Happy New Year from the Doorcounts team! We hope you all start the new year off on the right foot and have a fantastic year.
2021 was filled with new trends, shopping habits, and new ways for consumers to pay for their goods.
From overhyped and overlooked trends of 2021, this week we look forward and see what trends we expect to take over in 2022.
THIS WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS
- Future trends: What analytics expect to see in the retail industry going forward.
- Overhyped and overlooked: What retailers viewed as the most overhyped and overlooked trends of the year.
- 2021 store openings: How 2021 ended the year with more physical store openings than closures.
FOOT TRAFFIC INDEX
Here’s a look at last week’s foot traffic compared to the same time last year.
FOOT TRAFFIC TRENDS
Industry insights so you can convert your foot traffic into more sales.
2022 trends
As we start the new year, it’s time to take a moment to see which trends will be influential for retailers in 2022.
Even with e-commerce nearing $1 trillion in 2021, nearly 84% of sales came from physical stores in 2021. Analysts expect 2022 to be no different, with a majority of sales coming from physical stores.
As physical stores continue to adapt to new technologies that make it easier for customers to cross the buying line, consumers will become even more likely to buy in person.
As we’ve talked about in the past, bridging the gap between online shopping and in-store experiences will continue to drive sales in 2022. Especially, because it has almost become second nature for shoppers to browse their options online before entering physical stores.
Click HERE to learn more about trends we expect to see in 2022.
Retailers analyze the most overlooked and overhyped retail trends of 2021
In a recent survey by Morning Brew, retailers across the country explained what they believe were the most overlooked and overhyped trends of 2021.
Coming in at the most overhyped was NFT’s. Although the blockchain-backed tokens received much media coverage in 2021, a majority of respondents say they do not own any and have never considered buying.
When it comes to overlooked trends, a majority of Morning Brew readers say that Buy Now Pay Later was greatly overlooked. For readers of Retail Traffic Trends, you would probably say it is overhyped as we have talked about it many times throughout the year.
Buy Now Pay Later shopping accounted for over $226 billion in 2021, with nearly 30% of college students already taking interest in the offering.
Store openings outpacing store closures in 2021
After nearly 2 years of social distancing measures and stay-at-home orders, major retailers reported 5,083 store openings compared to 5,079 store closures in 2021.
As we explained above, despite stay-at-home orders forcing the hands of many consumers to shop online, physical stores have proven their resilience in 2021.
Physical stores play a major role in ramping up sales, whether the sales are online or in-store. A recent report found that when retailers close down a brick-and-mortar store, online sales plummet by nearly 50% on average.
Stores like eyewear retailer Warby Parker who previously only sold online, saw an increase in online sales after they opened physical stores. As we’ve learned, the presence of a store has immense value.
Retail Snippets
Holiday 2021: Holiday season retail sales eclipse previous years.
Returns: Retailers surrender to unprecedented costs on online returns.
Small Stores, Big Changes: Small businesses expected to go more digital in 2022.
Fraud protection: Does customer age matter for fraud prevention?
RANDOM IRRELEVANCE
Best of 2021: The 10 best-reviewed films released in 2021.
Word of the year: Dictionary.com’s 2021 Word Of The Year Is …
Meteor showers, eclipses, full moons: All of the reasons to look up in 2022.