The year 2020 saw some urgency in disruptive trends across businesses globally. Amongst these were the pivots retail chains made and were most visible. Retail IT trends are amongst the latest in . Let’s then take a look at various Retail IT Trends and see what 2021 is looking like in the forecast.
1. Hybrid Retail Experiences :
With a dip in traditional retail sales, many retailers took their businesses online. Whether the change is permanent is yet to be seen, but ecommerce implementation saw a surge and it currently looks like one of the technologies that will further consolidate and is here to stay. Having said that, many brick and mortar stores have retained their essence and did manage to survive the pandemic. Buy Online and Pickup in Store (BOPIS) made good progress and is a good example of this hybrid or fusion model. As they say, when the going gets tough, the tough get going. A perfect blend of physical and virtual stores would be the way forward in 2021.
2. More technology in retail shopping :
Touching upon the previous point further, hybrid retail trends would need seamless technology integration. More stores today are relying on Mobile, IoT, AI, GPS based Delivery Tracking and a brand new inclusion called XR – extended reality (A blend of VR and AR). It is that year, where online and offline stores will hunt in pairs. With e-commerce players bringing innovation to the fore, retail billing is getting automated as well and this aids in a hassle-free shopping experience.
3. Optimal Use of AI :
Customers are spending a lot of time online and with their browsing patterns, AI is helping retail chains upsell/ cross sell their products online and also draw considerable traction towards their brick-and-mortar stores. This is a win for physical stores since customers are itching to step out and ‘experience’ shopping. At the same time, with offers galore online, customers can now choose to balance their retail shopping experience.
4. Social Commerce :
A buzz word that has been making the rounds for some time, the pandemic has created a whole new world of opportunities for people to sell online. Over 90% small and medium businesses sold their products over WhatsApp in a survey that was conducted recently; almost 4x of what was sold on popular ecommerce platforms.