Each year, at our Sperry Van Ness® (SVN) National Conference, I talk to our commercial real estate advisors and business owners about game-changing trends. Game-changers occur when people are doing things (working, playing, living) differently than they used to just a few years ago. This year, I compiled them under 4 categories: Communication, Design, Collaboration and Distribution.

Trends in Distribution

The following video features the third portion of my 2015 talk on trends. Watch the video and read the takeaways below.

Main Takeaways in Distribution Trends

Retail establishments will need:

1. “Omnichannel” sales, meaning in person, online and even retailer to retailer distribution.

2. Customized delivery options, including the ability to pay different prices for different rates of delivery (same day, next day, 2-days or more); and pick up in store.

3. Smart fulfillment centers that may even have robots performing most of the work, located near to large population areas.

Most people think of Amazon as a store, but it is truly a distributor of products and their innovations in this area are extraordinary. While it may be a long time before drones will have the flight clearance to deliver our packages from the nearest smart fulfillment center, Amazon is experimenting with actual stores, same day delivery in urban areas, Amazon Prime which rewards loyal customers; and even a new slow delivery option where they give you eBook credits. It will probably not be long before we can order a product via our phones and pick up in the store, and if we haven’t paid online, we can go to a retail location and a robot will bring us our product which we will pay for by a few taps of on our smartwatch.

At Sperry Van Ness International Corporation, we are watching these trends to see how they affect the commercial real estate industry. Our goal is to capitalize on these trends so that our advisors are using the most powerful tools to the benefit of their clients.

To view the full speech please visit our YouTube page.