TOM 01 2024

T
TOPS
M
OF THE MONTH
TOMO
RETAIL REAL ESTATE
TOPS
OF THE
MONTH
Essential News About The Players In In
The Retail Real Property Estate Market In in Germany
THE HOTTEST DEALS +++
INTERVIEWS +++ STATEMENTS
+++ PARTICULARS +++
ANALYSES +++ PROJECTS
presented by HI-HEUTE.DE
January 2024
Luxury miles like here in Milan are on the road to recovery.
Luxury retail shows resilience
Savills presents the latest European Retail Report
According to the Savills European
Retail Report 2023,
many of Europe‘s top retail
markets are currently recovering
despite economic headwinds.
According to Savills‘
observations, the increased
cost of living has had no impact
on spending in luxury retail,
which is primarily due to
the high purchasing power in
this segment and the restored
freedom to travel.
Europe‘s most important luxury
miles are showing robust
growth in visitor numbers,
which have risen by an average
of 8.4% year-on-year. The
strong recovery in the luxury
segment is also reflected in the
rental trend: in the 16 premium
shopping streets in Europe covered
by Savills, average prime
rents in the third quarter of 2023
were only two percent below
the level of the fourth quarter
of 2019. They have therefore
risen by 1.2 percent compared
to the lows at the end of 2021.
This increase is largely attributable
to luxury shopping streets
outside the major luxury cities
of London, Milan and Paris.
The resilience of rents in these
smaller markets is due to the
low availability of space and the
fact that they are predominantly
driven by domestic customers
and their spending. In contrast,
prime luxury streets in London
and Paris were more affected by
the absence of international visitors.
This was a decisive factor
for sales performance.
While Europe‘s luxury high
streets were the first to recover
from the pandemic, momentum
in prime high streets is also picking
up again. The vacancy
rate has fallen significantly since
its peak during the pandemic,
but remains above 2019 levels.
The decline in the vacancy rate
is leading to an increase in rents
in some markets, with prime
high streets - excluding London,
Milan and Paris - recording average
rental growth of 2.2% since
2021. Daniel Kroppmanns, Director
and Head of Retail Agency
Germany at Savills, comments:
„Even in the midst of the
current challenges, the German
luxury retail sector is showing
remarkable resilience. This is
reflected not least in the stable
demand from retailers for space
and the associated stable rents
at a high level. Munich, with
its popular Maximilianstrasse,
ranks eighth among the main
shopping streets in Europe, behind
the frontrunners in Milan,
London and Zurich. Goethestrasse
in Frankfurt is in ninth
place.“ In the third quarter of
2023, rents of around EUR 350
per square meter were achieved
in Frankfurt‘s shopping street,
compared to around EUR 400
per square meter in Munich‘s
Maximilianstrasse - a decrease
of 15 to 20 percent compared to
2019.
Although overall retail sales fell
last year, this was not reflected
in all market segments. The tense
financial situation of consumers
has boosted spending and
market shares of discounters
in particular. This applies to
both food and non-food items,
as consumers are keen to save
money and choose cheaper options
when purchasing everyday
Photo: Pixabay / Igor Saveliev
items. The low propensity to
spend has led to spending on
leisure activities and restaurant
visits being prioritized. These
accounted for 54% of total
European retail sales in quarters
one to three and were therefore
on a par with the previous year.
A minimal increase to 55% is
forecast for 2024.
„Recently, retailers have preferred
city center locations in European
cities to regional shopping
centers on the outskirts. Brands
prefer to locate in the city center
to increase their visibility to
a greater number of customers
and benefit from the strong revival
of footfall. As a result, we
are seeing a decline in vacancies
in prime high streets in a
number of markets,“ says Larry
Brennan, Head of European
Retail Agency at Savills. These
high streets are also attractive
locations for online brands due
to the potential customer reach.
More and more previously online-only
brands are opening
their own local stores as the cost
of (online) customer acquisition
has risen.

