Covid-19 is just the tip of the iceberg: the ’20s promise to be a decade full of disruption. Hyperpersonalisation, hybrid store concepts and ‘social commerce’ are having a breakthrough, thanks to the pandemic.
Mediocre players won’t make it
The pandemic’s effects will continue to be felt, experts predict. With the outbreak of the virus, trends that have been lurking beneath the surface for some time, now emerge. And that’s not all bad news: “We will experience our own version of the roaring ’20s,” says Natalie Berg, retail analyst and Amazon expert, to Raconteur.
Initially, we will all have the desire to go shopping physically again next year, even though we won’t be able to do so anywhere anymore. Mediocre players will not survive the crisis, and there will be “fewer, but much better stores” taking their place, Berg insists. Those renewed physical stores will offer a strong, sensory experience.
Retailers do the shopping themselves
The pandemic has accelerated existing trends, as many companies have started to use new services and technologies. Even small businesses have been forced to develop digital platforms, in-store payments are done with a swipe, and orders are being cycled, driven or flown around. This ‘seamless’ experience will rapidly expand and become part of our daily routine.
Meanwhile, the personalisation engine is also running full speed ahead. In this contactless world retailers and brands have more and more data at their disposal, the time of real hyperpersonalisation is fast approaching. “2021 shows us a future in which retailers do the shopping for the customer,” concludes Riyadh Bhyat, head of Quantium in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In fashion, for example, retailers will be able to preselect garments that fit customers perfectly, thanks to body scans.
Nike and Starbucks are ready for 2025
By 2025, these evolutions will redraw both physical trade and e-commerce in such a way that the two will grow towards one another. At the start of the decade, e-commerce was mainly about convenience and efficiency, but according to Berg, online shopping will also become a more engaging and compelling experience. “During lockdown, retailers recognised the need to connect online consumers with the store’s staff,” Berg observes, and that gives access to better service, differentiation and increased customer loyalty.
It leads to a ‘blended’ retail experience, in which not only online and offline find each other, but also different retailers and service providers will work together. Kanaiya Parekh, retail expert at Bain & Company mentions Starbucks and Nike as examples of “the store of 2025”: in addition to their role as points of sale, these stores also function as experience centres and brand showrooms, and, on top of that, online fulfilment hubs.
AI calculates supply and demand
Regarding fulfilment and supply chains, artificial intelligence will set the tone by calculating both supply and demand by 2030. It means less oversupply and less waste, which should benefit the environment. Even sensitive negotiations between suppliers and retailers will become automated via closed, digital business-to-business marketplaces thanks to AI.
For consumers, ‘social commerce’ will have a complete breakthrough: by 2030, everyone will be able to shop via social media, where smart chatbots will replace customer service queues and the shopping experience will be fully tailored to the user. “Virtual reality will become part of the shopping experience, and drones will then simply be one of the delivery options”, Bhyat expects.
