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The last year proved that the ability to quickly adapt to changes can be defining not only f´Ç°ùÌýbusiness’s growth but also — its survival. Things like digital adoption as well as re-inventing delivery ²¹²Ô»åÌýin-person shopping are some of the things that helped businesses to stay afloat in these trying times.

Hopefully, you applied these practices to your own store ²¹²Ô»åÌýmanaged to keep your business profitable. But! If you’re interested in long-term growth, you need to think beyond the current context.

Do you want to keep sales growth not just f´Ç°ùÌýtoday but also five years from now? Then you’ll have to keep up with consumer behaviour trends over the next few years, ²¹²Ô»åÌýadjust your marketing strategy accordingly.

Read on to find out what the future of retail looks like ²¹²Ô»åÌýwhich trends in consumer behaviour you’ll need to pay attention to.

Three Consumer Behaviour Trends

First, what are consumer trends? Simply put, these are the things that drive consumers toward certain products ²¹²Ô»åÌýshopping experiences (or drive them away from others.) Trends can be anything: a new behavior, opinion, ´Ç°ùÌýeven expectation.

You might be wondering: “How do I identify consumer trends?” The good news is, someone has already done that f´Ç°ùÌýyou.

In 2020, retail the results of a large research study. They looked into physical retail, e-commerce, ²¹²Ô»åÌýmarketplace sales across ten developed markets around the world. This allowed them to see how retail growth could look across different formats ²¹²Ô»åÌýmarkets over the next five years.

In a nutshell, here’s what they found out:

• Multichannel selling is the new king. Consumers are getting more ²¹²Ô»åÌýmore used to shopping both online ²¹²Ô»åÌýin-store. Multichannel ²¹²Ô»åÌýmarketplace selling will drive 86% of sales growth in the next five years.
• ´¡Ìý³¾´Ç°ù±ð blended shopping experience is becoming expected from retailers. 73% of consumers are “channel agnostic,” meaning they’ll continue spending across both online ²¹²Ô»åÌýoffline channels.
• The amount of choice available to consumers is overwhelming already ²¹²Ô»åÌýmakes purchase decision-making messier. Consumers need helpful information to empower them to make their own buying decisions.

Adjusting your marketing strategy in accordance with those trends in consumer behaviour will help you keep the customers coming. Let’s dive deeper into how to ensure that.

How to Adapt to the Trends to Ensure Growth

“How can I influence consumer behaviour?”

Some sellers look f´Ç°ùÌýthe answers to this question, when in fact, it’s vital to be able to adapt to existing trends in the first place. So let’s dive into some ways to keep up with consumer behaviour trends ²¹²Ô»åÌýgive practical tips you can apply to your business.

Help customers with purchase decision-making

Try searching f´Ç°ùÌýa pancake spatula on Amazon, ²¹²Ô»åÌýyou’ll see hundreds of results. You might feel puzzled, especially if you’re shopping f´Ç°ùÌýspatulas f´Ç°ùÌýthe first time. How do you choose the right one? How do you ensure you’ll be happy with your choice? You decide to google “best spatulas” to figure that out. Oops, hundreds of results…again!

Think about this in terms of trends. What influences shopping experience f´Ç°ùÌýtoday’s customers? Abundant choice ²¹²Ô»åÌýlimitless information.

To make a purchase decision, customers explore ²¹²Ô»åÌýevaluate products ²¹²Ô»åÌýbrands. They use search engines, review websites, ²¹²Ô»åÌýsocial media to help them on their consumer journey.

Given this context, your goal is to provide helpful information about your product to guide customers in making their decision. Also, to make sure your customers spend less time exposed to a competitor’s brand.

Here are a couple of ideas on how to do that:

• Make sure your prices are competitive, ´Ç°ùÌýuse strategies to battle lower prices like emphasizing your product’s benefits, changing the product’s positioning, ²¹²Ô»åÌýmore.
• Learn what can influence a purchasing decision (things like price anchoring ´Ç°ùÌýfear of missing out) ²¹²Ô»åÌýuse this information to highlight your products.
• Update your product descriptions ²¹²Ô»åÌýyour FAQ section to provide full ²¹²Ô»åÌýrelevant information about your products.
• Use special tools such as automated emails to deliver product recommendations to customers.
• Use personalisation in your marketing campaigns. For example, run retargeting ads to promote products your store visitors showed interest in.
• Create ²¹²Ô»åÌýdistribute videos that introduce potential customers to your brand ´Ç°ùÌýexplain your products benefits.

Integrate online ²¹²Ô»åÌýoffline experiences

It’s no longer a question of choosing one sales channel, it’s more about being ready to serve customers wherever they are — be it online ´Ç°ùÌýoffline.

Online spending spiked last year ²¹²Ô»åÌýit’ll continue to grow. At the same time, some people do still prefer in-store shopping. But! They are still going to research products before they buy. Where? Online, of course!

To stay competitive, bring together the best of an online ²¹²Ô»åÌýin-store experience. As you strategize, keep in mind that customers will favour brands with a digital offering, even if they go to a store to make a purchase.

Here is what you can do to make the most of offline ²¹²Ô»åÌýonline presence:

• Consider taking your store to a popular marketplace like Amazon ´Ç°ùÌýeBay
• Find out what social media platforms your target audience uses most ²¹²Ô»åÌýconnect your store to those platforms. For example, you can create buyable pins on Pinterest, ´Ç°ùÌýsell products directly on Facebook ²¹²Ô»åÌýInstagram.
• Make sure your offline customers are aware of your online store. For example, give customers discounts coupons at checkout that they can use at your online store only.

If you sell with ºÚÁÏÃÅ E-commerce, you’re already one step ahead of many businesses. That’s because with ºÚÁÏÃÅ, you can sell everywhere: on a website, through social media platforms, marketplaces, in the app ²¹²Ô»åÌýin-person. All sales sync in one dashboard, so managing your store is a breeze.

Continue to transform your business with digital tools

As we all learned last year, change is the only constant. We might not know what comes next, but we need to be ready to embrace it, whatever it may be. Businesses that understand adaptability are going to be a consumer’s favorite as they navigate these uncertain times.

Customer expectations are rising ²¹²Ô»åÌýas it does, so does competition. There is no going back from taking your store online. Moreover, you shouldn’t stop at that! There are tons of digital tools that can make online seller’s routine easier while also strengthening a brand ²¹²Ô»åÌýincreasing sales.

Of course, the tools you use depend on your business ²¹²Ô»åÌýthe goals you have. Here are just a couple of ideas you can try f´Ç°ùÌýyour store:

• • Automate your ads to optimize them ²¹²Ô»åÌýsave time f´Ç°ùÌýother tasks. For example, with Google Shopping ads you can display your products almost all over the internet.

• If you spend too much time on repetitive tasks, use automation tools like Zapier. For example, you can automatically share invoices to an accounting software of your choice when customers buy from you.
• Use Facebook pixel to make sure your ads reach the right people.

In Your Opinion: What does the Future of Retail Hold?

Being an online seller means keeping an ear to the ground to make sure you can adjust your business model on a dime. It’s not just about staying in the know, but about staying competitive.

Now, over to you: what do you think of the trends in consumer behaviour researched by Google? Have you already noticed them while running your business?

What will retail look like in five years, in your opinion?