Page 2
NEWS
January 2024
Pleasing annual results
at VÖLKEL Real Estate
Around 90 new leases signed or extended
According to VÖLKEL Real
Estate, it has concluded or
actively extended around 90
new leases and around 60,000
square meters for its managed
portfolio of shopping centers
and retail parks in 2023.
This represents an increase
of around ten percent on the
previous year.
The trend in the retail sector towards
shorter terms was halted
in the VÖLKEL portfolio. The
weighted average of new leases
and lease extensions was higher
than in the previous year - at a
good 3.5 years. The slight increase
in average rents compared
to the previous year was primarily
influenced by the larger
share of retail rental space in
strong shopping centers in the
agreements concluded in 2023.
Retailers
open again
Rüdiger Hampe, Managing Director for Development, Leasing
and Revitalization at VÖLKEL. Photo: VÖLKEL
„After the challenging phase of
the pandemic last year, we have
noticed that many retailers are
once again open to economically
attractive offers of well-located,
suitable space in strong
retail properties and have also
secured their locations in established,
economically viable
properties for longer,“ says Managing
Director for Development,
Leasing and Revitalization,
Rüdiger Hampe. This
performance underlines VÖL-
KEL‘s claim to solution competence
in asset management.
Union Investment
further increases
assets under
management
Union Investment once again
increased its real estate assets
under management in the 2023
financial year. Despite the challenging
market environment with
high inflation rates and the highest
rise in interest rates for 60
years, real estate fund assets grew
slightly by 1.2% year-on-year to
EUR 56.9 billion. Net fund sales
continued to develop positively,
albeit at a much slower pace than
in the previous year due to alternative
investment products, at
865 million euros.
Union Investment‘s open-ended
mutual real estate funds and special
funds marketed in Germany
received EUR 452 million. A further
EUR 413 million was collected
in the service KVG business.
In the previous year, net fund
sales across all German real estate
funds amounted to EUR 2.3
billion.
With its commercial real estate
funds for private and institutional
clients, Union Investment generated
an average one-year performance
of 3.1 percent in 2023
(previous year: 3.1 percent).
„Our real estate funds have proven
to be a stable real asset investment,
even during the period
of uncertainty.
Mixed-use project by LIST Develop
in Osnabrück goes into realization
Work on the construction site will begin shortly
LIST Develop is developing
a mixed-use property in the
heart of Osnabrück. The building
is easily accessible on
Johannisstrasse and will in future
contain space in the temporary
living, hotel and gastronomy
segments. Now that
the planning application for
the building has been approved
by the city, the groundbreaking
ceremony for the
property has taken place.
Work on the construction site
will begin shortly.
„We are very proud that we have
brought the project to this point
despite the challenging market
environment and that we are
celebrating the ground-breaking
ceremony together,“ emphasizes
Michael Garstka, Managing
Partner of LIST Develop.
„Now the staying power that
everyone involved has shown
over the course of the project
is paying off and the building
will be ready for occupancy in
This is what the future mixed-use property will look like after
completion.
Visualization: KOTTMAIR Architects
around two years‘ time - at the
end of 2025.“ The mixed-use
property will then have a total
of 100 serviced apartments under
the STAYERY brand and
170 rooms under the midscale
lifestyle brand prizeotel, which
is operated by a joint venture
between Fast Lane Hospitality
and the Radisson Hotel Group.
„We have acquired two strong
concepts for our new building
that appeal to target groups such
as business travelers as well as
holidaymakers. In this way, we
are further strengthening Osnabrück
as a business location and
at the same time making the city
center even more attractive,“
explains Michael Garstka.

Page 3
TOP STATEMENT OF THE MONTH December 2023
TOP STATEMENT
January
„Some GKK branches
in top locations, such
as Hamburg, Frankfurt
or Munich, could
still have a chance - in
some cities, locationappropriate
subsequent
use concepts
will soon be needed.“
Lars Jähnichen, Managing
Director of IPH Handelsimmobilien,
Munich

Connected
to possibility
We love the idea of creating something new, of thinking differently.
