Shopping Center Business

DEC 2017

Shopping Center Business is the leading monthly business magazine for the retail real estate industry.

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ONLINE RETAIL 130 • SHOPPING CENTER BUSINESS • December 2017 ONLINE BRANDS LOOK FOR HIGH TRAFFIC But when online retailers add "brick" to their "click," where do they do it? In respect to site selection, these brands do enjoy one nice advantage. E-commerce players possess plenty of customer data, such as buying behavior, browsing inter- ests and habits and geography. Online re- tailers tap this intelligence when making location choices. Their customer intelli- gence also helps sharpen real-life market- ing and merchandising techniques in a way that meets consumer needs. Broadly speaking, the best siting would tend to occur in core, urban, high-street markets with strong fundamentals. Retail- ers would aim for appropriate co-tenancy, a venue that's appealing to tourists, and spots with daily, high-volume foot traffic. And as it turns out, a large proportion of the crossover retailer cohort has honed in on New York City as its launch pad for a "brick" presence. It's a unique place, a global, cultural capital with a huge and growing population and wide demo- graphic sweep. Even with the well-publicized uptick in its inventory of available retail space, New York City remains the market of choice for brands aiming to create or elevate a meaningful national profile. Looking more narrowly at the choice of specific submarkets, we see these re- tailers seeking out some level of cultural alignment between store location and the more youthful and trendy profile of many online shoppers. "We're-adding-bricks- to-our-clicks" companies thus gravitate toward New York City submarkets that deliver a relatively younger demographic. WHO'S WHO ON THE BRICKS Here are some "click-to-brick" brands that have set up shop in New York: • Bonobos began operations as a "click-only" men's apparel retailer in 2007. It launched its first physical stores, called "guideshops," in 2012. At last count, Bonobos had 39 guideshops around the country. Six are in New York City: Low- er Manhattan (Brookfield Place); SoHo; Madison Avenue in Midtown; two in the Flatiron district; and Cobble Hill in Brooklyn. • UNTUCKit launched in 2010 as an online men's apparel company. Its initial focus was on casual men's shirts worn "untucked." UNTUCKit, which has since added a women's line, is now one of America's fastest-growing lifestyle brands. It opened its first storefront on Prince Street in SoHo in 2015. There are currently 12 stores nationwide, and the chain is aiming for more than 20 around the United States by the end of 2017. This includes the addition of a second Manhat- tan store on Madison Avenue that — per- haps unsurprisingly – is next to a Bonobos outlet. • Warby Parker launched in 2012 as an online-only designer eyewear retailer. It has since opened more than 50 physical stores across the country. The company

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