Foot Traffic, Global Data, and the AI Moment: Our Top 6 Takeaways from ICSC 2025

ICSC Las Vegas never disappoints when it comes to reading where commercial real estate is headed. This year, the conversations across the show floor kept circling back to the same frustrations: data that stops at the US border, foot traffic tools that can’t tell you how a tenant is actually performing, and a growing sense that existing data is either incomplete or just plain messy.

We talked with brokers, REITs, retailers, restaurant operators, and even municipalities over the course of the show. Here’s what stood out.

1. Global coverage is the number one gap

Across booth conversations and sessions, the most consistent feedback was simple: most data providers only cover the US, but portfolios don’t. We heard this from international retailers, global REITs, and brokers with exposure to markets in Europe and Latin America. When your existing foot traffic platform can’t tell you what’s happening in Spain, Portugal, or Chile, you’re making international location decisions in the dark.

2. Over-expansion pain is making operators much more cautious about new sites

We heard multiple versions of the same story: a brand expanded too quickly, opened a store that cannibalized an existing location, and had to close it. That experience is now driving a much more deliberate approach to site selection. Restaurant operators and specialty retailers alike are asking harder questions about competitor density and trade area overlap before they sign a lease, and they want data that can actually answer them.

3. The incumbent data providers are showing their limits

Brokers and asset managers told us they are only moderately satisfied with what they have and are always looking for what’s next, especially around retail rankings, deeper benchmarks, and global coverage. The thread connecting all of it: existing platforms are either US-only, incomplete, or difficult to use for anything beyond surface-level foot traffic. Teams are cobbling together multiple sources and ending up with inconsistent data and a messy story to tell.

4. CRE teams are building internal data infrastructure and need a clean foundation

Several REITs and brokerage firms told us they are actively building internal analytics capability and looking for a reliable points of interest (POI) layer to build on. The ask was specific: property diagnostics, tenant mix benchmarks, competitor leakage scoring, and retail rankings. They want a data partner that can serve as both the foundation and the analytics layer, not just another dashboard to log into.

5. Municipalities are using location data to compete for anchor tenants

One of the more unexpected themes was economic development teams showing up with real data questions. Several municipalities asked specifically about using points of interest data to understand where consumers in their trade area are spending money elsewhere, and how to use that to build a case for attracting anchor retailers. 

6. The market is ready for AI-driven location intelligence

Interest in AI-powered tools came up consistently across conversations. Teams want platforms that can surface answers quickly without requiring a data science team to run every analysis. It’s something we’ve been heads down on and based on what we heard at ICSC, the timing is right. Our global platform will soon allow you to ask questions about any place in the world in plain language, pull one-click trends and competitor benchmarks, and export the underlying data directly into your own systems. 

Ready to see our platform in action? Contact us for a demo.