Future of Retail: the 7 major challenges to be confirmed in 2022

Every year, the NRF Retail’s Big Show, This must-attend event in the sector sets the trends for commerce of the future. As we approach 2022 and begin to look for new developments, it seemed interesting to recall the major trends that were already evident at the end of 2020 and that were confirmed throughout 2021.

In particular, we could observe the great return to the fundamentals of commerce by putting customer satisfaction, ethics and humanity at the heart of the commercial relationship and the buying journey. Thus, the major transformation projects in the retail, The identified cases in early 2021 have been confirmed and are still of current interest.

The NRF 2022 will therefore come to complement or challenge the 7 major issues that we have identified below (Spoiler The answer is... in us NRF 2022 retail webinar).

1. Win (again) the battle of omnichannel

As we know, the client is today BIOPAU (Bavard, Impatient, Omnichannel, Shareable, Autonomous and Unique)… Six behaviors that we have become accustomed to adding the word Responsible to over the past few years.

New technologies have strongly impacted purchasing behavior and the need for customers to have smooth interactions between the different channels (in-store, online, by phone…). At Atol, for example, 30% of in-store appointments come from online reservations.

The omnichannel strategy provides the company with better knowledge of its customers, strengthens the brand image, and improves customer satisfaction. According to the LSA/HiPay study in the omnichannel distribution process, 71% of the Retailers Respondents believe that implementing an omnichannel strategy is a priority and 69% of consumers are willing to switch brands if the latter does not offer a consistent omnichannel experience.

2. Put the supply chain at the heart of the transformation

Today, delivery must be done increasingly quickly, within increasingly short deadlines and in various ways (home delivery, courier service, etc.)., click & collect, in a relay point…). The new requirements of customers strongly impact the logistics processes.

To ensure this reactive logistics and to accompany the growth of the click & collect, Many brands opt for one reconfiguration of the point of sale (reduction of the sales area and more storage space).

Walmart, for example, has redesigned more than 1,600 stores in a year, reducing the sales area by 30% in favor of reserves. Thus, Walmart is equipping itself with micro-warehouses less than 10 km from most American homes, thus doing much better than Amazon.

3. Scripting the store for an augmented experience

At a time when e-commerce continues to grow rapidly, and successive waves of COVID and traffic difficulties make visiting a store increasingly complex, the concept of the store has become more important than ever. Customers want stores where they can breathe, where they have space, where they are not overwhelmed by the abundance of products or digital gadgets.

Now, stores must awaken the customer’s 5 senses, and not just their sight. It is now possible to hear, touch, feel, and taste the products, and to immerse oneself in a true sensory and personalized experience! This is achieved by working on this aspect of the customer experience. Augmented experience – some talk of a “hyper-physicality” in opposition to the virtualization of human relationships (via the explosion of video, the future of the human being). metaverse, etc.) – that the stores will succeed in attracting and retaining customers in the point of sale.

4. Limit digital sales to what is strictly necessary

To echo the new store layout and the new streamlined spaces, the robots, interactive screens, and virtual reality (except for certain specific uses, limited to a few specialized networks like basket4ballers) and other «visible» digital gadgets tend to fade away.

There is one exception, however: the smartphone That of the salesperson serving an increased customer relationship thanks to customer data and product information that is more easily accessible. But also that of the customer, whom it is necessary to get out of their pocket in order to encourage them to download the store’s app.

“3-way” interactions in stores (vendor, customer, smartphone) make it easy to capture valuable data to maintain a more personalized relationship. Brands are competing with each other to innovate (and with QR codes displayed on the walls) to boost these interactions. In Paris, the « House of Innovation » Nike is one of the examples that we will be following closely.

5. Reinvesting in the sellers

It was thought that technology would replace sales staff, but this obstacle was quickly overcome and that’s a good thing! The challenge today is to free sales staff – who are still indispensable in customer relations – from administrative tasks and back-office duties. In this sense, the new concept Decathlon DX serves as a technological laboratory to limit the time spent on back-office tasks (orders, analyses, inventories, etc.) to 5%.

The more brands invest in omnichannel and the intelligent use of data, the more necessary it is to train sales staff to avoid any dissonance between marketing promises and the sales pitches of the sellers. Almost all successful brands admit that they have has increased its efforts in training sales staff in recent years.

6. Living the ethical, societal and environmental commitment

While in France environmental commitments are highly emphasized, in the USA the key words are inclusiveness and sustainable development (sustainabilityEveryone should feel welcome, and the windows and shops now clearly display that all customers are welcome, regardless of their gender, age, origin, etc.

Overseas, it is also about proving that the brand does good to its communities. Thus, in keeping with the Nordstrom Or Trader Joe’s, the stores proudly display on the walls of their stores the number of millions of dollars they donate to charitable organizations!

7. Exploiting the data

The date is the precious Grail of retail. Two figures make it possible to understand the strong stakes: the industry of retail Generates 400 petabytes (the equivalent of 400,000 external hard drives) of data per hour (source Microsoft) and well-used Artificial Intelligence could enable the entire industry to save up to $340 billion per year starting in 2022 (source Intel).

This data is valuable for marketing teams, but also for the salesperson in the point of sale, who needs to have the right data at the right time, in the presence of the customer! In e-commerce, this data allows for: personalize offers made to customers in real time. Elodie Perthuisot – E-commerce director at Carrefour – recalls that the retailer can predict 50% of the products that registered customers will add to their Drive basket.

Tesco, one of the largest distribution groups in the United Kingdom, already offers alternative, healthier product choices to customers identified as being sensitive to the “eat better” trend and displays “Have you forgotten this product?” notifications when the frequency of purchase of a given item does not match their purchase history. In this context, large food retailers are working to monetize relevant data much more effectively with brands and industry players.

The major issues highlighted by the previous NRFs in 2020 and 2021 still strongly influence the retail of today. The grand mass of retail 2022 will confirm or complement these major directions... and us We can already sense the tremors of other emerging trends, including the metaverse (the future internet in 3D), the circular economy (already initiated by many brands but with an economic model that remains to be found), and live video shopping (which combines the power of video with the expertise of sellers).

Come to New York from January 16 to 18 to discover the major trends of the retail and the sector's growth opportunities in 2022... or simply by following our news and reports throughout January and by registering for our webinar!