Retail is an ever-changing industry, with innovation happening so quickly that it can be hard to keep up. But let’s try. Here are seven retail-shopping trends to be aware of right now:
1. Digitally-native brands will create a physical presence
“According to real estate experts, digitally native brands are predicted to open 850 brick-and-mortar stores in the next five years, with New York being the most popular destination,” writes Tara Johnson at CPS Strategy. “Most of the digital brands opening stores sell apparel, which makes sense; it’s a category where shoppers definitely benefit from interacting with the product in person.”
2. Consumers will expect even speedier delivery
**“**A recent study found that the amount of time people are willing to wait for free shipping has dropped from 5.5 days in 2012 to 4.5 days on average,” writes Jia Wertz at Forbes. **“**Programs like Amazon Prime have made two-day shipping the standard, so cutting down on shipping time is vital for any e-commerce business looking to stay afloat. Importantly, this trend is set to continue well into 2019 as brands evaluate new ways to differentiate themselves from an increasingly saturated crowd.”
3. The shopping experience will become increasingly personalized
“Retailers are exploring options to create a more personalized experience for consumers, and for good reason,” writes Daphne Howland at Retail Dive. “Data released earlier this year that indicated more consumers than ever want retailers to personalize their shopping experiences. Sixty-three percent of consumers surveyed indicated that they were interested in personalized recommendations, while 64% revealed they were willing to share personal data in exchange for benefits like loyalty points and automatic credits for coupons.”
4. Data will get to work within stores
“As retailers get a better handle on quality data, they’re going to need to find ways to apply it to improve their business,” writes Alexandra Sheehan on the Shopify blog. Data is of course of strategic importance for successful e-commerce, but it also has significant applications in physical stores, such as for tracking and acting on in-store engagement. “Retailers then have the opportunity to apply the insights from this data to their in-store marketing and merchandising, and influence their digital messaging,” Sheehan writes.
5. The Internet of Things will become even more important
“Since The Internet of Things connects over 11 billion everyday products, like home speakers, TVs, and cars to the internet, retailers can collect hordes of data that provides context about their customers’ product usage,” writes Clifford Chi at the HubSpot blog. “This allows them to send relevant marketing messages to their customers throughout every phase of the buyer journey. It’s clear that The Internet of Things makes shopping easier, cheaper, and more convenient.”
6. A growing hunger for shopping “experiences”
“Retailers need to be attuned to the reasons why their customers shop offline, and then design their stores to fit those needs,” according to Vend. “People don’t flock to retail locations because it’s convenient (some still do, but because of ecommerce, “convenience” usually means shopping online). Modern consumers make the effort to head to retail shops because of the experience they get in the store.”
7. More reliance on voice shopping
According to eMarketer, as of the beginning of this year, only 16% of Americans had bought something using a smart speaker. That’s about to change. “Retailers are preparing for that number to explode,” it writes. “Ninety-six percent of retailers are investing in this technology, and nearly three-quarters of senior retail marketers believe voice orders will become one of the main ways of shopping within just three years.”