We all know retail -- and the world -- has radically changed over the past year in ways none of us ever expected. What we know less about is what to do about it.
Enter Deborah Weinswig, the founder and CEO of Coresight Research, the highly regarded research and consulting service that has been in the forefront of examining the impact of the pandemic and how the shopping landscape has been altered.
She recently addressed a session of the Dallas-Fort Worth Retailers Association and laid out not just the big changes but what actions retailers could take to drive market share in the post-Covid world. On both fronts, she presented impactful information.
Five Post-Crisis Trends
- Retailers will implement contact-light retail with initiatives like curbside pick-up, contactless payments and other tools to enhance the safety of the shopping experience.
- Physical retail will shift back to product rather than experiences as what they sell again becomes as important as how they sell it.
- Experiential e-commerce will become a key selling tool, with 3D, livestreaming and both augmented and virtual reality technologies becoming critical.
- Retailers will use demand forecasting powered by machine learning as it becomes crucial to have accurate inventory levels and forecasting.
- Retailers will shake up sourcing, as they look for new destinations while consumers place more emphasis on sustainability.
Five Ways to Drive Share
- Spearhead new shopping events like Prime Day and Coresights’s own 10.10 Shopping Festival.
- Leverage new categories and tie-ins, looking to other brands and collaborations to create additional opportunities.
- Expand inclusivity in product offerings to address smaller market segments you might not have considered before.
- Partner with new technology start-ups to be able to provide services and processes you can’t do on your own.
- Increase omnichannel personalization and loyalty programs to get better integrated with your customers.
This upcoming holiday season, Weinswig says, will see “radically different consumer behavior in light of the coronavirus pandemic.” Using the old playbook just may not be enough, she suggested.