Deals
It's Time for Retailers to Stop Blaming Amazon, Mall Owner Says
- Unibail-Rodamco’s finance chief says retailers must invest
- French company is on track to close $22 billion Westfield deal
Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
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Blaming Amazon.com Inc.’s dominance has become the go-to excuse for any retailer struggling to meet expectations -- and that’s a lot. It’s time to move on, says a top executive at one of the world’s largest shopping mall landlords.
“Before Amazon, it was the weather or something else,” said Jaap Tonckens, chief financial offer of France’s Unibail-Rodamco SE, in an interview with Bloomberg TV Thursday. “The key element for retail landlords as well as retailers is that you need to invest and you need to anticipate. And the key element in that is looking ahead and competing for the customer’s wallet; complaining about something doesn’t make it change.”