Consumer expectations.Customer experience. Consumer behavior. Does your retail business relate to these three terms? Do you know they are the major drivers behind the success of your business? So, to add real value to your business you must solve your customers’ problems first, listen to their growing shift in expectations and changing behavior. You got to mold your offerings, products & services as per their changing shifts. So, what will be the top transformative consumer trends in 2022?

Trend #1  Digital Comes First

Your retail business has already adopted digital routes to connect with your customers, right? But, is it sufficient or do you need to expand your horizon? So far your digitization journey has incorporated only these channels – your websites, your social media channels, email offers, and maybe more, however, you have added them as an add-on and not the primary channel for your business. Today, the consumer prefers retail experience exclusively on digital channels. B2B or B2C, customers are opting for their business routes via a digital channel only. For customers, digital comes first before the rest! Your business must focus on building an improved version of digital-first interactions with prospective or existing customers. Three ways your retail business can do this-

• Switch over to web & mobile apps
• Focus on digital-only products/services
• Set up a smooth omnichannel environment that will enable customers to have a seamless movement between channels for a cohesive customer experience.

Trend #2  Personalization & Micro-Moments

Your customers want personalized offers that exclusively cater to them. They want to feel special and not a part of your mass marketing goals. You must admit the fact in today’s age of hyper-individualization,  your consumers want to buy your product if it is uniquely customized to their requirements. They expect you to understand their unique needs and respond accordingly. This will lead your customers to build a meaningful rapport with your brand, your business. Moreover, they want all these very fast and immediately. They have plenty of choices as everyone is targeting them, not just you. So, focus on their unique needs and give them quickly before anyone does that! If you search in Google, the result will appear as ‘Micro-Moments’ for this kind of consumer experience. In a flash of seconds, you need to deliver to your consumer!!

Trend #3 AI-Powered Product Cognification

SMART is the ongoing trend and the cognification of products and services is increasingly making inroads to consumers’ lives every day.AI (Artificial Intelligence), IoT(Internet of Things)  are inevitably making products smarter and digitally powered thereby multiplying their capabilities manifold. For example, how consumers are buying AI-IoT-sensored refrigerators, cars, and other products that are technically SMART to use. Similarly, for your business clients and customers, even machines in factories are leveraging the huge potential of digital capabilities, increasing the efficiency and productivity in the ecosystem. Thus, products are becoming more and more intelligent while services are equipped with AI capabilities and other digital technologies.

Trend #4 D2C without Intermediary

Consumer trend is going to take a round-about turn in 2022 towards direct dealings and purchases with no brokers and middlemen or traditional intermediaries involved. The D2C(Direct-to-Consumer)trend is going to bypass intermediaries in the retail supply chain which means, wholesalers, suppliers, distributors, retailers, advertisers, all are connecting directly with their end-consumers/customers. As a retailer or business person in retail, you need to sync with this consumer trend and find some direct digital routes to your customers using varied online channels.

Trend #5 From B2C to C2C

How about current businesses like Uber, Etsy, Facebook, and many others conducting businesses online? The same pattern is going to occur in 2022 onward for the retail sector as well. Just for your knowledge, C2C (customer-to-customer) business means customers directly connect with other customers for the business. This is increasingly picking momentum and there have been instances when a b2c has transformed to c2c and succeeded in their journey. So, if you are not a platform, fully-fledged business, you can think of this c2c model and get started!

Trend #6  Subscription-based Services

An entirely significant consumer trend for 2022, the subscription-based products & services is the trend greatly driven by the rapid cognification factor. As a business, you can now delight your target customers with thoughtful subscription-based products and items when they need them. Your customers would just love to sign up if you personalize your offerings to their requirements and specific expectations. The bottom line is, your business can generate predictable revenues as long as you provide your customers with value-based products and services.

Trend # 7 AR/VR/XR

Immersive Experience is the keyword. XR (Extended Reality), AR (Augmented Reality), VR(Virtual Reality)digital tools and technologies are increasingly becoming popular amongst consumers and customers because they can get real-life experience out of them. Your customers get instantly impressed with these immersive& engaging tools/ technologies.

Bottomline

Today, consumers are highly prioritizing experiences over materialistic achievements. It means, they look for value-added services and products that are personalized to their specific tastes and needs.Consumers/customers are not ready to compromise on this ground and just cannot accept anything on their plates. As a brand, you need to connect with your target audience instantly else they will move to the next brands in a flash of seconds. So, get ready for the year 2022 and align your retail business according to the consumer trends predicted here!

Interested to know more about the consumer trends that can benefit your retail business? Contact us.

