6/26

According to CBRE and DCVelocity:

Driven by booming e-commerce sales volumes, developers are building an increasing number of mega-warehouses spanning 1 million square feet and above, with the Philadelphia and eastern Pennsylvania area leading the way, according to a report released (February 2) by real estate and logistics services company CBRE Inc.... From 2010 to 2016, 117 such facilities were built, for a total of 141.2 million square feet. By contrast, 99 facilities were built between 2003 and 2009, according to CBRE. The trend shows no sign of slowing: 29 more facilities are currently under construction, the report said. The key factor driving the trend is the need to house the sheer density of products flowing through online retail channels. As a result, e-commerce places much larger demands on warehouse space compared with other types of logistics operations. E-commerce users typically need two to three times the amount of warehouse and distribution space that traditional users do, because online fulfillment requires more inventory, labor, and automation.

Does this suggest increasing concentration -- or actually the opposite?  Is the supply chain system becoming more diversified and distributed as it adapts to e-commerce?  If so, is this a transitional or long-term system permutation?