As lockdowns started relaxing in 2021, there has been a steady re-opening of the world economy with many consumers indulging in shopping sprees, spending money that would have otherwise be spent on travel and holidays, on purchasing home improvement and consumer goods.
An interesting spin-off of the pandemic has been the emergence of the ‘at home’ economy, which appears to be set to stay, despite a widespread easing of restrictions. Consumers’ spending priorities have changed and moved into areas such as home cooking, online shopping, and consuming digital products and with it, a reliance on home deliveries and the resultant growth of these services.
In addition, there are still many people who have continued to work from a home office at least a couple of days a week, having discovered the perks of non-commuting.
According to a Verizon Look Forward study reported by Retail Customer Experience, 60% of adults said that pre-pandemic, they shopped mainly in person, but that figure has now fallen to 37%. Nevertheless, 42% of the survey participants said that in a year’s time they will be shopping in person and online equally, while 16% expect to shop predominantly online, which is 6% higher than before the pandemic, but an 8% drop from current figures.
More recently, many retailers have invested heavily in digital technology, building online-only warehouses to accommodate what they see as a lasting trend.
Another shift that is occurring is in brick-and-mortar stores who have grasped the importance of making customers feel safe and undertaken redesigning of their spaces to keep customers separated. These changes can be as modest as the addition of screens at the cashiers or as involved as changing the in-store layout, creating separate entrances and exits to divide traffic, or replacing cashiers with self-checkouts and POS counters, using mobile payment systems. These alterations will possibly remain in place post-Covid — if there ever is such a thing.
Indeed, there will be an increase in contactless payments from ‘tap’ cards for deliveries and/or in-store payments, to contactless ticket dispensers at parkades.
A growing trend is the uptake of technology by the ‘silverbacks’ and ‘silver foxes’, namely, the older folks, who are more associated with being technology resistant. With the onset of COVID and their demographic most at risk, seniors have been forced to adapt to and accept retail technologies such as online shopping and telehealth consultations. Also, for the first time in many cases, there has been an uptake in the use of smart home devices and assistant tech to avoid going into nursing homes or hospitals. This trend too, appears here to stay.
Retailers have also started increasingly engaging in omnichannel marketing, spreading their campaigns across numerous channels rather than concentrating on just one or two, as research shows that businesses using this strategy achieve 91% greater year-over-year customer retention rates than businesses that don’t. Consumers are looking for a seamless marketing experience when buying an item, with nearly 50% regularly using more than four touchpoints.
The key here is ‘customer experience’, another trend that retailers have cottoned on to, and implemented novel ways to get to understand exactly what it is that the customer wants, what entices them and where their interests lie.
One technique is to offer a selection of unexpected merchandise in limited quantities, rotated weekly, while another is to focus on building communities. Some bookstores even welcome customers to read the books they have bought in-store, offering them a comfortable seating area in which to indulge, while sipping on a latte.
Whatever the retail trend may be, chances are there will be a new one tomorrow as innovative marketing and customer-centric strategies are hatched to bolster that bottom line and retain that elusive animal, the satisfied customer.
