Four forces shaping retail

Stamford, Conn.-based Daymon Worldwide, a firm with expertise in private label development, recently released four key areas that it says are essential for retailers and manufacturers to focus on in 2017.

“There’s no denying that the fundamental rules of retail are being rewritten,” said Jim Holbrook, CEO of Daymon. “To stay relevant and successful next year, retailers and manufacturers must focus on these areas as they evolve to the new way of retailing.”

The four forces Damon said will shape retail next year are:

Shopper participation — Thanks to the digital revolution, shoppers feel empowered to take things into their own hands, according to Damon. Increasingly, they desire to influence not only their own choices, but also broader positive change. To address this shift, retailers and manufacturers must move beyond traditional shopper segmentation and address commonalities in consumer need states that transcend demographics. They should work to tap into the new “participatory shopper” by providing opportunities for consumers to co-create and act as brand marketers.

Destination retailing — In the landscape of ever-evolving physical and digital store formats, retailers must create attractive destinations to drive in-store traffic, Daymon said. Traditional definitions of categories can no longer dictate the journey through the store.

Precision wellness — Thanks to sophisticated wearable activity trackers, personalized DNA profiling, and other new wellness services, consumer self-knowledge is expanding dramatically. Consumers can now track daily lifestyle and dietary habits, scan their DNA for genetic markers of disease or dietary intolerance, and more. This trend is only set to grow, providing new opportunities for retailers to create personalized offerings for the self-aware shopper and to position themselves as partners in their customer’s wellness journey, according to Damon.

Redefinition of convenience — In our increasingly digitized and urbanized world, the definition of “convenience” is rapidly changing. Much of this change is and will continue to be driven by new technology. To stay relevant, retailers and manufacturers must work to identify and begin investing in innovations that will help them commercialize the store of the future, giving customers what they want, when they want it, Daymon stated.