Executive Summary

In this report, we profile the prevailing major “fast retail” formats in the US, ranging from pop-ups to marketplaces. We also examine the reasons these flexible formats are gaining popularity.

• “Fast retail” is Coresight Research’s term for a new approach to retail featuring shorter leases, more shared spaces and more short-term stores. In January, we identified fast retail as one of our retail trends to watch in 2019.
• Flexible retail formats let digital natives test, learn and iterate with lower upfront cost, less commitment and greatly reduced risk.
• Offline retail is also using fast retail to reinvent itself via pop-ups and marketplace formats, as outlined in Coresight Research’s BEST framework.