The most important future trends in retail

The way retail works is constantly changing. In the past, people went to a local shop and got advice about the limited number of products available. They then bought the product that was most convincing on site. It's different these days. There is an incredible number of alternatives in every industry and customers no longer simply want what companies come up with. But a lot has changed not only with regard to the products. Sales themselves must also adapt to new trends such as digitization or globalization.

So that you and your company don't fall by the wayside, this article explains the most important trends of the moment and shows how you can best implement them.

Pioneering store concepts

Current trends in store design are increasingly moving towards offering customers an unforgettable shopping experience. This is necessary because there is a large selection of possible shopping outlets for consumers and local shops also have to assert themselves against the Internet.

One way to improve the customer experience is to create an interactive store. The aim is to offer customers in the shop the opportunity to really use products instead of just testing them.
At the Lego Flagship Store in Shanghai, for example, customers can build their own creations from thousands of building blocks. Decathlon, in turn, allows visitors to your stores to view every tent on offer live through VR glasses. The user only covers an area of nine square meters.

But the Chinese automotive startup NIO shows that you can also put sales in the background when designing stores. They welcome customers to a NIO house. This is a car dealership that is divided into seven different areas. Only one of these represents the actual showroom. The rest are places like a kitchen or a library. Visitors can spend the entire day here.

Event Shopping & Community Retail

Another trend that is appearing more and more often and should be used for yourself is event shopping. Retailers launch promotions and discounts on specific days of the year. The best known example of this is Black Friday in November. On this day, there are some of the biggest reductions of the year and it regularly helps retailers achieve record sales. Local businesses in particular can benefit from this. By giving special discounts on such days, you can get customers to shop less online and more in-store.

In addition to event shopping, community retail is also becoming an increasingly important trend. Consumers want their needs to be met as specifically as possible. It is helpful to involve you directly in the design and manufacturing process.
You can also use your customers for your own advertising. Through social media, everyone acts unconsciously as brand ambassadors. Making it easier for customers to post can generate a lot of helpful attention. With the WiFi marketing package of Socialwave For example, you can suggest predefined Facebook status messages to users of the hotspot. Publishing this message then reaches an average of 200 friends on Facebook.

The trend towards sustainability

Protecting the environment and our planet is extremely important. This is now known to everyone. But consumers' buying behavior is also increasingly geared towards this. If a company today does not pay attention to this aspect, it can quickly lose customer interest. Or there is even negative press, especially on the Internet.

That is precisely why the Corporate Social Responsibility Don't be lost sight of. Because consumers no longer only buy from manufacturers with the best products. You are increasingly paying attention to the image of the company you are buying from. You should therefore urgently ensure that you work in an environmentally friendly and socially engaged manner and also let customers know this.

Focus on customer requirements

One of the most important developments in retail is attention to customer requirements. As these are becoming more and more specific, it is no longer possible to reach everyone with general solutions. To do this, you should constantly collect and evaluate information about your customers. In this case, the previously mentioned WiFi marketing package be a great help. When a customer enters your Socialwave Hotspot Logged in, various data collected about him. This includes time spent in the shop or waiting times. By analyzing this data, you can, for example, design and optimize the sales rooms accordingly. Or you use email marketing to persuade former visitors to return. This can encourage consumers to stay with you longer and build greater customer loyalty. This in turn leads to higher sales and greater awareness.

Online and mobile retail

Today, it is impossible to imagine shopping without the Internet. However, only a few people are aware of the immense importance of mobile retail. Loud Statista 69% of all respondents use mobile devices to shop online. As a result, 38% of all e-commerce transactions in Germany take place on mobile devices.
For you as a retailer yourself, this means that you absolutely have to provide your customers with an online platform. You should also optimize your website for mobile devices. Because an appealing and functional online shop makes it easier for customers to buy your products while on the go. After all, forecasts for the future also suggest no change. According to Statista, mobile devices should even account for over 60% of all online buyers by 2020.

Contactless payment

In addition to all trends that revolve around the way of buying and selling, there is also another topic: Payment. Because paying while shopping is also undergoing major changes.
This change is the option of contactless payment. However, a distinction must be made between two forms. On the one hand, there are contactless credit and EC cards. These contain a chip that allows customers to just briefly hold the card to a reader and use it to pay. This works for smaller amounts even without entering a pin. The second form is to pay with a smartphone. Because all current smartphones have the NFC function, i.e.”Near Field Communication”. NFC can be used, on the one hand, to transfer data between mobile devices or to connect to Bluetooth speakers. But also to pay, just like with a contactless card. Through providers such as Google Pay or Apple Pay, you can then store a PayPal account or bank details, for example.

This development makes payment more practical, easier and, above all, faster for customers. As a result, the payment threshold is lowered and customers make impulse purchases more often.
That is exactly why you should also give your customers the option of contactless payment. It could help you increase your sales.

conclusion

The retail sector of the future is subject to a number of fundamental changes and trends that can already be observed now. It is therefore time for entrepreneurs to dedicate themselves to them and try to use them for their success.
As it turns out, there are already pioneers in most of these areas who are doing their job really well.
Now you too should look at the latest developments in order to benefit from them as well.

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