SVN State of the Market Report
Industrial
NATIONAL OVERVIEW
The structural strength of the US industrial sector remains in full view, though for the first time in a while, the story requires some nuance. The industrial sector’s momentum is, and has been, the result of a large-scale shift in US consumption patterns. The convenience of online retailing has ramped up demand for warehouse and distribution centers. Speed of delivery is one of the main battlefronts of competition between e-retailers. Resultingly, firms with industrial footprints and logistics networks near population centers have found the most success.
E-retailing continues to grow at a healthy clip, though the pace of increase has started to cool. From 2010 to 2019, e-commerce retail sales grew between 12.4% and 17.8% annually. In 2020, due to the pandemic restricting in-person retailing, e-commerce sales ballooned 42.7% year-over-year. However, what goes up must come down. Growth has slowed in each of the past three years, with the annual rate of increase sliding to just 7.4% in 2023.