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.

According to data from Mastercard, holiday sales rose 8.5% from November 1st to December 24th.

U.S e-commerce sales rose 11% in the same time frame, with physical stores seeing an 8.1% increase compared to the same time last year. 

E-commerce accounted for 20.9% of all retail sales this year. With a majority of consumers concerned over shipping delays this year, many shoppers opted to buy online well in advance of the holidays.

Despite the predictions made by experts leading up to the holidays, sales during the holiday season blew past the expectations of many analysts.

Predicting the future of retail has proven to be a nearly impossible task with the retail environment and trends changing every week.

Moody’s Analytics, which provides financial intelligence and analytical tools for a variety of different industries, predicts that 2022 will be a year of growth for the retail industry.

For 2022, Moodys predicts that operating income will increase by 5% year-over-year. Although 5% isn’t much, it would be quite the achievement considering that 2021 is closing in on 30% growth compared to 2020.

This year, we’ve already seen nearly 10% growth in projected sales growth, with 2022 expected to see another 5% improvement.

Even with e-commerce and online sales expected to continue gaining popularity, curbside pickup and BOPIS have proven to give people the best of both worlds.

On Intercom’s recent Holiday Shopping Experience Report, they surveyed consumers to see what their biggest concerns and feelings are when it comes to holiday shopping this year.

Of the 1000 people surveyed, Seventy-seven percent of respondents said they were concerned about having problems while shopping online this year. Despite the rise in e-commerce this year, it’s clear that people still have their doubts about online shopping.

Some of the top concerns of online shoppers were mostly related to shipping and delays. 45% of people are concerned their packages won’t arrive on time, 33% are concerned the items they want won’t be available, and 42% believe the price will be more expensive than anticipated.

In regards to shipping delays, nearly 95% of consumers say they expect companies to reach out about shipping delays before they have to ask. As I think we all can relate, being in the dark about when your package will come is not the best feeling.

What’s clear from the report is that keeping customers in the loop before they have to ask, whether it be about availability or shipping, will help eliminate a majority of their concerns and help get them across the buying line.

In November, the furniture industry overcame lower foot traffic than November 2020 and increased nearly every metric.

Compared to November 2020, foot traffic was down 20% from an average of 27 customers last year to 22 this year. Compared to last month, foot traffic stayed consistent with an average of 22 opportunities in both October and November 2021.

With Black Friday and the holiday season resulting in people shopping with more intent rather than browsing, the conversion rate increased 19% year-over-year and increased 6% compared to October 2021. 

In addition to an increase in conversion, those people who did buy ended up spending more on average than they have in years past.  The average ticket in the furniture industry increased from $2,078 in November 2020 to $2,417 in 2021, a 16% increase. The increase in both conversion rate and average ticket resulted in daily revenue seeing a 4% increase year-over-year.

When it came to spending an adequate amount of time with customers, salespeople in the furniture industry spent an average of 3 extra minutes with each customer.

While we can always expect an increase in traffic on Black Friday, the last few years have proven it’s harder than usual to predict how much traffic will truly increase.

On average across all the industries, foot traffic was only down 2.69% since 2019, before the pandemic had started.  All things considered, we would consider that pretty impressive.

For the mattress and footwear industries, they saw an increase in foot traffic compared to pre-pandemic numbers. Compared to last year, every industry saw an increase in foot traffic.

The star of foot traffic this year was the footwear industry, which saw a 37% increase compared to 2109, and a 67% increase compared to 2020.

Overall, we are starting to see old shopping behaviors come back into fruition.

Earlier this week, ICSC released their Thanksgiving weekend Intentions Survey. It detailed how consumers plan to tackle their Thanksgiving week shopping.

The survey expects that Thanksgiving shoppers will spend $491 on average between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday. That’s a total of over $108 billion for the weekend. 49% of consumers plan at shopping at brick-and-mortar stores on Thanksgiving. 36% of Thanksgiving shoppers will decide where they shop based on discounts rather than brand loyalty.

For those who work in malls, the survey suggests that 59% of consumers will go there to shop, 47% will eat at a restaurant,  and 24% will see a movie.

In regards to Black Friday specifically, 73% of shoppers plan to shop in-store or online depending on where the deals take them. Even with sales being spread out over the past month, the tradition of shopping in-store with your friends and loved ones over Thanksgiving weekend is still not going away any time soon.

Last week, payment provider Square released its annual report on consumer trends and analysis on how people are navigating through retail in 2021.

Although Amazon has taken a major hold on retail, local brick-and-mortar stores still hold a special place in consumers’ hearts. As explained by David Rusenko, Head of eCommerce at Square, “Local shops offer many advantages over the warehouse approach of retail giants, like Amazon and Argos. Being physically close to their customers creates opportunities to shine, by understanding their wants and needs, and offering faster access to high quality selection of products” 

Despite people still finding their way into physical stores, Square’s report highlights that 97% of consumers now make monthly retail purchases online. While shopping on social platforms was seen as an experiment that wouldn’t last, now we are seeing a shocking 73% of consumers buying from social platforms at least once a month.

As I think everyone can agree with, there is a sense of joy that comes from shopping in person that cannot be matched with online shopping.  The instant satisfaction of getting your product is something that will never go away. And because of that, nearly 50% of retailers now offer next-day delivery.

Going forward, analysts are expecting online shopping to go hand and hand with physical stores as a complement to them as opposed to replacing them.

Black Friday has made the shift from a sprint, to a marathon. Waiting until Black Friday to offer deals or to do shopping of your own is quickly becoming the old way to do things.

With the combination of supply difficulties, worker shortages, and the ever-changing trends of shoppers, Black Friday is no longer symbolic of a day of crazy sales, but instead a month-long sales event.

In 2020, Black Friday sales began as early as October and did not end until early December. On average, prices were reduced by 48% for retailers in the US as many retailers had a surplus of inventory that needed to go, in contrast to 2021 where inventory has become scarce.

In 2021, the overarching message is to shop early to avoid disappointment. Thankfully for retailers, who can feel pressured to give big deals, most companies have reduced their discounts to the 5-25% range this year as supply chain issues make it increasingly hard to offer door-buster deals.

Despite the challenges, shoppers are still eager to get out of the house and start hunting for deals in person.