Changing World of Retailing

My business partner recently shared an article which talks about how the world of retailing is changing now.

"6 TRENDS THAT WILL CHANGE RETAILING FOREVER" by Henrik Persson
Link: http://www.scenariomagazine.com/6-trends-that-will-change-retailing-forever/

Here are the key messages:

The demand for online purchasing opportunities is increasing as more tech-savvy generations are getting older. A quarter of US consumers aged 24 to 35 currently do around a quarter of their shopping online, according to The Economist.

There is evidence that a growing number of people do not bother to go down to the store and bring home products themselves anymore. A couple of years ago, Netflix launched a service in which people could rent DVDs online and get them sent by mail to their homes. It soon turned out that many customers preferred this to going down to the local Blockbuster movie rental store.

The first thing many people do when they wake up in the morning is to go on Facebook, and the last thing they do at night is to check their profile. They do not bother to go on the internet and type in an address or to do a search on Google anymore. They expect you to have an app or you will not really have a place in their mind.

Mobile retailing, or m-commerce, is growing even more rapidly than any other kind of retailing activity. eBay’s global mobile sales reached close to USD 2 billion in 2010. In 2011 this figure more than doubled, to USD 5 billion.

Social commerce takes place when online social networks and group activities are combined with e-commerce and/or offline retailing. The key to social commerce is to create an interest among buyers so that they spread the word to their contacts on social networks and other places. A growing number of companies are using this form of business logic with success. A common example is Groupon, which provides customers with big discounts if a sufficient number of members pounce on a particular offer.

Multichannel retailing is a powerful trend that is gaining momentum. Most traditional retailers are moving in this direction or will be forced to do so in the coming years. Multichannel retailing is growing in response to all of the five trends presented above.

They may also be something like Tesco’s experiment with virtual shops on South Korean subway stations, targeting people waiting for trains home from work. Tesco plastered the walls of the stations with pictures of groceries laid out as they were in a “real” store. These pictures featured QR codes for every product, which commuters could then scan with their smartphones, filling up a virtual shopping basket within minutes. The experiment increased sales by 130 per cent in a period of three months, and made Tesco the number one online grocery store in South Korea.

Are you ready to capitalize on these 6 trends for your business?