If you are a retail entrepreneur, you must be knowing very well the significance of trends in your sector, and how it shapes the business eco-space. New trends come with every new year that hugely impact retail businesses across the globe. In 2020 as well as 2021, the trends saw a massive shift in consumer behavior, their fondness for online shopping, immense growth in e-commerce, social commerce, AR shopping experiences, influencer marketing, etc. The pandemic has only accelerated some trends like a surge in grocery platforms, retail media outlets overall enhancing online shoppers worldwide. Continuing the trend of writing about the trends, let’s discuss top innovative retail industry trends that will dominate in 2022 and beyond as well!

Important Stats

• By 2040, over 95% of total purchases are expected to be done on e-commerce platforms (NASDAQ)
• There exist over 2 B digital shoppers/buyers around the world (Statista)
• In 2023,  22% of the total retail sales globally are expected to be carried online mode  (Statista)
• Almost 51% of online shoppers do purchases using their smartphones (Finances Online)
• By 2025, half of B2B revenue is expected to be generated by e-commerce (Episerver)

Stats Main Source –  Influencer Marketing Hub

1. Online Stores in Offline Spaces

The trend has picked momentum over the past few years. Digital brands sell their products online while delivering tangibility to the whole customer experience. This means, online buyers can choose products online and can go to pick them in the brand’s physical retail store or in-store. Shoppers greatly benefit from this real-time interaction with the product they want to purchase. Several D2C brands, digital natives such as Casper, Glossier started their online retail but later on expanded to physical availability, too. As per sources, the digitally native retail companies/brands might open 850 physical/in-stores in the coming five years.

2. Rising Social Commerce

Social media platforms have become a big rage amongst people of all ages across geographies. Different social channels are offering shoppers to shop online in a seamless manner. No need to click a third-party website for shopping, but as a user, you can directly purchase from social channels via their apps or sites. Shops are present on social media channels like Facebook, Instagram apps, or sites, and while you can browse your accounts you can see your favorite products displayed by varied shopping brands, e-commerce shops.  E-Sellers can create their labels decorated with attractive banners, colors, buttons,  images, that can be accessed from specific social channels. They have a big scope to reach a larger global audience, too. In 2020, just as the trend picked up like how TikTok and Shopify collaborated, how Facebook allowed shops to sell their products, similarly 2022 is going to see again. Social Commerce sales in the US are estimated to rise by 35% with the current year-end.

3. Enhanced Influencer Marketing

Earlier, Influencer marketing meant just eye-catching captions, creative selfies, and product shots that used to be heavily edited. This year onward (2021), we are seeing how brands are collaborating with influencers and influencer content with the raw and real aesthetic appeal are tending now and will last beyond 2022 as well. Audiences love the original appeal of the brands and not an artificial coating and edited stuff. They want the real, authentic voice that brands project for their products. Influencer content that works as edutainment(education+entertainment) for the ultimate user experience, is allowing brands to fetch greater user engagement and ROI. Video happens to be the next big thing when brick-and-mortar retail stores are still to restart massively like the earlier phase. Consumers, shoppers love to see the product digitally and feel the experience. Videos on IGTV, Reels, Live Streaming, etc. are the ways influencer marketing is becoming the retail trend for 2022 also.

4. Value-Added Supply Chain

Supply- Chain forms a significant part of the retail chain. Digital technology and tools like AI-ML, IoT, Robotics are already helping the wing with added value. For example, automated warehouses with varied robots handling goods, doing the routine work there, autonomous robots, and drones for last-mile delivery are yet to become popular but may pick up during 2022 and beyond in full swing. Besides,  retailers can make smart decisions using process automation that will lead to greater value- service. Adopting IoT(Internet-of-Things), RFID devices, help to track, trace product, and this allows retailers to access authentic real-time data. Digital tools like AI-ML Predictive Analytics help to understand KPIs thoroughly. Automating documentation at all the stages of the supply chain helps to lower costs and increase efficiency and productivity. This is going to be the major trend in the coming years.

5. Voice Commerce and Digital Chatbots

Shoppers, users, b2b or b2c customers, all are benefitting from digital chatbots and smart speakers. Amazon Echo, Google Home, and other voice-technology-enabled smart speakers have entered the homes of online shoppers. As of now, 20 percent of owners of smart speakers use voice technology/voice commerce for searching, researching products they buy, shopping activities and tracking deliveries, etc. This trend is expected to grow to 52 percent in the coming 4 years. It is estimated that the global market of smart speakers could reach beyond 35.5 billion USD by 2025. Furthermore, retailers are focusing on meeting customers where they are. This is leading to the increased use of AI-ML-enabled digital chatbots and virtual assistants. The trend is going to stay in 2022, too.

Technology Will be the Key Driver

Trends become the trends when technology intervenes. Ideally speaking, in the era of digital transformation across industries, the retail industry is way ahead in terms of technology adoption and adapting to the changing demands, and ever-changing consumer behavior. While e-commerce is increasing its foothold, the essence of brick-and-mortar retail stores will always charm the audience. It is about amalgamating the two, the omnichannel strategy as well, that will enhance the core of retailing and trends ensuing in the year 2022, and beyond!