That’s what drives us to generate greater value than expected.
That’s what we have been doing for over 30 years.
www.sonaesierra.com

Page 5 GUEST CONTRIBUTION January 2024
What makes a modern
market hall successful?
Guest article by Dr Joannes Berentzen (BBE) and Lars Jähnichen (IPH Handelsimmobilien)
Market halls are a statement
against the anonymity
of mass consumption and a
commitment to quality and
community. They have a special
position among all types
of retail property. From the
perspective of developers and
landlords, they are the ideal
type in terms of quality of experience:
they offer a diverse
tenant mix of retail and catering,
which also represents a
stable and diversified source
of income. However, when it
comes to reliable studies, it is
an asset class that has hardly
been systematically analysed.
This is now changing.
As part of a comprehensive
analysis, we examined 30 different
market halls in Germany
to find out which conceptual
differences can be recognised
and which factors are decisive
for their success. These include
market halls within city centres,
in individual districts, but also
those in commercial areas. Our
selection also covers a wide
range of concepts, from traditional
fruit and vegetable markets
to modern event locations with
street food festivals
Diverse neighbourhood centres
For decades, market halls have
fulfilled what is expected of
first-class shopping centres today.
People visit market halls
not only to shop, but also to
spend time there, enjoy food
and drink, take advantage of a
wide range of services and, above
all, to socialise. The market
hall continues to be a focal point
in the neighbourhood, a place
where regional traders offer
their products, friends meet for
a coffee and the creative scene
finds inspiration.
One key finding is that very different
types of market hall can
be equally successful. Historic
halls with large sales areas in
a central location have several
initial advantages, such as an
established catchment area, a
history of development with patina
and often impressive architecture.
Smaller, younger halls
Lars Jähnichen, Managing Director of IPH Handelsimmobilien,
and Dr Johannes Berentzen, Managing Director of BBE Handelsberatung
in district centres, on the other
hand, position themselves specifically
with a view to sustainability,
freshness, regionality
and urbanity.
The success factors of market
halls have changed significantly
in recent years due to changes in
shopping behaviour. Properties
that have proven themselves for
decades do not necessarily have
to be equally successful in the
future.
Those who continue to operate
existing market halls without
taking into account changes in
competition, the market and
customer behaviour run the risk
of a downward trend.
Macro location,
micro location and
the property itself
are decisive
Our analysis has shown that
macro-location, micro-location
and the property itself are the
three decisive factors for a successful
covered market.
In terms of macro-location, fact
ors such as the number of inhabitants
and economic power, as
well as the number of commuters
and tourists in the region
are essential for the evaluation
of the halls. The micro-location,
i.e. the exact location of the market
hall, be it in the city centre,
in a district or in a commercial
area, determines the orientation
and function of the hall itself so
that it is accepted by the respective
target customers.
The property, its size, historical
background and image also
determine whether the market
hall is also suitable as an event
location or more exclusively for
retail and catering.
Cities with a population of
150,000 or more are the ideal
size for the successful integration
of a market hall. There are
also particularly promising prospects
for locations that have a
historical connection or are located
in historical buildings.
The infrastructure also plays a
major role here. The ideal market
hall should be easily accessible,
either on foot or by public
transport, preferably less than
250 metres from a bus stop.
Car parking should be available
either in the immediate vicinity
or directly on site.
The market hall should also be
open six days a week to reach
a wide range of visitors, with
flexible opening hours possible
depending on the concept, especially
if catering is the focus.
Centre versus district
Market halls in the city centre
benefit from an already high
footfall and tourists, but face
intense competition from food
retailers. It is therefore advisable
to prioritise catering in these
locations.
In city districts, there are generally
fewer passers-by, so it makes
sense to increase footfall by
providing a wide range of food
shops, services and leisure facilities
in the market hall.
The comparison makes it clear
that a successful concept should
always take into account the
local offerings and infrastructure
in the immediate vicinity.
