The retail industry is bouncing back after a tumultuous few years dealing with the effects of the pandemic, supply chain issues and the great resignation. In retail, every day is different, yet exciting. The speed in which the retail industry moves is impressive. But Accenture found that 64% of consumers wish companies would respond faster to meet their changing needs, and 88% of executives think their customers are changing faster than their businesses can keep up. So how can the industry continue to prepare for change, and what are the future trends?  

In-store vs e-commerce

It seems to be the topic that always comes up at our retail summits, and the answer is always the same. There is more than enough room for both. At a recent GDS Group summit, Jed Berger, Global CMO at Foot Locker says, “digital has of course changed retail, but I don’t think that physical shopping experiences are going anywhere.” 

In fact, according to research by Shopify, in the US, a huge 81% of Gen Z consumers prefer to shop in stores to discover new products, and more than 50% say in-store browsing is a way to disconnect from the digital world. And isn’t that just what we need after 30 months of entrenching ourselves fully in the virtual world? 

Building community among your consumers is vital both in store and online. Research shows 47% of consumers were more likely to purchase from a brand due to its local presence, and over one-third of consumers in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand say a sense of community is a top motivator to visit local shops. Get to know your customers, encourage your teams to have fun in-store and create a welcoming environment! Also, ensure your online community presence is strong. There are so many ways to do this, but interestingly 81% of brands plan to either increase or maintain investment in livestream selling to drive sales over the next 12 months. Utilising these methods are key. 

GDS Group recently spoke with Ron Thurston, Amazon #1 Best Selling Author of Retail Pride. He tells us, “For the first time, brick and mortar businesses are growing at a quicker rate than ecommerce. 18% grew last quarter (Q1 2022) compared to 14% ecommerce growth. The store has never been more important, it’s delivering 81% of commerce, and employing millions of people. But of course there are still challenges.” 

He has a point! 31% of brands plan on establishing or expanding their physical retail footprint in the next year, but 47% are concerned that securing affordable commercial leases will be a challenge, and 55% of brands say winning foot traffic will be their top challenge.  

And Jed makes the great point that, “when people purchase online, they often know exactly what they want.  In stores, you may think you know what you want when you come in but when you’re surrounded by choice, you may buy something else, so shouldn’t we be focusing on making the in-store experience more fun and personal?”  

According to Shopify, only 32% of brands say they’ll be establishing or expanding their use of pop-up and in-person experiences in the next year. To really create an engaging and enjoyable experience for consumers, more brands will need to invest. And Ron sums it up perfectly. He says “store business is alive and healthy, and it is time to invest your most important resources back into stores, and specifically back into people. We have really proven the fact that the store is here to stay, and that people want to work in this industry more than ever.” 

And of course, the biggest investment should be in your best resource – your team. “The Great Resignation,” and now “The Great Reshuffle,” has changed the game completely. No longer are people willing to work long hours, for low pay and in poor conditions. And who would want to shop in a store where that is the case? To recruit and retain the best talent, promote health, wellbeing, and happiness at work, and mean it! Happy employees work on average 69% harder, and happy staff = happy customers. 

Happy employees also help to build and show off your brand’s purpose. Ensuring a strong purpose and a strong passion behind it, will have a huge impact. At the GDS Group Retail summit, Rae Weon, Principal of Enterprise Innovation at Twilio shares “90% of the time, consumers prefer to spend their money with purpose-driven companies.” 

And what should be intrinsically linked to your purpose? Being sustainable! We must not forget to include sustainability in everything retail does moving forward. Jed says, “sustainability comes up in every brand meeting that we have with the brands that we sell, and in every consumer conversation we have.” Consumers are increasingly conscious of their carbon footprint, and the impact they’re making on the world. Ensuring your experiences, products and practices are sustainable – and being transparent with your customers about that, will give you the competitive edge, both in-store and in ecommerce. 

To learn more about the future of retail, and why we should take pride in it, listen to our recent podcast with Ron Thurston here. 

GDS Summits are tailored 3-day virtual event conferences that bring together business leaders and solution providers to accelerate sales cycles, industry conversations and outcomes. Regarding the NG Retail Digital Summits 83% of Solution Providers said the overall experience of the Digital Summit they attended was ​Above Average or Excellent and 83% of Solution Providers said they would be interested ​in sponsoring future events.  

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