Retail is in close contact with people and feels any changes in society. It was especially noticeable in 2020 when during the pandemic, stores had to implement express delivery and develop contactless services. But this was only the beginning of global changes: at the beginning of 2022, no one was surprised by the constant innovations in retail.
The retail market is gaining momentum, testing new tools and looking for common ground with the buyer. What can consumers expect? Below we discover top retail trends in 2022. Stay tuned!
Artificial Intelligence For The Benefit of Customers
First, people are slowly being replaced by machines: self-service checkouts are installed in various stores more and more. Next in line is the widespread introduction of artificial intelligence (AI). Using the example of Amazon Go, one can predict how retail will begin to use modern machine learning technologies in the foreseeable future.
- Personalized prices
With the help of artificial intelligence algorithms, the buyer will receive prices that are relevant specifically for him. Just imagine: you often buy milk and cheese from particular brands, so you will have low prices for these products, while for the rest of the customers the cost will remain standard. By the way, CB Insights, which analyzes technologies, predicts a high demand for individual pricing.
- Individual product recommendations
Artificial intelligence will help you choose what you like. It will remember the purchases, and then form a list of those who are likely to like it. This technology is already implemented in some applications. It takes into account the user’s previous purchases, saves ratings and can suggest which products will be to their tastes.
- Machine vision
With machine vision, you can track the choice of the buyer and issue personalized recommendations for purchases. Amazon Go smart carts work similarly. They are equipped with artificial intelligence and read what products a person has put in the basket. The buyer can even pay for the goods without going to the checkout: the money is debited at the exit from the store.
Related: How does Artificial Intelligence Prove to be The Best Way for eCommerce?
Automation & Robotization to Simplify Logistics
The share of purchases in online stores is growing every year, so the opening of warehouses is a logical stage in the development of retail. But orders will soon be collected by autonomous mobile robots (AMR) or collaborative robots (cobot) working in conjunction with a person. They will take care of all stages of work with the goods: from moving boxes to packing and sorting cargo.
But robots are needed not only in warehouses: soon they will replace couriers at short distances. For example, Amazon Prime Air already delivers orders using drones.
Related: Digital Transformation in Numbers, Trends, and Cases
Social Commerce
According to the “We Are Social” report, 51% of the world’s population uses social networks. That’s over 3.5 billion people! Of course, this fact cannot be ignored. Retail is actively developing this sales channel: there are shops inside social networks, as well as collaborations between online trading platforms and social networks.
For example, a store within Facebook makes it possible to launch targeted advertising for the selected product, conduct a live broadcast, write a personal message to the buyer and see ad statistics. Most likely, in the foreseeable future, people will shop for groceries and FMCG products without leaving social networks. Insider Intelligence predicted social commerce in the US to grow by 35% by the end of 2021.
Augmented and Virtual Reality
With the help of AR technologies, companies allow customers to “try on” the product before buying. For example, in the IKEA app, you can put furniture from the catalogue into your room and evaluate the result of the changes. This technology greatly simplifies the life of customers and blurs the line between the store and the home creating the effect of “a store in your home”. That is, you can try on all the furniture options, choose the most suitable one, immediately put it in the basket and pay. No long trips to malls, no queues, no wasted weekends.
By the way, virtual and augmented reality is used to try on cosmetics (L’Oreal) and to select glasses (Warby Parker).
The BNPL Model: Buy Now, Pay Later
The “Buy now, pay later” (BNPL) model is actively developing in the USA: people buy goods and pay for them in installments without overpayments within a certain period. This is a new milestone in the development of short-term financing, which is replacing classic loans. It is beneficial for the seller, the buyer and the operator of the transaction: a person gets what he wants without delay, the seller increases the volume of sales and receives the entire amount at once, and the operator of the transaction earns on interest from the delay in payment.
This summer, the largest American retailer Walmart announced that it is replacing the standard option of deferring payment for purchases with the BNPL model. As the Wall Street Journal noted, this payment scheme is especially popular with young people: they do not want to use credit cards and wallow in debt, as their parents do.
Promotion Through Influencers
Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and Facebook have long ceased to be just social networks for communicating with friends and colleagues and have become serious platforms for promoting brands and products. That is why retailers need to interact with opinion leaders who can influence shopping habits.
The value of working with influencers is not always easy to relate to driving traffic to physical stores and increasing purchases there, however, if you have an online store, an audience of influencers can turn into your customers: from an advertising post to purchase on the site is just one click away.
The main thing is to find the “right” influencer for your product.
Omnichannel Approach
The omnichannel retail approach is focused on providing a seamless customer experience, whether they are shopping through a mobile app, website, or brick-and-mortar store.
Why is it so important? According to the Harvard Business Review, 73% of shoppers use multiple channels during their purchase. For example, they study a product on the Internet before buying it in a regular store. And vice versa, when they see the right product on the store shelf, they check the information about it on the network.
The omnichannel approach allows you to focus on the entire customer experience, rather than individual experiences across channels.
In addition to improving the customer experience, an omnichannel approach also allows you to:
- increase traffic and sales;
- increase customer loyalty;
- improve the quality of the collected data.
Caring for the health of customers
Maintaining health is the main trend that affects retail as well. The pandemic has seriously changed people’s habits: demand for personal care and cleaning products has increased.
Retailers need to recognize these changes and determine how to help customers and employees lead healthy lifestyles. Today, there is a sanitiser and a box of free disposable face masks at the entrance to almost any brick-and-mortar store, but this is just the beginning.
Wrapping Up
The retail market cares more about the buyer every year: it creates convenient shopping formats, increases the speed of delivery, facilitates payments, and responds to momentary needs. Comfort and convenience are the main criteria for choosing a shopping site among consumers. Even the price fades into the background if a person knows that in 15 minutes the ingredients for preparing dinner will be brought home.
Retail advertising is also becoming more human: it evokes feelings and emotions, followed by the desire to go to the store and buy what you want. Discounts, slogans and promotions are slowly becoming the remnants of the past.
Therefore, companies that do not follow trends and do not consider the needs of customers will experience difficulties and will be forced to decide whether they want to keep up with the times.
