Can A Name Change Help Counter Negative Sentiment Around Retail?

Would a prime shopping centre by any other name smell as sweet, as Shakespeare didn’t quite write?

That is the question British retail property representative body Revo is trying to answer with a new set of retail classifications. Instead of using the usual designations like prime, secondary or tertiary shopping centres, Revo proposes introducing the following three categories, with attendant subcategories:

• Destination and lifestyle assets, broken down into regional or sub-regional assets.
• Community schemes, which can be either local or neighbourhood schemes.
• Specialised purpose assets, which Revo breaks down into outlet schemes, leisure schemes or transport hubs.

The point is to try to end the blanket characterisation of all retail as the same, and as performing poorly.

“We have been frustrated by the lack of differentiation between retail sub-sectors, and this new classification model is a step in the right direction in encouraging a better analysis of which retail property assets are performing, and which are not,” JP Morgan Executive Director of Equity Research Tim Leckie said.
 
“The rapid evolution of the retail market forces greater than ever scrutiny of our retail assets,” Knight Frank Head of Shopping Centre and High Street Charlie Barke said. “This improvement in terminology should help investors, analysts, valuers and all assessors of our market to better understand the modern function of our centres.”
 
Revo will be officially unveiling the new classifications at its conference in Manchester 18-20 September. First the classifications need to catch on, and then it remains to be seen if they can help shift sentiment. As Shakespeare did say: "The apprehension of the good/Gives but the greater feeling to the worse."