Siec 2025: Bringing Together, Understanding, Investing – New Landmarks for Physical Retail
The Shopping Center Real Estate Fair celebrated its 20th edition with record figures: 100% of exhibition space sold, more than 100 exhibitors, 4,400 participants, and the presence of all the major market brokers, including Cushman & Wakefield, Savills, CBRE, JLL, BNP Paribas Real Estate, Newmark, Knight Frank and EOL Commerce.
Under the theme “Bringing Together”, Siec 2025 gathered the entire ecosystem – investors, local authorities, retailers, marketing and data players – to address the key challenges of tomorrow’s retail.
Beyond the impressive numbers, the event offered above all a strategic snapshot of physical retail: how to create value in a fragmented market where territorial dynamics are more contrasted than ever.
Bringing Together: A Theme Aligned with the Market
This year’s theme was more than just a slogan. On the stands as well as in the conferences, alignment was the order of the day: property companies, retailers, local authorities, marketing experts and innovators shared their analyses and feedback.
The new thematic pavilions – Cities & Territories, Marketing & Data, Solutions & Services, Leisure – highlighted a profound transformation: shopping centers and retail parks are moving away from a purely transactional model to become authentic living spaces, strongly connected to their local areas.
Strategic Focus: Where to Invest Next?
One of the highlights of the event was the conference “Dynamics of French Metropolises: Where to Invest in Retail Real Estate?” co-hosted by IEIF and Codata, which provided data-driven insights into the markets.
The study combined socio-demographic data, retail indicators and vacancy rates to produce a detailed mapping of French metropolitan areas:
- Leading urban hubs: Bordeaux, Nantes, Rennes, Toulouse, Montpellier – combining demographic growth, economic vitality, and active retail markets.
- Resilient retail urban hubs: Lyon, Strasbourg, Tours – stable demographics but a solid retail fabric.
- Mediterranean urban hubs under pressure: Marseille-Aix, Nice, Toulon – strong tourist assets but high seasonality and vacancy.
- Vulnerable urban hubs: Lille, Rouen, Nancy, Grenoble – weak growth, rising vacancy, and attractiveness to be regained.
Vacancy: A True Market Barometer
The numbers speak volumes: national vacancy averages around 10%, but disparities are significant depending on the area.
Shopping centers in vulnerable metropolitan areas can reach up to 18.9% vacancy, while suburban assets in resilient cities fall to just 5.6%.
Over ten years, some zones have seen vacancy rates rise by more than 11 points.
The lesson is clear: a poor choice of location can have long-lasting and costly consequences.
New Mobilities, New Leisure: A Shifting Geography
One key takeaway: leisure and the rise of remote work are redrawing the map of attractiveness.
Suburbanization persists, coastal areas are gaining momentum, and commercial spaces in these regions must integrate more recreational and experiential activities to capture these flows.
Leisure is no longer optional: it has become a differentiating factor, able to smooth attendance throughout the year and reach new audiences.
From Diagnosis to Action Plan
From this assessment, three strategic priorities emerge:
invest in high-potential urban hubs to secure profitability while anticipating demographic and economic shifts;
revitalize fragile areas by promoting mixed-use projects, event programming, and local marketing;
and make leisure a cornerstone of retail strategy, not only to attract but also to convert footfall into revenue.
By combining data, field analysis and concrete solutions, Siec 2025 fully played its role as a catalyst.
Physical retail stakeholders left with a sharpened vision: tomorrow’s success will depend on thoughtful location choices, strong territorial anchoring,
and an offering that goes beyond simple transactions to deliver true experiences.
