Back on the road: ICSC Here, We Go. Las Vegas

In early December, we headed out to Las Vegas for the ICSC event, Here, We Go. 2021. While the event was much anticipated, we must confess, we were a little unsure what to expect given this has been the first big location intelligence event in many, many months.

However, we shouldn’t have worried! The Kalibrate family of companies was able to meet with numerous clients and prospective clients over the two days, and we had plenty to update them on around our new location intelligence capabilities. Here are just some of the themes we heard from customers and prospects at the event.

Store-in-store concepts are here to stay

The appeal of store-in-store (or shop-in-shop) locations continues to grow, representing a less capital-intensive means of reaching potential customers. We expect to see an expansion of this concept in 2022 as more and more retailers assess the viability of adding store-in-store to their mix of formats.

Omnichannel and the need to understand the relationship between bricks and clicks

One that’s continued to grow and gather pace; more retailers are more interested than ever in the relationship between brick and mortar sales and e-commerce sales, or the impact that opening and closing stores have on online sales. Some are going even further, quantifying the relative impact of investing in store openings vs. investing in marketing to e-commerce customers.

Post-COVID sales trends

Most tenants have confidence that their sales trends since the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic are predictable enough that they can use current revenue performance as a guide to the future, rather than relying on CY 2019 sales or 12 months ending February 2020. For most, we’ve now reached a point of ‘normal’ that has a degree of predictability.

Housing growth

Several Kalibrate clients were interested in making sure that they are fully abreast of new housing developments, given the current status of the housing industry. It has been more than 10 years since the 2007-2008 housing downturn, and tenants are concerned about potentially missing out on high-growth deployment opportunities. This specific use case is something we’ve always supported clients on, but there seems to be a more acute need in recent months.

Electric vehicles: a new opportunity for retailers 

New to the trade show floor this year were companies that support businesses keen to understand the opportunity around electric vehicles. With California’s new EV mandates, and other states stepping up their incentives, EV is a trend that is grabbing attention across a range of retail verticals. Those looking to learn more about EV can read our research on the opportunity presented by charging.

Interested in learning how one of these trends affects your business? Get in touch and to find out more about how Kalibrate can check your strategy is on-point in 2022.

Many thanks to all at the ICSC for putting on a great, safe, show, and all the clients who dropped by to say ‘hello’. We look forward to seeing you next year.