“We are an engineering company and one of the
services we offer is property management and technical
maintenance. Our firm has responded to requests for
Wi-Fi and smart phone infrastructure and maintenance
in an ever-increasing number of office buildings.”
Much of the same is happening in Korea. Kim said
that the total demand for office space has decreased in
some sense, but the average space usage per employee has
increased.
“Our clients demand more space for client meetings
and IT facilities but less for conventional working spaces.
Having additional basement storage, convenient parking
and shipping, and ready-made showroom space included
in the same locale has maximized the success of our office
buildings.”
The rise of mobile online business has affected demands
in office spaces, but perhaps the larger impact has been
demonstrated in the retail sector. Retail companies that
exist partly or wholly online have been springing up in
droves since the creation of the Internet, but have been
met with mixed success.
“In Moscow, online purchases and payments are
available everywhere through the Internet and smart
phones. However, an obstacle to online business is our
slow and often unreliable mailing system. Internet traders
are resorting to using their own courier services including
radio POS terminals. So far in my experience, I haven’t
noticed any significant loss of demand in retail space due
to Internet selling,” stated Meshcheriakov.
In Korea, the effect of online retail business has been
more pronounced.
“Operations which used to take
place at the office over a course
of days or weeks can now take
place over the course of an evening
or weekend, no matter if you’re
physically in the office or not.”
—DOUGLAS ROBERTSON, CPM, VICE PRESIDENT OF POLARIS REALITY, LTD.
“In my area, wire-based Internet has made a huge impact
on many areas in our real estate business environment,”
said Kim. “The prosperity of online shopping malls, online
portal sites, and widespread online communities and
blogs, were made the example of the last decade.”
However, Kim said that retailers also came to realize
that selling online had a limitation in its growth and
that off-line shops were essential for the success of retail
businesses—which is why retail companies in Korea still
want to maintain off-line shops. In addition, wireless
mobile technology and free Wi-Fi zones have created the
possibility of a retail space that’s a mixture of online and
offline: Shoppers might search price-comparison websites
with their smart phones to find out the right value of
goods in front of them before purchasing, but they are
looking for more than online shopping experiences.
“[Shoppers] haven’t lost their desire for the comfortable
and relaxed purchasing experiences that brick-and-mortar
retail shops provide,” said Kim.
During this fast-paced time of change, property
managers are rethinking the conventional concepts of
office and retail spaces to match the needs of their tech-savvy clients. As more of the business world is being
thrust into virtual space, consumers’ lives will change and
so will their surroundings. n
Elizabeth Dieng ( edieng@irem.org), is the international services specialist for IREM Headquarters in Chicago.
Douglas
Robertson, CPM,
vice president of
Polaris Realty,
Ltd., located
outside of Toronto,
Ontario.
Edward Yusuk
Kim, CPM, CEO
of Rems Asset
Management Co.
Ltd. in Seoul,
South Korea.
Aleksei
Mescheriakov,
CPM, property
management
director of
Spectrum Holding,
Ltd. in Moscow,
Russia.
