Important Retail Trends

Three Important Retail Trends for 2013

Even as the cash registers and virtual shopping carts continue to rack up holiday sales for retailers, savvy merchants are casting a critical eye into their crystal balls to determine how their customers will shop in 2013. This is important, as the National Retail Federation (NRF) points out that with retailers operating more than 3.6 million U.S. establishments that contribute $2.5 trillion to the annual GDP, what happens in stores and online is “a daily barometer for the nation’s economy.” Good thing Kiplinger predicts that next year will herald better times, especially in the second half of 2013.
FORBES gathered some forecasts, surveys and expert comments to see what may be in store for retailers after January 1.
Mobile
Susan Reda, executive editor of STORES Media, writes, “The year just concluding will be remembered as the one in which mobile became embedded into the lives of consumers — and thus into the hearts of retail businesses large and small.”
Mobile developers agree. According to a survey by Appcelerator and IDC , 93 percent of mobile developers anticipate that it is “likely to very likely” that most retail companies will have enabled mobile commerce in 2013 as consumers increasingly reach for their phones and tablets even while shopping in a physical store. Consumer behavior continues to underscore this transformation. Appcelerator found that nearly two-thirds of developers also believe that consumers will make more purchases via their mobile phone than their credit card in 2013.
Integration
Founder of the direct-to-consumer shoe merchant Sole Society Brett Markinson tells FORBES the “emerging” direct-to-consumer E-commerce model recently being discussed as the “Next Big Thing” is only the beginning of the evolution pushing haute couture into the digital age. “Building and distributing a successful brand in the Internet era is about addressing the new behaviors of an evolving customer base by leveraging the changing landscape and its new dynamics,” he says.
Markinson believes the discussion has to shift from e-commerce vs. offline commerce to integrated commerce. “The consumer does not distinguish. They want to buy cute, on-trend products at great values wherever they happen to be. They want to engage with cool brands that understand their interests and proclivities. The DNA of the web must be an intimate part of the fashion brands of the future.
Those retailers who find a way to integrate will have a “killer brand.” Says Markinson, “One needs to be where the customer is, with both your messaging and your product. If you haven’t already noticed, consumers today are both online and offline, and sometimes both–online while shopping offline.  Online they are sharing, friend validating, researching, learning and developing a point of view. Offline there is touching, brand comparing and brand associating. All of this drives the brand of the future. Finding the formula to leverage that online/offline dynamic is critical.”
More and More Social
RichRelevance, a company that powers personalized e-commerce experiences released some interesting findings about social media’s role in retail. Namely, traffic from Pinterest has doubled in the last year while Facebook saw its share decline to just 90% (from 95% in 2011).
Rich Relevance’s chief marketing officer Diane Kegley tells FORBES, “We believe that social is going to have an increasing impact in 2013. We feel that the role of social media is to generate awareness, not direct sales. While traffic referred from social networks is low – less than .5% according to our data – it has grown 30% year-over-year.”
Kegley notes that retailers are getting smarter about how to use the social channels to generate customer “delight.” She points out how Target recently awarded gift cards to a number of customers who were tweeting about them over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. “Social media is one element in [retailers’] arsenal of developing brand awareness across multiple channels. All of these elements, including social media, shape or form the way that a consumer hears about a brand or offering. This contributes not only to awareness, but actual product decisions.”