The pandemic has accelerated disruption in retail and shifting spending even faster to online. Paradoxically, it has also underscored the importance of the physical store. In short, consumers more than ever want multichannel shopping options. Their perfect experience is a mix of physical stores, online stores, mobile commerce and social commerce, according to a new report by CBRE.

What may be invisible to the consumer, though, is the changing role of the physical store from  the back end, namely also serving distribution or last-mile fulfillment needs for online sales.

CBRE refers to this as the hybrid store, and forecasts that it will be a model for the future of retail. The hybrid store will both provide an in-store retail experience while also providing support for online sales. "Although not every store in a retailer's portfolio will be a hybrid, it is evident that retailers will need to strategically determine how many and which stores should be converted to a hybrid model," John Morris, leader of industrial logistics and retail for the Americas, said in the report.

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Kelsi Maree Borland

Kelsi Maree Borland is a freelance journalist and magazine writer based in Los Angeles, California. For more than 5 years, she has extensively reported on the commercial real estate industry, covering major deals across all commercial asset classes, investment strategy and capital markets trends, market commentary, economic trends and new technologies disrupting and revolutionizing the industry. Her work appears daily on GlobeSt.com and regularly in Real Estate Forum Magazine. As a magazine writer, she covers lifestyle and travel trends. Her work has appeared in Angeleno, Los Angeles Magazine, Travel and Leisure and more.