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 made adjustments to 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 are an enormous opportunities for retailers, let’s discuss each of them one by one:
Tech Transformation
With each passing years, 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 in spite of 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 app development services, 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 software solutions 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.
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