A market hall is particularly attractive
if it offers products and
services that complement the
needs of the local community in
a meaningful way. The integration
of a food outlet fits in well
with this concept and attracts
more visitors.
Sustainability as a
key factor
Market halls are predestined to
sell products from the region.
This is in tune with the times,
as more and more people are
focussing on conscious and
sustainable consumption. In
addition, cultural events with a
local connection attract visitors.
It is also inevitable that market
halls will be ESG-compliant
and sustainably managed in the
future - not only to save energy
and therefore money, but also
to maintain the value of a property.
Conceptually, operators
of market halls should focus on
differentiating themselves even
more strongly from online offerings
by providing customers
with an outstanding quality of
stay, customer-orientated advice
and high-quality products.

URBAN CREATORS.
Architecture | Development & Project Management
European Council of Shopping Places (ECSP) Awards: Commendation for Best Renovation/Expansion for centres between 15.000 – 45.000 sqm

Page 7
GUEST CONTRIBUTION
Retail marketing
much more efficient thanks to AI
More comprehensive understanding of customer behavior
Programs such as ChatGPT
are changing retail processes.
Text and images can be created
using AI, but the analysis
of customer data, especially
the linking of different data,
also leads to a much more
comprehensive understanding
of customer behavior.
January 2024
The EHI study „Marketing
Monitor Retail 2023-2026“
therefore also identifies AI as
a key trend - digitalization is
a crucial prerequisite for this.
There are already numerous
digital alternatives to paper
brochures, such as apps, digital
brochure portals, newsletters
and social media. „There
are different drivers fo
r digital marketing,“ explains
Marlene Lohmann, EHI marketing
expert and author of
the study. „Digital alternatives
allow marketing to respond
much more individually and
therefore more efficiently to
individual consumers.“
Technology
provides forecasts
At 82.4 percent, AI is by far
the development that is believed
to have the greatest potential
for change in marketing.
In terms of marketing, the
technology is not only capable
of creating content such as
texts or images, but it is also
possible to analyze and predict
the purchasing behavior of the
consumer group and is gaining
in quality. Conversely, retailers
can use reliable forecasts
to optimize their sales. AI is
already helping to person
alize service and communication
with customers, for example
by enabling chatbots to
respond to individual needs. In
connection with the growing
opportunities offered by AI,
35.3% of respondents stated
that job profiles will change or
new ones will be created. As
in many areas of retail, staff
who are familiar with generative
AI will be needed in the
Programs like ChatGPT are changing retail processes.
future, meaning that the ability
to prompt will be needed more
than the ability to text.
52.9 percent state that marketing
is increasingly moving
towards customer centricity,
i.e. focusing more on the customer.
35.3 percent consider
the analysis of customer behavior
to be essential. This is because
retailers will be able to
focus even more on the needs
of their customers in future
because they will have a better
understanding of them.
Role of digital
marketing
The data from the various
channels used by customers
can now be better analyzed
together. In addition, 23.5 percent
of marketing managers
predict that there will be more
ways to reach customers: This
means that the challenge of
reaching customers through
the right channels is increasing.According
to 29.4 percent,
the focus is shifting to
retail media. By offering advertising
space on their own
websites, social media channels
and apps, retailers can
build a profitable advertising
business.
The industry agrees that digitalization
processes, CRM
and the channel and content
strategy are currently the most
important marketing projects.
All three projects were mentioned
by 41% of respondents.
Almost a quarter consider the
harmonization and linking of
data to be important.
The second most frequently
mentioned projects are omnichannel
and apps (35% each).
Retail apps are also seen as
a very suitable alternative to
print brochures and are predicted
to grow significantly over
the next three years. Above all,
personalization (76.
Symbolic image: Adobe Stock
5 percent) and efficiency (70.6
percent) speak in favour of
digital offer communication.
Tracking and analyzing customer
data digitally saves a lot
of time (52.9%). In addition,
digital marketing is more resource-efficient.
