Last year we have seen
remarkable changes in the retail industry, the apocalypse of the retail
industry has come up with a positive impact so that 2018 could be the year of a
retail revitalization. The signs were promising, therefore, today we can see the
positive aspects of them.
Now retailers have
adjusted align with consumer needs and adopted new technologies and trends to
provide best customer satisfaction. However, 2018 is itself a big boom on its
own as it has been noted that consumers are showing positive signs towards
revivifying of the retail industry and shopping trends. Let’s discuss some
facts that will give you validations about the growing retail industry.
Insights of Topmost
Shopping Trends
• The National
Retail Federation study shows that the
figures of recent retail sales were increased up to 4.2% year-over-year in July
2017.
•
According to the NRF article
“On a percentage basis, 42% brands are opening stores, 43% are holding steady
and only 15% are showing a net decrease in stores.”
•
On the basis of IHL Group report, in 2017, retailers have opened 4,080 new stores and plan
to open over 5,500 more in 2018.
•
Approx. 75% of consumers love
to do shopping from renowned retailers, recommends options based on past
purchases.
•
Now more than 54% of retailers
started focusing on customer experience, 16% are way ahead of cross-channel
marketing, 14% utilizing data-driven marketing, 11% mobile and only 4% believe
in programmatic buying/optimization.
Let’s discuss the opportunities
in the retail space.
New opportunities in the
retail industry
There is an enormous
opportunity for retailers, let’s discuss each of them one by one:
Tech Transformation
With each passing year, technologies have become
more diverse and advanced and hold remarkable promises for retailers, but it
solely depends on how quickly they adapt customer’s needs as well as latest
market trends.
To stay more updated, the retailers require an
extensive research on the latest market that revises frequently. But in
practice, it’s not an easy task nor it guaranteed success. Still, retail
experts have seen huge opportunities for retailers that tap the power of
technology in minor changes despite huge changes. For example:
Shifting Landscape: “Retail success in 2018 will
be about how well retailers adapt to the changing market around them and the
evolution of their customers’ needs. To stay relevant in the future, evolving
well will be the key to success.” – Rupa Ganatra, founding partner, Millennial 20/20
AI opportunities: Voice recognition technology,
image recognition, facial recognition technology and other technologies will
offer a significant amount of opportunities in this year. It will also help in
delivering personalized and customized experiences to delight customers. With
the help of immense data beats and better algorithms, retailers continue to
generate a noticeable amount of data both online and offline.
According to the Deborah Weinswig, managing director, Fung Global Retail & Technology,
in retail, Artificial intelligence can be applied in various ways across the
whole management cycle and in the coming year, “we expect to see AI deliver
both top-line and bottom-line for retailers across the value-chain.”
What to Watch??
Being a retailer, you should always watch the
latest scenario of the market and realign your businesses with the requirements
of the target audience. Today most of the retailers are working on it to give
delight experience to the customers.
Previously, the steering was in the hand of
retailers but now the time has changed. In the past, all the market-related
decisions were taken by the retailers but now the customers are defining the
shopping experience, so it is good for retailers to offer incentives or vouchers
to entice shoppers back into the store.
Tech-savvy retailers are
already started to offer cashback and gifts with purchase and in-store
discounts to break the consumer spending pattern.
Stay the course
With the help of
technology, retailers have remodeled their stores and have made systemwide and
logistic changes in business by putting the people at the center of the model.
According to the Neil Stern, senior partner, McMillan Doolittle “2018 will be the year
of execution” and retailers will shore up their internal operations and
effectively manage all the management systems accordingly. With the impact of
omnichannel the volume of big stores, has grown to the point where the small
stores are totally disrupted. If they will not start building the store of the
future, then they will miss the opportunity to hike in the business.
Final Words
The future of the retail industry is bright and Amazon will continue to dominate the retail
world with its innovative business models. To compete with Amazon, the future
retail stores will evolve, both in brick-and-mortar and in virtual models. The
retailers who will find success in upcoming years are the ones that can
successfully evolve along with the customers. For some, evolving may means
changes in business model, using new technologies or retraining the staff but
in all situation, it will be about putting the customer first, and creating
customer delight in-store experience.
Consagous is Austin, Dallas, Houston and Washington, DC based E-commerce Solutions provider to back you up for
all your retail related needs. Take a tour of our services.
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