Five Retail Macro Trends Marketers Should Pay Attention To.

Retail Business Review | Monday, January 17, 2022

It's essential to realize that today's shoppers have considerable control over their purchasing path via various channels.

FREMONT, CA: Online retailing is in the midst of rapid growth and evolution, significantly accelerated by the impact of the pandemic.

Now, retail marketers must find out how to take these changes and apply them to their marketing strategy.

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It's essential to realize that today's shoppers have considerable control over their purchasing path via various channels. To drive sales in a progressively competitive environment and satisfy ever-evolving customer needs, marketing teams must make memorable experiences at every touchpoint that keep shoppers gratified and coming back for more.

In evaluating their marketing strategies, retailers should consider the following five macro trends:

1. Continued growth and competition

The steady growth of e-commerce will cause more companies to enter the field. This higher competition puts added pressure on companies to remain appropriate to their customers and to foster customer loyalty. In the past, merchants provided loyalty program perks only in their brick-and-mortar stores, but that's changing. Now, online retailers are growing loyalty programs to incorporate online and mobile purchases.

One way retailers do this is by providing memberships that enable customers to save if they consign to a monthly membership fee that goes near their purchases (e.g., Amazon Prime, Instacart, and Fabletics).

An alternative way digital retailers are expanding loyalty programs is by offering convenient subscription boxes or subscription items or providing cost savings. Today's brands would advantage from evaluating whether these offerings could contribute favorably to boosting sales growth and brand loyalty and integrating them into their marketing plans accordingly.

2. The surge of new online shoppers

The pandemic brought several homebound customers online and mobile for the first time. Now e-commerce stores, besides brick-and-mortar ones, are the principal purchase path for many brands.

To keep these new customers occupied, digital marketing strategies must incorporate technology to guarantee that the company's merchandise's purchase path is simpler than that of competitors.

This could incorporate robust search and filtering capabilities so customers can find what they want quickly, unobtrusive but effectual personalization at each contact point, sites that load almost immediately, and streamlined returns and exchanges.

Also, ensuring prompt order fulfillment through upgraded logistics networks and increased fulfillment efficiencies will be key to gaining and keeping new customers. So will, using chatbots can help customers find what they want when they want it. Retail marketers who adopt technologies that enhance performance will be better positioned to attract increasing numbers of online shoppers to their sites.

3. Buy now, pay later

Another way to make digital shopping easier and more attractive is to buy now and pay later. While credit cards have often given this option, most buy now pay later (BNPL) vendors charge no interest or fees and don't influence the customer's credit usage metric on credit scoring formulas.

BNPL was popular pre-pandemic, but consumers preferred longer payment plan options during the pandemic. Most checkouts have moved from a five-payment plan to a seven-payment one.

Online retailers that provide BNPL options experience increased spending among shoppers, lower risk of cart abandonment, and customers returning if they have a positive shopping experience. If your brand isn't presenting BNPL as a payment option, now would be a good time to offer shoppers this added flexibility.

4. Sustainability

Increasingly, shoppers want to support companies that have been produced in an eco-friendly way that preserves the environment or encourages recycling. The idea of sustainability contributing directly to the bottom line has been problematic for most companies to accept until recently. Online retailers must implement sustainable practices and develop marketing strategies to support this.

To this end, online retailers should consider incorporating sustainability messages in all advertising, social media, and influencer marketing, reconsidering packaging materials, shipping electronic receipts, or adding products that encourage sustainability or looking for eco-friendly alternatives.

5. Artificial intelligence

Modern retail brands can leverage AI to enhance the customer experience via personalization. Presenting personalized experiences onsite or in retail marketing efforts has been shown to enhance sales. In a study, 40% of customers said they consumed more than they had planned when retailers employed a high level of personalization.

AI also drives sales by improving the voice commerce experience and fulfillment efforts. Continued investment in AI will support today's brands to stay competitive and keep customer satisfaction at high levels.

Retailers must stay flexible and communicate with customers whether they buy in-store, online, on mobile devices, or on what payment method they select.

Retail marketers who concentrate on personalizing the shopping experience with the help of AI and promoting environmentally friendly practices will support and drive sales growth for digital marketers. As e-commerce remains on its upward trajectory and digital customer experiences enhance, e-commerce retailers who plan for and develop marketing tactics around these trends will be much better at obtaining the benefits.

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