T
TOPS
O M
OF THE MONTH
TOM
TOPS
OPS F THE ONTH
OF THE
MONTH
RETAIL REAL ESTATE
Essential News About The Players In In
The Retail Real Property Estate Market In in Germany
IMPRINT
Publisher:
Business News Group GmbH
Address:
Alexanderstraße 16
45130 Essen
Germany
Tel. 0049-201-874 55 28
Web: www.hi-heute.de
Mail: tom@hi-heute.de
Frequency of publication:
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Circulation: approx. 5000 copies
sent by e-mail
Editorial team: Susanne Müller,
Thorsten Müller
Responsible in terms of press
law: Thorsten Müller
Layout: K4-PR, Essen
THE HOT
INTERVIE
+++ PART
ANALYSE
presente
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Page 9 INTERVIEW January 2024
„We see great potential
in urban redensification“
Interview with Chris Karmrodt, Managing Director Real Estate at Lidl Germany
As part of the Schwarz Group,
Lidl is one of the leading food
retail groups in Germany and
Europe. In Germany, around
100,000 employees in over
3,250 stores, 39 regions and
administrative locations ensure
customer satisfaction.
Dynamism in daily implementation,
performance in
results and fairness in dealing
with each other characterize
working at Lidl. TOM editor-in-chief
Thorsten Müller
conducted an interview with
Chris Karmrodt, responsible
for real estate, on the importance
of the city center location.
This also appears in our
book „TRANSFORMATION
INNENSTADT - der große
Wandel“, which will be available
in February.
TOM: Lidl has continued to
expand its store network in
Germany in recent years and
has broken many new ground
in the process. What are the
reasons for this?
Chris Karmrodt: The expansion
of the store network is
one of the key drivers of Lidl‘s
sustainable growth in Germany.
With over 3,250 locations, Lidl
stores can be found throughout
Germany. This means that customers
can shop in at least one
Lidl store in every district on the
German mainland. However,
we also want to close the last
blank spots on the map of Germany
and consolidate the store
network so that customers do
not have to travel far from their
home to find a Lidl store: On
average, they should not have to
travel more than 15 minutes to
the nearest store.
When developing our real estate
projects, we attach great importance
to providing customers
with an optimal shopping experience
and therefore develop our
stores according to their needs.
With our flexible store concepts,
we offer tailor-made solutions
for every location and do not
just build one type of store. Our
portfolio includes free-standing
standard branches with an
adjoining parking lot, compact
Chris Karmrodt, Managing Director Real Estate at Lidl Germany
Photo: Lidl
city center branches and spacesaving
two-storey metropolitan
branches as well as large retail
parks and shopping facilities in
special buildings such as train
stations or historic properties.
TOM: What does this mean
for the city center location?
What does your company contribute
to the redesign of city
centres and their optimization
and attractiveness?
Chris Karmrodt: We see great
potential in urban redensification
and would like to continue
to grow in this area. We are
currently concentrating primarily
on medium-sized cities and
metropolitan areas. However,
we are not only focusing on expanding
our store network, but
also on the developments and
special features that the various
locations bring with them.
In the densely populated areas
of Germany‘s major cities, for
example, we are already facing
the challenge of increasingly
scarce land and living space.
At the same time, large cities
with their inner cities should
continue to form a unity of lively
living, leisure and working
spaces in the future and offer a
high quality of life for citizens.
In order to create this interplay,
all those involved in urban society
need to work together to
tackle the tasks of a changed
living environment. This is why
we are already taking climate
protection aspects into account
when implementing our real estate
projects and expanding our
branch network, attaching importance
to sustainable branch
construction, considering new
mobility concepts and paying
attention to space efficiency
in redensification. In our view,
these aspects will become even
more important in the future.
Against this backdrop, project
development and the construction
of mixed-use properties are
also part of our jointly developed
real estate strategy at Lidl.
