RETAILER FOCUS Top 10 Retail Predictions
Source Fashion and Source Home & Gift have revealed their Top 10 Retail Predictions created in collaboration with retail trends consultancy, Insider Trends. The report focuses on consumer behaviour in light of the economic outlook and the role of artificial intelligence in product development and customer experience, as well as physical retail including retail media networks and medium-term pop-ups, sustainability, transparency, operational supply chain resilience and inventory management.
Consumer Behaviour 1. Calculated Spending
With the economic outlook for 2024 not looking any brighter, shoppers will remain conscious about what they are spending over the coming year. Value for money is key, but the definition of value will be different for individual shoppers and may change depending on the product category. Discounts and deals will still be a priority however value for money will lie in product longevity and durability for some consumers. Product story is another way brands will prove value to the consumer. With shoppers being more calculated with their spending, retailers may need to make a strong emotional case for non-essential purchases. The economic environment will also fuel the ongoing growth of re-commerce – not only consumers buying second-hand but also more and more moving into selling unwanted items to make money.
2. Unconscious Shopping Takes Over Shopping used to be a conscious action. The consumer was deliberately looking for something they wanted or needed – whether shopping in store or online. Now consumers are increasingly buying and discovering products while doing other things, such as browsing social media, playing games, and streaming content. This shift towards unconscious shopping will continue to grow in 2024. Although a lot of unconscious shopping happens digitally, it also includes in-person events where the store is a stage. Instead of ‘experiential’ retail stores that function like a traditional store with a small experience added on, retailers embracing unconscious shopping will increasingly flip this model and put the experience first.
Artificial Intelligence 3. Artificial Intelligence as a Co-Creator Artificial Intelligence (AI) is set to continue to dominate conversations next year with one area where AI’s role looks likely to grow is in product development. With more brands looking at applications for AI in their retail businesses, AI-designed products will start appearing everywhere. We won’t see AI taking over product development and design jobs
entirely, at least not in the near future. The technology is best as a co-creator and a way to generate lots of ideas quickly.
4. AI & Consumer Data Another way that brands are using AI is to help customers find what they are looking for more effectively. This includes a shopping assistant that customers can get personalised product recommendations from or ask questions – similar to the experience of visiting a physical store and talking to a member of staff. As more retailers introduce these tools, we are likely to see concerns around consumer data.
Physical Retail 5. Retail Media Comes to the Store Retail media networks, where retailers sell ad space on their digital channels to third parties, are a growing part of many retailers’ income. This is spilling over into the physical store as retailers look to monetise these spaces. From shelf edges to checkouts and even
18 | January/February 2024
housewareslive.net
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36
