The global retailing industry is undergoing a transformation, as e-commerce continues to grow, both as a channel and as a means of interacting with shoppers. This briefing serves as a guide to the current state of play, surveying key regional and channel trends, as well as the five most important global trends for the next five years.
This report comes in PPT.
China will be the fastest growing retailing market over 2019-2024. While it will not happen in the next five years, it is not difficult to imagine China becoming the largest retail market in the world within the next 10 years.
In 2020, e-commerce will become the largest channel globally, accounting for 15% of sales. In 2024, that proportion will be 20%. Retailers will need to respond to the permanent consumer shift to buying online.
With stagnant incomes, the middle class, especially in developed countries, are more value-orientated than ever. Retailers must bear this in mind when it comes to their own positioning and their competition.
Advances in technology have reshaped consumer behaviour, and the shopping journey is no different. Retailers will need to adapt, blending digital and physical experiences to meet consumer demand for a seamless shopping experience.
Sustainability and ethical consumption choices are becoming increasingly relevant to consumers across industries, and retailing is no exception.
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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