These are, for example, stores
that are combined with residential
space, office space or daycare
centers. Our aim is to develop
new store locations in high-density
and densely populated areas
in order to offer customers the
best possible local supply, while
at the same time taking into
account municipal requirements
and local urban planning conditions.
One example of a space-saving
branch concept is the
two-storey Metropol branch. At
five locations in Germany, our
customers can now enjoy the
unique combination of a spacious,
ground-level parking area
flooded with daylight on the
first floor of the building and a
modern, bright branch on the
second floor.
TOM: Can you give some
examples of mixed-use properties?
Chris Karmrodt: The latest
project was developed in Sindelfingen.
This is the first metropolitan
branch in Germany
to be built in combination with
a residential development. As a
single-storey branch, it requires
a smaller site area, as customers
have 29 parking spaces on the
forecourt and 64 additional parking
spaces on the first floor of
the branch. From the parking
area in the building, customers
can reach the second floor via an
escalator. The second and third
floors of the building will house
36 apartments. Three further residential
buildings are currently
being constructed on the site behind
the branch, meaning that
there will be a total of 82 residential
units with a total rental
area of just under 5,000 square
meters - twelve of which will be
rent-controlled.
Another example of the successful
implementation of a
mixed-use property can be
found in Münster. An attractive
neighborhood development
with 40 new residential units
above the retail space below has
been created at Hammer Strasse
149. The three-storey residential
block is situated around a green
inner courtyard. The apartment
mix comprises two- to fourroom
apartments with 45 to 102
square meters and a penthouse
with 140 square meters of living
space. All apartments are barrier-free,
have balconies or roof
terraces, are furnished to a high
standard and some have their
own parking spaces.
In Bietigheim-Bissingen, Lidl
completed a sustainably built
store in June 2021, above which
a daycare center was built. On
around 1,400 square meters,
there is space for four childcare
groups with a total of around 62
childcare places. The daycare
center offers modern childcare
facilities as well as ample play
areas and a spacious outdoor
area.

Page 11 ANALYSES January 2024
Germans will have more purchasing
power per capita this year
GfK presents the latest figures
According to the latest GfK
purchasing power study, the
purchasing power of Germans
will rise to EUR 27,848 per capita
in 2024. This corresponds
to a nominal increase of 2.8%
and 767 euros more per capita.
For Germany as a whole, GfK
is forecasting purchasing power
of EUR 2,349.2 billion for
2024. Compared to the revised
forecast for the previous year,
this corresponds to nominal per
capita growth of 2.8% or EUR
767. In 2024, Germans will therefore
have an average per capita
purchasing power of EUR
27,848 available for consumer
spending, housing, leisure and
saving. Purchasing power refers
to the nominal net disposable
income of the population including
state transfer payments
such as pensions, unemployment
benefit and child benefit.
However, whether and how
much of the nominal increase
in purchasing power is left over
in real terms for people‘s spending
depends on how consumer
prices will develop in 2024.
Tendency to save
Filip Vojtech, GfK retail expert
in the Geomarketing division,
comments: „After purchasing
power rose significantly in 2023,
we expect moderate growth of
2.8% in 2024. This means that
the increase in purchasing power
would at least compensate
for the 2.7% inflation currently
forecast by the Bundesbank.
Due to the political uncertainties,
however, the propensity to
consume remains subdued and
Germans are likely to save more
money again this year.“
Plenty of potential
in Bavaria
According to GfK, Germans have more purchasing power this
year.
Symbolic image: Adobe Stock
A look at the regional distribution
of purchasing power
in Germany provides interesting
insights into where people
with particularly high spending
potential live. As in previous
years, Bavaria takes first place
among the federal states. Bavarians
have EUR 30,130 per
capita at their disposal for spending
and saving, which is more
than eight percent above the national
average. After overtaking
Hamburg in 2023, Baden-Württemberg
will once again take
second place in 2024. With a
per capita purchasing power of
29,675 euros, people in the third
most populous federal state
have 18 euros more at their disposal
than people in Hamburg.
