Seven Retail Trend Predictions For 2022

AI technology

The ongoing effects of COVID-19, consumers’ changeable shopping habits, and increasing expectations towards digital and omni-channel experiences are driving many retail brands to seek more opportunities and move ahead in the New Year.

In this article, we will focus on current retail trends and predictions for 2022, in response to embracing the new challenge in the New Year. 

Rising Online Shopping

60% of adults preferred offline shopping before the epidemic, but it has down to 37% now, according to the prospective report published by Retail Customer Experience. In addition, 42% of respondents would choose online and offline combination shopping methods in the future.

In England, there are around 5.7 million households purchase Christmas gifts online. Tesco, a big supermarket chain, the online sale has reached more than $1.38 billion during the 19-week Christmas holiday shopping period, while its rival Sainsbury's followed with a 128% increase in sales. 

Many retailers focus their efforts on online shopping rather than physical ones. Some of them even introduced digital technology and built warehouses dedicated to online stores. 

Free Contactless Delivery 

Nowadays, there is a conflict between consumers' expectations and the reality of COVID-19.  Consumers love online shopping and also expect faster delivery speed than ever. Driven by this, many online platforms like Amazon, are trying to speed up the logistics process. 

Unfortunately, the pandemic has created a huge shipping crisis, along with delivery delays all over the world. Against this backdrop, free shipping will attract more online shoppers. Ninety percent of consumers said they would shop more online more often if merchants could offer free shipping. In addition, 24 percent of consumers admitted that they would spend more to qualify for free shipping. It was reported that companies that offer free shipping have a 20% higher conversion rate than those that don't.

Expanding Stay-at-home Economy

The stay-at-home economy was born driven by market demand and continues to grow despite the lifting of travel restrictions. That’s because consumers have shifted their focus to home cooking, online shopping, and digital products. Compared with one year before, maybe fewer people are working at home, but some of them believe that they love those days without the commute and want to work at home at least a few days a week.

Take Advantage Of AI Technology

Today, retailers are increasingly using artificial intelligence in their daily operations. The Internet of Things has gradually become popularization although it took a long time to make it out. In the retail industry, the representative AI applications include inventory management, adaptive home pages, dynamic extensions, interactive chat, visual management, guided discovery, conversation support, customer engagement, etc. Businesses also use AI technology to provide personalized shopping experiences, including chatting robot, delivery robot, Ai cash register, etc. It is estimated that 91% of Internet users interact with chatting robots daily.   

Live Streaming Become More And More Popular

Affected by the epidemic, live streaming is popular among all groups of people. Consumers who shop online believed that live streaming is a way for them to participate in online shopping, and they often spend hours watching both commercial and entertainment shows that invited celebrities and influencers on a variety of topics. Given that, businesses should consider creating more innovative and attractive content and methods in live streaming. It is good to retain consumers' attention and achieve transformation. 

Original Brands Will Get More Attention 

Many budget-conscious consumers are now more willing to buy original brand (or designer brand) products because they would rather pay less for a nameless product with complete functions rather than to buy a big brand with a high premium. Cost performance is the eternal consumption concept for customers. Nowadays, the sales of original brand products are three times higher than those of large-scale brands. 

The original brand products caught on earlier in Europe than in the United States. In the UK, 40% of grocery sales come from original brand products. Although they are less popular in the US, the category is expected to account for 25 percent of the market over the next 10 years, and 32 percent of the market among the millennials. Retailers who take participate in this process can at least earn margins of 25-30% higher than selling larger brands.

Omni-channel Marketing 

Companies that adopt an omni-channel strategy have 91% retention rates higher per year than those that don't. Today, the average consumers will at average contact six channels when buying commodities, and nearly half regularly use more than four. 

Many retailers make marketing through multiple channels rather than just one or two. Generally speaking, the customer will know a brand at different channels at various purchase periods. Omni-channel marketing does not simply refer to using multiple channels in a campaign but is a method to allow you to get seamless connection and interaction with your customers.

Retailers can adopt AR, AI, VR, and other methods into omni-channel marketing, in response to enhancing the in-store and online shopping experience. For example, consumers can use augmented reality to preview products before customers buy them, which will provide a more intuitive view of the full range of products. 

As a high-tech company with 22-year experience, Telpo has developed a series of smart retail devices (AI cash register, Ai visual food recognition cash register, self-service kiosk, barcode scanner, robot waiter, etc) and can provide personalized retail scene solutions relate to digital transformation, online and offline combination, diversified payment, inventory management, member marketing, contactless delivery service, and even the customization services. If you want to know more details, welcome to contact us.

Tag: online shopping, contactless delivery, AI technology, omni-channel marketing