Retailers are pushing the boundaries of innovation. Euromonitor International’s annual New Concepts in Retail report highlights how these efforts are reshaping the retail environment. This edition explores innovation across three key areas: Rethinking the Store; Digital Shopping and Engagement; and Social and Environmental Responsibility. These three themes emerged from trends expected to have the most influence on retail in the near term.
This report comes in PPT.
Retail is undergoing seismic shifts with digitalisation being at the core of much of the structural shifts afoot in the industry. Digitalisation is changing where consumers shop and how they engage with brands, leading not only to a rise in the importance of the digital channel, but also is forcing retailers to rethink the role of the store, too.
As consumers’ desire to seamlessly shop both online and offline becomes clear, incorporating technology throughout the shopping journey will help unlock the impressive realm of opportunity. Retailers are being charted with crafting consumer experiences and reconnecting with shoppers who want to shop in a physical store.
Improving digital engagement remains the top trend influencing e-commerce. As more consumers search and shop across channels and platforms, digital has become key to enabling shopper engagement. Empowered by the rapidly developing applications of technologies such as AI, VR and web 3.0, retailers are exploring new ways of engaging across platforms.
While sustainability initiatives have garnered a broad range of interest from retailers in terms of rethinking stores, services and supply chains, much of the activity remains driven by improving brand reputation. Still, however, the impact of sustainability initiatives on retail is expected to increase as more retailers align commercial and strategic goals in the coming years.
While rapid digitalisation over the last decade put innovation into overdrive and will remain important moving forward, the reality is that some initiatives that once had top billing, such as increasing revenue in online channels, are taking a backseat due to a weak economy as retailers look to reduce operational costs.
Retail is the sale of new and used goods to consumers from a business for personal or household consumption from retail outlets, kiosks, market stalls, vending, direct selling and e-commerce. Retail is the aggregation of Retail Offline and Retail E-Commerce. Excludes specialist retailers of motor vehicles, motorcycles, vehicle parts. Also excludes fuel sales, foodservice sales, rental transactions, and wholesale sales (e.g. Cash and Carry). Sales value excluding or including VAT/Sales Tax. Retail also excludes the informal retail sector. Informal retailing is retail trade which is not declared to the tax authorities. Informal retailing encompasses (a) sales generated by unregistered and unlicensed retailers, i.e. retailers operating illegally, and (b) any proportion of sales generated by a registered and licensed retailer that is not declared to the tax authorities. Unregistered and unlicensed retailers operate predominantly (although not exclusively) as street hawkers or operate open market stalls, as these channels are harder for the authorities to monitor than permanent outlets. Activities in the illegal market, which is usually understood to refer to trade in illegal, counterfeit or stolen merchandise, are included within our definition of informal retailing. Activities in the “grey market”, which is usually understood to refer to trade in legal merchandise that is sold through unauthorized channels – for example cigarettes bought legally in another country, legally imported, but sold at lower prices than in authorized channels – will be included as informal retailing if no tax is paid on sale by the retailer. However if the retailer pays tax – for example on cigarettes bought legally in another country but sold at a lower price than standard – the sale is included within formal retail.
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