Brandon Donnelly — Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly. — Page 1126

I would like to pull out one more idea from Derek Thompson’s article, What in the World Is Causing the Retail Meltdown of 2017? It is this prediction that self-driving cars could maybe become the new retail store:

“Once autonomous vehicles are cheap, safe, and plentiful, retail and logistics companies could buy up millions, seeing that cars can be stores and streets are the ultimate real estate. In fact, self-driving cars could make shopping space nearly obsolete in some areas. CVS could have hundreds of self-driving minivans stocked with merchandise roving the suburbs all day and night, ready to be summoned to somebody’s home by smartphone. A new luxury-watch brand in 2025 might not spring for an Upper East Side storefront, but maybe its autonomous showroom vehicle could circle the neighborhood, waiting to be summoned to the doorstep of a tony apartment building. Autonomous retail will create new conveniences and traffic headaches, require new regulations, and inspire new business strategies that could take even more businesses out of commercial real estate. The future of retail could be even weirder yet.”

It’s an interesting idea. And perhaps not as far fetched as it may seem. Delivery timelines are constantly being compressed. And as the purchasing data gets better, it may be possible to anticipate sales before they even happen such that you’re minimizing the amount of unsold product being hauled around.

I’m going to end here because it’s now time for some Raptors playoff basketball. But what are your thoughts?

There is no shortage of articles talking about the disruption currently taking place in the retail space. Just this past weekend the New York Times wrote: Is American Retail at a Historic Tipping Point?  With  nine U.S. retailers filing for bankruptcy protection  in the first three months of 2017 alone, one could certainly make this argument.

The obvious explanation is the shift to online shopping. Mobile spending now also makes up > 20% of total digital dollars spent. But you already knew that. Nothing new here. Perhaps less trite is one of the explanations that Derek Thompson offers up in this Atlantic article : Americans are spending less on material possessions and more on meals and experiences with friends.

Take a look at this FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data) chart taken from the article:

According to Thompson, spending at “food services and drinking places” has grown twice as fast as all other retail spending since 2005. Americans now spend more money in bars and restaurants than they do in grocery stores. Last year was the first year that happened.

But the possible reason behind all of this is arguably the most interesting: young people are looking for ways to create great social media content. And going out for gluten-free dinners with friends and traveling to Tulum “with bae” are clearly far better fodder for that than scouring the sale racks at J.C. Penney. 

Social media is redirecting discretionary income. This is our new reality. Whether you’re a city builder or a retailer, you must now ask yourself: How shareable is the experience that I am trying to create? 

The United Nations and Bloomberg New Energy Finance recently published a report covering global trends in the renewable energy space for 2017 . 

Here are some of their key findings:

- 2016 was a record year in terms of renewable power capacity installed worldwide. This includes wind, solar, biomass and waste-to-energy, geothermal, small hydro, and marine sources.

- The share of global electricity generated from renewable sources rose from 10.3% (2015) to 11.3% (2016).

- However, overall investment in renewables declined in 2016 for two main reasons. Costs went down (good news). And China and Japan exhibited a dramatic slowdown in terms of investment activity (bad news).

- Acquisitions of renewal assets, such as wind farms and solar parks, hit a new peak at $72.7 billion.

- A number of promising new pricing records set in 2016: $29.10 per MWh for solar in Chile and $30 per MWh for onshore wind in Morocco.

- In one year, the cost of solar generation dropped on average about 17% and onshore wind dropped about 18%.