The FutuRE of Retail sessions will explore how the hard-hit but rapidly-evolving sector is responding to the steep decline in consumer spending, with buyers across the region shunning both malls and high street retail as they migrate increasingly to online channels. We will explore what is happening on the ground, what strategies physical retailers are (successfully) embracing, how the definition of omni-channel will change in the post-COVID world, and what the retail real estate concept of the future will look like.

These themes and others will be discussed by thought leaders from across the retail, real estate and investment worlds in a series of monthly webinars that focus on four main pillars — Strategy, Operations, Technology and Content. The series also forms a precursor to the ULI’s ‘Experience the Experience‘ Retail x Hospitality Forum which is currently scheduled to take place in Bangkok on 3-5 February 2021.

We look at the current state of play for Physical Retail in the Asia Pacific region and ask: What key tactics are owners and operators adopting to mitigate lower consumer spending caused by COVID 19? What can we learn as an industry from operators across Asia Pacific? What does the future hold for brick and mortar retailers?