from airport authorities is set to increase over the next several years. These investors will certainly be looking to emerging markets, as the greater part of growth we see is coming from Asian Pacific economies, forecast to grow by 76.2%, not to mention the Middle East and Africa, which is forecast to grow by 40.0%. Apart from clothing shops, food courts and existing duty free sales at airport shops which grew 162% from $8.9 billion to $23.3 billion between 2001 and 2010, there exists a host of other development opportunities for airports to exploit. Office blocks, hotels, convention centers, medical facilities, casinos, free trade zones and even entertainment and theme parks can be built within or just beyond the airport fence to generate new sources of revenue for the airport operator and encourage the perception of the airport as a business or tourism destination in its own right.
The railway terminal industry will no doubt be taking lessons from the airport retailing market. Train and Rail stations are also experiencing the retail “boom”. In the UK alone, over a billion people visit major transport hubs such as King’s Cross, Euston, Manchester Piccadilly, Birmingham New Street and Glasgow Central each year. This figure is set to double over the next 30 years. With more travelers, improved technology and the regeneration of many major train and rail platforms worldwide, there is huge real estate development and revenue potential for stations through retail concessions and other means.
In 2012, MAPIC will introduce a new zone exclusively dedicated to this thriving sector: Retail in Transport Hubs. This zone will offer a detailed conference session in the official 3 day program with a dedicated wi-fi enabled exhibition area for industry professionals to meet and forge partnerships among 8,000 developers, investors and consultants. A 20-minute speaking slot will also enable presenters to share their project and/or case study with potential retailers, investors or developers.
For more information about this exclusive offer in our Retail in Transport Hubs zone, Contact our sales office directly
To learn more about the our leading International Retail Real Estate show, visit our site.
For more industry insight on the sector Retail in Transport Hubs, please download our last issue of MORE Vision by MAPIC 5: Retail in Motion.
Source: http://www.giiresearch.com/report/ver229327-global-airport-retailing-market-size-retailer.html
Source: ©The Moodie Report Published: 06/02/12
Top image credit : Photobank gallery
