You’re obsessed with the future of retail. We’re obsessed with the future of retail.
Every CEO, senior executive, CMO and CIO is obsessed. Every trend firm, every consultancy. Everyone. Right?
Except, that is for consumers. Billions of them. Consumers don’t think about retail the same way we do. They don’t go through the day with terms like ‘omnichannel’, ‘m-commerce’, or ‘mobile responsive’ floating around their heads.
They don’t care about your Last Mile problem, or your Bezos-eats-your-lunch problem. Consumers don’t lose sleep over the Retail Apocalypse.
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The thing is, you’re right to be obsessed.
Because while consumers may not care about the future of retail, they’re still busy creating that future. They’re fueled by a set of unchanging human needs. And their expectations never stand still. They want greater convenience. They want better value. They want excitement, meaning, status, relevance, authenticity, social connection and more.
It’s the relentless consumer quest to fulfil those needs that drives every change we see in the retail arena. The demise of Toys R Us. Alibaba’s record USD 25 billion Singles Day. JD.com’s pledge to open 1,000 physical stores a day – yes, you read that right – in 2019. Amazon delivering to the trunk of your car. It’s brutal out there.
But don’t start feeling smug if you’re not a retail business. These powerful consumer expectation shifts may arise within retail, but they’ll quickly spread to your industry, too.
There is no shortage of high-level overviews of the state of retail, and the broad forces reshaping it. With this publication we went a different route. We’re not here to talk about the new wave of automated stores, the ongoing rise of direct to consumer, the march of offline-to-online retail brands, or the opportunities presented by Tier II and III.
Yes, they’re all crucial ongoing trends. But we know they’re already on your radar. Instead, in this this report we’ll highlight five key tactical trends that are reshaping consumer expectations in 2019 and beyond. These are trends that you can use. Trends that can fuel your next winning product, service, campaign, experience, platform, business model and more.
1. MAGIC POINT OF SALE
Consumers now expect to summon retail brands as they would a genie from a lamp.
2. DEEP RETAIL
In 2019, smart retail brands know their customers better than customers know themselves.
3. CULTURE CLUBS
Your internal culture is your brand. So do more to help your people flourish.
4. A-COMMERCE
From discovery to delivery, retail brands are automating the customer journey.
5. PRACTICAL POST-DEMOGRAPHICS
Inclusive marketing is no longer enough. Time to to reimagine everything you do around true diversity.
So, enough preamble. Let’s do this. And remember, these trends are opportunities waiting to happen. After you read, take action!
Never miss a TrendWatching Quarterly Briefing!
Never miss a TrendWatching Quarterly Briefing!
The five trends featured here present five key new directions in the future of retail. Of course, these five trends represent just a small fraction of the trends currently reshaping the consumer landscape.
At TrendWatching, we’re obsessed with those trends. And we’ve been tracking them across the globe and in 16 B2C industries for longer than we care to remember.
Clients of our Premium Service have access to our entire Trend Framework, built around the 16 mega-trends that define modern consumerism. Beneath those sit 120+ actionable trends, all illustrated with 15,000+ hand-curated, best practice innovations. Plus a host of simple, powerful ideation tools to help turn trends into concrete new ideas.
It’s an entire trend department ready to go. If you’re serious about trends, it’s a no-brainer.
We’ve stressed this all along but just in case you missed it: these trends are opportunities. Opportunities to create your next retail product, service, platform, app, experience, or business model. Opportunities to delight existing consumers and win new ones.
That means they’re useless if you don’t act.
But you don’t have to start with a two-day ideation session, a week-long hackathon, or a pitch to the CEO (that can all come later). Here’s a minimum viable first step. Just take a single innovation example featured here back to your team and ask one simple question: when people see this, what will they start to expect from us?
That question encapsulates everything that’s important about Trend-Driven Innovation. That is, that game-changing innovations – such as those featured in this report – create new customer expectations. That those expectations once created will spread, and eventually find you. And that if you can see those expectations coming in advance and innovate to meet them, you can win!
So start with one innovation and a simple question. Once the debate is raging, hit them with some trend theory and win some kudos. Do it today!
And good luck :)
This Trend Briefing has many hands on it. A huge thanks to the team that pulled this together with such positivity and enthusiasm, especially: Vicky Kim and Nikki Ritmeijer (for design!), and also Maxwell Luthy, Vicki Loomes, Henry Mason, Alida Urban, Harry Metzger, Harvey Gomez, Jonathan Herbst, Lisa Feierstein, and Tash Cohen. THANK YOU!