COVID-19 pandemic has created economic consequences that affected several industries including hospitality, event management, and retail. Even before the hit of the pandemic, brick-and-mortar retail stores were experiencing a decline due to the popularity of online stores. However, the pandemic added more challenges to the retail industry and mass closures of the offline stores initiated the swift transition to online stores. The major advantages of having an online store during the pandemic were curbside pickups, contactless payments and delivery, and evasions of travel are considered safety measures. The pandemic has caused uncertainty about the future of offline retail stores.
According to a study report by UNCTAD, there is a dramatic increase in online retail shopping globally from 16% to 19% in 2020.
Post-COVID Retail Trends
The rising trend in the post-pandemic era is the omnichannel approach, which has steadily increased since lockdown was enforced. Several customers are trying an omnichannel approach like purchasing online and picking up from the store. As indicated earlier, the e-commerce industry has experienced a boom in the business as the majority preferred online shopping rather than putting them at risk during the pandemic. Several retailers are using this opportunity to enhance their business sales and this approach will continue in the future.
Here are some of the retail trends of the future:
E-commerce Shopping
Based on Ecommerce Delivery Benchmark Report 2021, almost 49.7% of the non-food retail sales will be online sales by 2025. Consumers who were reluctant to shop online are now creating online shopping accounts and enjoying an entirely different shopping experience. Once the consumers find the advantages of shopping online, they tend to stick on to online shopping than going back to traditional offline shopping. Even shopping for groceries online is becoming a trend and might stay in the future.
Adoption of AR/VR
Another trend that will gain popularity is the AR/VR shopping experience. The AR/VR options such as virtual malls, product visualization, virtual try-on, etc., are creating a wave among the consumers as they not only engage the consumers but also give a real-world or in-store experience of buying a product. These technologies will help the retail stores to accelerate sales by making the business flexible and agile.
Digitization of Offline stores
Since offline stores and malls are opening up after the pandemic, in-store digitization is trending now as customers are coming back to the brick-and-mortar stores. To ensure the safety of the customers visiting the stores, the stores are bound to make their services digital-friendly such as online payment, real-time inventory information, sharing information about the products, streamlining of processes, employee management, customer experience management, etc. The customers can also walk into the stores to pick up the items that are being automatically scanned and the billed amount will be debited directly from their bank accounts in the future.
Conclusion
The unforeseen impact of the pandemic has created an entirely new level of experience for the customers, which made it impossible to go back to the pre-pandemic days. Hence, the retail industry has to embrace the evolving trends and changes to stay in the business in the post-pandemic era.