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Australia’s shopping centers are host to a diverse range of tenants supplying consumers with various retail options. In 2017, apparel retailers accounted for around ** percent of all sub-regional shopping center floor space in Australia. With the recent outbreak of COVID-19, retailers are at risk of closing brick and mortar outlets due to a consumer shift from offline to online shopping.

Changing retail spaces

As the population of the country has grown, so has the presence of commercial retail outlets and shopping centers. In fact, Australia’s retail space per capita is one of the highest in the world. Nevertheless, the Australian retail e-commerce market share was forecasted to continue to increase to over percent of total retail sales, indicating a change in consumer shopping preferences. This alone may have an impact on how retail space is managed in the future.

The cost of doing business post COVID-19

According to property professionals, rent in retail spaces was expected to decrease across all states in the year following the COVID-19 outbreak. Additionally, the retail sector offered the lowest share of its employees’ work-from-home arrangements out of all other industries, solidifying its reliance on brick and mortar outlets. The aftereffects of the outbreak, including social distancing and work-from-home implementation, has set a precedent for what commercial tenants may require in the future.