Bremen brings up
the rear
As in previous years, only four
of the 16 German federal states
- Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg,
Hamburg and Hesse - have above-average
per capita purchasing
power - in three quarters of
the federal states, the spending
potential is below average in
a nationwide analysis. At the
same time, however, the trend
of recent years is continuing,
with the new federal states in
particular recording the largest
increases in purchasing power,
which means that the purchasing
power gap is slowly closing.
Compared to the previous
year, there have been changes in
the bottom four places: While
Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt and
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
each moved up one place,
Bremen slipped down three places
in 2024 to bring up the rear.
Bremen residents have an average
of EUR 24,702 at their disposal
for spending and saving,
which is just over eleven percent
below the national average.
As in previous years, the Bavarian
district of Starnberg is the
undisputed leader among the
400 German urban and rural
districts in 2024. With a per capita
purchasing power of EUR
38,702, it is exactly 39% above
the national average, meaning
that the people of Starnberg
have EUR 1157 more than the
inhabitants of the second-placed
district of Munich.
Mixed top ten
districts
There are no newcomers to the
top ten this year, but the third to
ninth places have been shuffled.
The biggest winner in the top
ten is the district of Erlangen-
Höchstadt, which climbed two
places to seventh place with
a per capita purchasing power
of EUR 33,548. The district
of Plön has the highest average
purchasing power: with a
net disposable income of EUR
27,855, Plön residents are only
seven euros above the national
average. As in previous years,
the district of Gelsenkirchen
brings up the rear in the purchasing
power comparison. With a
per capita purchasing power of
EUR 22,007, Gelsenkirchen residents
have exactly 21 percent
less available for spending and
saving than the average German.
Situation in the
urban districts
Even though the 25 most populous
urban districts already
account for more than 21 percent
of Germany‘s total purchasing
power, not all major
cities in Germany achieve an
above-average level of purchasing
power. The capital Berlin
is around five percent below the
German average in terms of per
capita purchasing power, while
Essen and Dresden are at a similar
level. Leipzig, Dortmund,
Mönchengladbach and Bremen
are a good nine percent below
the average. Munich and Düsseldorf,
on the other hand, are
well above average at just under
29 and 15 percent respectively.
A look at the purchasing power
totals shows that the cities with
large populations and, in particular,
the large metropolitan
regions are indispensable target
markets for retailers and service
providers. Purchasing power
density, i.e. the available purchasing
power in millions of euros
per square kilometer, is highest
in the metropolitan areas of
Munich and Berlin, followed by
Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf
and Nuremberg. Purchasing power
density is therefore an important
indicator for companies
in which areas they can mobilize
a lot of purchasing power
potential by targeting customers
in a small area.

www.wisag.de
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all this keeps not only the customers satisfied, but also tenants and
owners. With our tailored solutions and experience, you will benefit
from optimum management costs. And at all times, we have value
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Joaquin Jimenez Zabala
Tel. +49 162 7861-324 joaquin.jimenez.zabala@wisag.de

Page 13
ANALYSES
January 2024
Digital parking is shaping future of retail
From parking discs to cameras
Retail parking can be an extension
of customer service.
The Edeka Breidohr retail
park recognized this back in
2017 and switched from a parking
disc to a digital, ticketless
and barrier-free parking system.
An interesting best-practice
example, which was converted
in collaboration with
fair parken from Düsseldorf.
Digitalization has a transformative
significance for parking
spaces in retail. The parking lot
is no longer seen merely as a
place to park a vehicle, but as an
extension of customer service.
Parking is seen as an integral
part of the shopping experience,
which should be made as pleasant
as possible. More and more
retail properties are relying on
professional parking space management.
The Breidohr retail park opted
for parking management from
fair parken back in 2017. Due
to its attractive location, the
parking spaces were repeatedly
used by third parties, which meant
that customers could no longer
find a parking space and had
to start their shopping trip with a
stressful and lengthy search for
a parking space.
Tobias Breidohr, Managing Director
of the Edeka Breidohr retail
center: „After years of good
cooperation, the switch from the
parking disc model to camerabased
parking space management
was the next logical step.
