Skip to content
MarketScale
Demo
‹ Back to IndustriesRetail

A Journey Through Today’s Retail Trends

Which trends will help retailers succeed during the pandemic and onward? And what can retailers do to create great customer experiences during a challenging environment? John Federman, CEO of JRNI, a leading organization in experiential relationship, shared his thoughts and the results of JRNI’s Rewriting the Rules of Retail Engagement Research study. There is much…

This story was produced through MarketScale. See how Retail teams put it to work with Sales Enablement.

Share
A Journey Through Today’s Retail Trends

Get featured

Want to get featured in MarketScale Retail?

Create a free MarketScale workspace and get your company's expertise featured across our Retail coverage. No credit card, no demo required.

Start free

Which trends will help retailers succeed during the pandemic and onward? And what can retailers do to create great customer experiences during a challenging environment?

John Federman, CEO of JRNI, a leading organization in experiential relationship, shared his thoughts and the results of JRNI’s Rewriting the Rules of Retail Engagement Research study.

There is much consumer anxiety in the marketplace over the concerns of COVID-19. Still, Federman assured that retailers are doing everything they can to make the experience approachable and safe for shopping.

“Those retailers who are well-positioned positioned themselves for an omnichannel customer journey before the pandemic,” Federman said. “Retailers now suffering are those who didn’t make experiences essential to how they engage with their prospects and customers. So, what we are seeing are trends that mitigate the concerns of fear.”

Federman said one trend gaining momentum during the pandemic, and JRNI’s research backs this up, is appointments. Offering appointment services is an excellent way for retailers to differentiate.

“It’s a means for both social distancing and creating one-to-one experiences for a consumer where they have the opportunity to manage how much they are around groups of people,” Federman said. “Combined with all the other tools like curbside pickup, occupancy management, remote appointments; all of these are coming together to allow a retailer to have a relationship in this really unusual season.”

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Twitter – @MarketScale

Facebook – facebook.com/marketscale

LinkedIn – linkedin.com/company/marketscale

Your experts belong here

Every story in MarketScale Retail starts with a company putting its merchandising leads, store operations teams, and category managers on the record. Buyers are already reading this topic. The only question is whose experts they find.

Category buyers trust operators, so your merchandising leads shorten the distance between first search and first call.

Get your team featuredSee how it works15 minutes, straight to a calendar.

Follow Retail Insights

Get new expert content in your inbox.

Retail: are you visible to AI?

Before they reach out, Retail buyers ask AI engines which vendors to trust. Explore how your experts, customers, and partners can become useful content for buyers and AI search.

Free plan

You just read one Retail expert. Your company is full of them.

This article was produced through MarketScale. The same platform turns your merchandising leads, store operations teams, and category managers into the articles, video, and social content Retail buyers are searching for. Create a free workspace and see it with your own people. No credit card, no demo required.

NPS +73 · 1,000+ creators · 38+ countries

What you get, free

Your own MarketScale workspace, up to 10 people
One professional video edit a month for qualifying companies
Media requests to your crowd, remote recording, AI writing tools
$0, no credit card, nothing that expires

More Retail Insights

Club stores drove nearly half of the growth in $330B U.S. store-brand sales

Club stores drove nearly half of the growth in $330B U.S. store-brand sales

Circana reports U.S. private-label sales reached $330 billion, with store brands holding 24% unit share and 23% dollar share of CPG. Club stores drove nearly half of the growth. Circana expects share gains to continue through 2026 at a slower pace as national brands sharpen pricing and innovation.

  • 01Club channels account for nearly half of all U.S. private-brand growth, so a store-brand program benchmarked only against supermarket peers is missing where the volume is actually moving.
  • 02A one-point gap between store-brand unit share (24%) and dollar share (23%) suggests private label is no longer priced far below the market average, which changes the margin math for premium-tier extensions.
  • 03The EU's 50% private-label unit share is more than double the U.S. figure, a reference point for how much headroom exists even as Circana expects the U.S. pace to moderate through 2026.

Sep 17, 2026

Meta is nearly doubling its Meta Lab stores for Ray-Ban AI glasses

Meta is nearly doubling its Meta Lab stores for Ray-Ban AI glasses

Meta is nearly doubling the store footprint of Meta Lab, its retail concept for Ray-Ban AI glasses, according to Modern Retail. In November 2025, The Wall Street Journal reported on pop-up stores in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Burlingame and New York City. The stores are built for lingering and selfies. That design brief matters for any brand selling a wearable people must try on.

  • 01Meta designed its Meta Lab pop-ups around dwell time and photo-taking, with coffee stations and full-length mirrors, an explicit rejection of the get-in-get-out electronics store model, per The Wall Street Journal.
  • 02For brands launching a wearable that shoppers need to see on their own face, Meta's decision to expand physical stores rather than rely solely on online channels is a real-world reference point for the try-on problem.
  • 03The signal to watch is whether the new Meta Lab locations keep the pop-up format the Journal described or shift toward longer-term leases.

Sep 17, 2026

Retail Refined with Woof Gang Bakery CEO Ricardo Azevedo

Retail Refined with Woof Gang Bakery CEO Ricardo Azevedo

Ricardo Azevedo, CEO of Woof Gang Bakery and Grooming, applies franchise expertise from Tim Hortons and Burger King to build a community-centered pet care brand. He attributes growth to the franchise model's balance of scale with neighborhood presence, rigorous training, and technology integration.

  • 01Pet care is integrating into wellness lifestyle as consumers view pet health as family well-being, driving industry growth even during economic downturns
  • 02Woof Gang plans to expand to 450 locations across North America by 2027 while maintaining local community character through the franchise model
  • 03Technology infrastructure for appointment scheduling and customer relationship management enables personalized service at scale

Sep 14, 2026

Explore More Retail Insights

Read more expert perspectives from across Retail.

Browse Retail Hub

For Retail teams

See how Retail teams use MarketScale →

Sales Enablement

Explore Channels

Industry news, analysis, and expert perspectives

Professional AV›Engineering & Construction›Education Technology›Healthcare›Energy›Software & Technology›Retail›Business Services›Industrial IoT›Sports & Entertainment›Transportation›Sciences›Building Management›Food & Beverage›Architecture & Design›Hospitality›Marketing Tech›
Keep exploring

More from Retail

Retail hubMore expert Retail coverage.Explore →Sales EnablementEquip the floor and the field.Explore →BrivoAccess tech storytelling.Explore →State of B2B MarketingWhat is working in B2B marketing now.Explore →

For B2B teams

Your experts could be publishing here

Stories like this one run on content MarketScale captures from real practitioners. See how your team's expertise becomes coverage in Retail and beyond.

Book a 15-minute demo

Or call us. No forms required. We pick up. 214-945-2512