Emerging Trends of the New Normal Shopper

With signs pointing towards a slowing of the pandemic, the spotlight is on the emerging trends and patterns taking hold in the era of the new normal shopper. To make sense of these trends and gain better knowledge and understanding of where retail will shift and what it needs to do to capitalize on new shopping behaviors, three retail thought leaders joined Experience Evolution. Jonathan Horemans, Head of Growth for Mercaux, Roger Sowerbutts, Global Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Go Instore, and Graeme Greenwood, VP of Product at JRNI, weighed in.

“We are seeing a number of demands and trends from our retail customers,” Greenwood said. “First, we see a comfort level with different types of modes. So, either video, call, or face-to-face. Most retail customers are happy to be on Zoom, or WhatsApp, or different types of video. We’re also seeing a new hybrid type of reality where consumers are really seeking out truly optimized, agile, safe, or frictionless service.”

“Generally, the retailers I’ve been speaking with have been quite rattled by the pandemic,” Horemans said. “And it’s thrown them off-kilter, which has made them aware and emphasized the importance of a strong foundation.” A retailer’s brand and its system’s ability to fulfill that value proposition is now at the forefront of their concerns. Before the pandemic, Horemans felt many retailers put those efforts on the backburner, but now ensuring they have a strong tech foundation is paramount.

One of the things Sowerbutts wondered as retail stores began to open up was if customer engagements with video would drop off. But he found that customers, even an older demographic, adapted to the new ways of shopping during the pandemic, and they like having these additional options. “What’s happened is the pandemic has accelerated the use of e-commerce and e-commerce platforms by five years,” Sowerbutts said. “It’s forced people to think about different ways of operating in different solutions.”

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