Source: National Real Estate Investor

Anticipating a surge in online shopping during the holidays, e-commerce tenants are already prepared to handle the swell in orders, having locked in additional industrial space during the second and third quarters, according to Steve Schnur, executive vice president/COO at Indiana-based industrial REIT Duke Realty.

Online retail sales increased a whopping 30.1 percent during the first six months of the year, compared to the same period in 2019, from $266.84 billion to $347.84 billion, according to Digital Commerce 360 analysis by the U.S. Department of Commerce data.

Online shopping is expected to jump even more during the holidays, with software company Salesforce predicting that as much as 30 percent of all global retail sales will conducted online during the 2020 holiday season. A Statista survey found that nearly half of U.S. consumers plan to shop online during the period, reports Finch. What happens in the November election and whether there will be a new government stimulus package before the end of the year will also have an impact on online holiday sales, according to Pete Quinn, national director for industrial with real estate services firm Colliers International.

Read the full article