Where and how
people shop will be driven by resilience
The benefits of an
omnichannel retail approach have been widely discussed. Now, the need for
digital omnipresence – an approach underpinned by digital’s ubiquity in both the
real-world and online – will move center stage, creating new opportunities.
Digital discovery,
commerce, and fulfilment will become atomized and distributed across the various
places people spend their digital time. When people get inspired or remember
something they need, brands need to be there available to buy – instantly.
Behemoths like Amazon and
Alibaba will continue to make shopping more accessible, seamless, and price
positive, but the enormous recent e-commerce uplift has pushed customer
expectations even higher. From messaging apps to social networks and beyond,
today shopping needs to be an integrated part of people’s digital lives.
Physical spaces will need
to be redesigned as experience centers, built for entertainment, education and
tailored service – all whilst integrating and benefiting the local communities
they exist in. Shops will no longer be the final step of the sales funnel, but
an integral part of the discovery and education experience.
We should think of stores
as brand-building experience centers, not merely as places where goods and
inventory conveniently collide with customer transactions.