What 2023 May Have in Store for Stores

For all the challenges brick-and-mortar retailers have faced in recent times, from COVID to inflation and more, such stores have adapted to new constraints and found continued relevance, a white paper from location analytics firm Placer Labs Inc. (Los Altos, Calif.) concludes.

That said, what does the near future hold for such retailers? To identify likely trends, Placer said it “looked at foot traffic data for leading brands and segments, dove into migration flows and analyzed office recovery patterns to predict what the coming year may have in store.”

Based on those parameters, the paper says the following trends (and several others detailed in the full report) will probably be trending in 2023: 

Continued Format Evolutions: Retail is being defined by a push to flexibility – in the overall size of stores, in the things being sold within them and in the places where they are located. This includes shop-in-shop concepts and adjusting store footprints to make room for innovations.

The Rebirth of B Malls: Top-tier malls are thriving, resulting a major push by retailers to increase their presence in such locations. At the same time, many of these malls are looking to widen their stable of non-traditional tenants. The result is greater competition for limited spaces. So, where will tenants go? One plausible destination: second-tier malls. The wider bump that top-tier malls have seen could drive a trickle-down process of success to others below.

Retail Media Networks: In-store media networks are a channel that can continue driving increased revenues for retailers, landlords and product companies. But their true value comes from fostering a wider realization of how to maximize a given retail location’s potential.

Click here for a link to download the complete white paper.