Retail Will Be Transformed By 2020
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
Five trends in technology that will mark the retailers of the future.
The world of retail is being re-envisioned by emerging technology and changing customer habits. As shoppers become more tech-savvy, the lines between online and brick-and-mortar shopping are blurring, and the retail world is changing to adapt to that development.
According to eMarketer, global e-commerce sales increased 22 percent over 2013, reaching $1.3 trillion at the end of 2014, while growth at U.S. retail outlets is in the low single digits, according to figures from the U.S. Department of Commerce collected by Business Insider.
Recently, Forbes identified five tech trends that will be transforming retail by 2020. They were:
- Retailers will embrace showrooming as a strategy. As PWC explained, “Physical stores recognize that they have become virtual showrooms for online sales channels, and they are developing more effective responses to keep the sale.” Stores of the future will tailor their omni-channel experiences to satisfy customers and boost sales. This also means the use of beacon technology to push offers and product suggestions to shoppers in-store.
- Analytics will become an integral tool in physical stores. As retailers compete for their customers, customer analytics is proving to be a powerful tool, powering labor, merchandising, loss prevention, and other store operations, and can include geofencing and store mapping or even smart shelves.
- Transparency in payments and transactions will be commonplace. Forbes reports that by 2020, more transactions will be conducted via mobile devices like smartphones and wearables, and we will see the emergence of new, more streamlined payment experiences as well, as retailers aim to make the payment process as seamless as possible.
- Sensory technology will give retailers greater awareness of their customers. As PWC explained, retailers will begin using technology to help develop relationships with each individual shopper “and she will be greeted by store associates who ‘know’ her – and recognize her frequent shopper status.” One example of sensory technology is Emotient, which allow retailers to detect emotional responses in shoppers to product displays, interactions with sales associates, or even store signs.
- Technology will be the new sales assistant. From in-store mapping, to beacon and NFC technology, and products to manage infrastructure, brick-and-mortar retailers will come to embrace more and more technology to assist in the sales process. But while many of the routine tasks of the sales associate will be automated, clerks will not be eliminated; rather, their roles will be shifted to emphasize the creation of customer relationships and increasing sales.
The brick-and-mortar store is far from an extinct creature, as seen in the recent trend of online retailers opening physical stores for the first time, and the physical retail stores of the future will be reinvented for the new, digital age of shopping.
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