Covid-19 has created a long-term shift in the retail industry. The challenges that companies have faced made retailers look for other ways to remain competitive and increase sales. This accelerated emerging trends and forced businesses to make structural changes with the help of the trends that emerged.
Software provider LeverX examined trends shaping the retail environment in the Covid-19 era and shared its insights. Let’s find out what trends exist and how retailers can leverage them.
Promotion by Influencers
Working with influencers is becoming one of the standards for business promotion on social networks such as Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, etc. Statistics show that the influencer marketing market will only continue to grow and develop 一 80% of marketers confirm the effectiveness of cooperation with bloggers.
The following are the main advantages of working with bloggers:
- Increased brand awareness
- Growth in reach and customer loyalty
- High ROI
Working with influencers will be especially beneficial for those who have an online store.
Omnichannel Approach
With the ongoing development of innovative technologies, new channels and networks through which retailers can sell or advertise their products are emerging. Today, marketing strategies that serve multiple sales channels, such as omnichannel, are becoming increasingly important for many retailers. Why?
Harvard Business Review states that 73% of buyers purchase across several channels. Clients can research a product online before buying it at a physical store. Or vice versa, having stumbled upon a product in an offline store, a customer googles information about it on the Internet. An omnichannel approach helps:
- Improve the customer experience
- Increase ROI and sales
- Boost customer engagement, loyalty, and retention
- Improve data quality
Social Commerce
Although contactless shopping appeared long before Covid-19, the pandemic and subsequent lockdown accelerated its development and helped it gain a foothold as one of the main types of shopping. There are various digital and contactless ways of shopping:
- E-commerce. E-commerce encompasses online shops and brick-and-mortar stores with an online presence, allowing customers to purchase from the comfort of home.
- BOPIS (Buy Online, Pickup in Store). BOPIS model allows customers to research products online and buy them in-store. This strategy is prevalent in online clothing stores. With this approach, clients don’t have to deal with shipping costs, long delivery timelines, and shipping back clothes that don’t fit or meet their expectations.
- Pickup window. This approach enables your customers to make an order online and pick it up at a warehouse, store, or particular location.
- Contactless payment. The popularity of contactless payments continues to grow since one-click payment or payment via mobile apps significantly saves time and minimizes risk by reducing physical interaction, which is particularly important in crowded areas.
Pop-up Shops
The pop-up shop is a trend of opening short-term sales spaces and is another retail trend that could be a good option for both new brands seeking to build a name and the already established brands. The approach is trendy in the clothing and toy trend.
The success of the pop-up stores comes from their impermanent nature 一 such shops have lower financial risks due to selling high-demand trending products, increased profitability due to low rents, and provide the opportunity to attract and retain customers and build a client base. According to predictions, pop-up shops will be a permanent part of the retail landscape.
Sales via Online Trading Platforms
Online marketplaces are the best tool for selling goods and services without investing in online or physical stores. Moreover, it also helps to reduce business costs at the initial stage. The world’s top online marketplaces are Amazon, eBay, Aliexpress, Rakuten, etc. For example, Amazon attracts about 200 million unique visitors every month, which unlocks many opportunities for new retailers.
Among other opportunities of doing retail business on marketplaces are the following: a large customer base and unique marketing programs to help you quickly sell products, for example, advertisement and promoting programs, as well as advanced analytics to meet customers’ demands.
To deliver on clients’ expectations, businesses require deeper integration across the supply chain, better collaboration, data sharing, and agility in satisfying diverse requirements across all channels. You can ensure this with SAP Digital Supply Chain 一 intelligent solution for the effective supply chain management.
Want to bring your company to the next level with SAP-based solutions? You need a reliable technology partner. LeverX has been working with SAP for more than 19 years and is ready to support you at every stage of the technology transformation of your business. Contact them and receive a free consultation with experts.
