The Pandemic brought on many retail trends that will stay for the foreseeable future, but also created trends that are worth leaving behind.
Almost three years after the pandemic, some retail tech innovations have hit their expiration dates.
This week we look at how your organization can use new trends to leverage the blending of the physical and digital worlds.
THIS WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS
- Failed Orbit: Pandemic trends that failed to reach orbit.
- Finding the balance: The blending of the physical and digital worlds.
Q4 Benchmark Report: Click HERE to see how your store compares to the industry average.
FOOT TRAFFIC INDEX
FOOT TRAFFIC TRENDS
Industry insights so you can convert your foot traffic into more sales.
Perfecting The Phygital experience
The term phygital relates to how your organization can leverage the blending of the physical and digital worlds.
Although Big-Box retailers have long thrived in physical selling, during the pandemic, the pendulum swung even further toward digital, as meeting in person became increasingly difficult.
An older but great example of this is the Twizzard. During Black Friday weekend in 2014, Mall of America used hashtags on Twitter to power a snowstorm inside the retail complex.
The more people tweeted with the #twizzard hashtag that weekend, the lower the temperature got on a digital thermometer in the center of the mall. When there were enough tweets and the temperature hit freezing, the skies opened and it started to snow INSIDE the mall.
The attention from the Twizzard increased foot traffic by 10 percent over the previous year.
Target doubles Down on E-commerce
The Pandemic brought on many retail trends that will stay for the foreseeable future, but also created trends that are worth leaving behind.
Almost three years after the pandemic, some retail tech innovations have hit their expiration dates.
Instagram announced earlier this month that it is ending its live shopping feature that lets users tag products in livestreams beginning in March. Although live shopping is wildly popular in China, it has failed to catch on in America.
Around the same time, Walmart announced that it will be closing its last pickup-only stores. Curbside pickup continues to be a trend some shoppers choose over entering the store, it is not enough to keep pickup-only stores open.
Retail Snippets.
Personalization: Networking and personalization to rule the retail industry in 2023.
Green future: REI requires suppliers to phase out ‘forever chemicals’.
Coming to a Target Near You: Return a purchase without leaving your car.
Random Irrelevance
Microsoft meets apple: Microsoft’s Phone Link app now lets you use iMessage from your PC.
Moon Time: What time is it on the moon? Europe pushing for lunar time zone.
‘The Mandalorian’ Review: Netflix says it ‘updated’ new password-sharing policies that had users melting down.