The digital system was quickly
accepted by all customers and
the technology works smoothly.“
In addition to a comprehensive
signage concept, fair parken
also provides communication
tools to inform employees, residents
and tenants of permanent
parking spaces. In addition, trained
employees are available on
site to answer questions directly.
Thanks to the parking system,
there was a rapid improvement
in parking pressure: customers
once again had enough free parking
spaces and the shopping
experience was made much
more pleasant and customerfriendly.
The parking lot is no longer just a place to park a vehicle, but an extension of the customer service.
Photo: fair parken
Almost five years later, the analog
system was replaced by camera-based
monitoring of the
maximum parking time. With
this parking concept, cameras
record the license plates of vehicles
entering and leaving the
car park and enable the parking
time to be recorded to the
minute. This means that customers
can continue to park free
of charge for 2.5 hours without
having to remember to display a
parking disk.
The retail park also uses the
digital parking portal from fair
parken. In this way, parking
authorizations for employees,
service providers and selected
tenants of a permanent parking
space can be managed quickly
and easily. The client can also
cancel contractual penalties via
the parking portal. Alternatively,
a cancellation via the fair parken
customer service for drivers
is also possible by e-mail, fax or
telephone on presentation of the
relevant purchase receipt. Proof
of purchase can also be easily
uploaded to the fair parken website
in just a few seconds.
Camera-based license plate recognition,
which is also used
by the Breidohr retail park, is
increasingly establishing itself
as a common method for both
paid and free parking. In metered
parking with hourly rates,
the cameras are combined with
automatic pay stations, replacing
expensive and failure-prone
barrier systems. In free parking,
the cameras are used to
record parking times in order to
prevent unauthorized use of retail
parking spaces.
FreeFlow solutions for retail
are of interest wherever parking
charges are already levied via
barrier systems or parking ticket
machines or are planned for
new buildings, for example - in
retail these are primarily centers
with their own multi-storey or
underground parking lot.
The FreeFlow system from fair
parken combines paid parking
with the latest digital technology.
This not only contributes
to greater customer satisfaction,
but also supports sustainable
mobility concepts in order to
make the retail industry more
resource-efficient and futureoriented
in the long term. The
FreeFlow system from fair
parken offers numerous advantages:
- Stress-free traffic flow without
traffic jams and waiting times
- Reliable digital parking concept
with high customer satisfaction
- 100% payment guarantee and
in-house receivables management
- Low-maintenance system with
low operating and maintenance
costs
- Low investment costs: one
third compared to cabinet systems
- Integration of any third-party
systems such as checkout and
access control systems, e-ticketing,
pre-bookings and much
more
At a time when digitalization is
influencing our everyday lives
in many ways, retail properties
such as the Breidohr retail park
show how advanced technologies
can benefit customers and
clients alike. From the customer‘s
point of view, the shopping
experience is made more
pleasant and from the client‘s
point of view, administration is
simplified and the attractiveness
of the location is increased.
Further information: www.fairparken.com

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Page 15 MAP OF THE MONTH January 2024
GfK Purchasing Power, Germany 2024
GfK’s Map of the Month for January shows the regional
distribution of purchasing power in Germany in
2024. The purchasing power of Germans will increase
to €27,848 per capita in 2024. This means that they will
have a nominal 2.8 percent and €767 more per capita
available for consumer spending, housing, leisure and
savings than in the previous year, which would at least
offset the Bundesbank’s current inflation forecast of 2.7
percent. The front-runner among all 400 districts is the
rural district of Starnberg, where people have a spending
potential of €38,702. This puts the people of Starnberg
exactly 39 percent above the national average. The
rural and urban districts of Munich follow in second
and third place with €37,545 and €35,867 respectively.
As in previous years, the city district of Gelsenkirchen
brings up the rear: Residents there have a net income of
€22,007, which means they have 21 percent less available
for spending and saving than the average German.

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