Technological advances in 2022 will continue to reshape shopping behaviour for digitally-savvy consumers. This report explores the top five tech-driven trends expected to reshape commerce the most in the year ahead. Some of the trends included in this report’s edition touch on topics such as the post-pandemic consumer, the metaverse, sustainability, loyalty, last mile delivery and collection and quick commerce.
This report comes in PPT.
The concept of loyalty is in flux. The notion of what it means to be loyal and how that loyalty is rewarded is evolving. At the same time, consumers are more digitally savvy, leading to increased expectations. Fortunately, there is a greater volume and variety of data that companies can use to not only get more personal, but also more predictive.
The evolution of delivery has been marked by an increasing desire among consumers for greater speed and convenience. With a plethora of start-ups springing up to provide ultrafast delivery in urban centres, many city dwellers will soon be able to expect delivery times of between 10-30 minutes on snacks, drinks, and other convenience store fare.
E-commerce has turned into the primary shopping channel for many off the back of the pandemic. At the same time, this channel shift has raised environmental concerns, amid growing urgency for climate action. With rapidly changing consumer expectations and stricter regulation looming, a transition towards sustainable e-commerce appears inevitable.
As concerns over supply chain logjams mount, more consumers will opt for pickup over delivery to ensure they receive the products they want in time. The trend will likely be further accelerated as more retailers and foodservice operators offer incentives to consumers to choose pickup rather than delivery in an effort to reduce costs.
Virtual commerce technologies has the potential to take online shopping to the next level. These changes started with the use of augmented and virtual realities, but now extend to immersive virtual worlds known as the metaverse. These advancements could add more dimension to the online experience, including re-creating elements of the physical world.
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.
See All of Our DefinitionsIf you purchase a report that is updated in the next 60 days, we will send you the new edition and data extraction Free!