Evolving over the past 40 years, the retail property sector has moved beyond the traditional High Street to encompass a wide range of formats, providing different levels of accessibility, range, price and functionality. Retailing, and retail real estate, is again going through a period of change. In addition to the impact of the recession and extended austerity, retailing is being transformed by the rapid growth of Internet and multichannel shopping.

Retailing and retail real estate is not homogenous across European countries. Despite a notable increase in the number of pan-European retailers, differences range from the types of goods that consumers want to buy to the locations in which they prefer to shop, from average lease length to methods of indexation.

When considering the implications of online shopping and multichannel retailing, it is worth remembering this lack of heterogeneity. According to an Information Society report from