Indian retail industry is passing through a challenge. Despite the fact that we have seen amazing development over the previous years, still share of organized retail actually floats around 8 percent, while the unorganized comprise 92 percent of the general retail industry, holding its dominance. In the coming years, it has been expected that organized retail will not only be subjected to the urban sector whereas the tier 2 and small cities will also evolve at a better pace and will have a compelling share in the organized retail sector. This rapid development will be done because of the digital wave that will accelerate this growth and open up possibilities for many customer-oriented businesses.
As retailers develop and advance, they have to refine their plan of action to changes in the environment which offer them opportunities to upgrade client commitment and improve the general shopping experience. Some of the key factors shaping the future of retail are the increased number of internet users, increasing trend of m-commerce, increased investments in India, leading to digital growth.
Digital platforms are empowering retailers to contact new customers in order to increase customer segments due to the increased availability of data. Thus, focusing on micro-segmentation rather than mass segmentation. Earlier segments were defined on the basis of the demographics due to the limited availability of data. Whereas today consumers are well educated and required personalized interactions with retailers from the point they enter the store till the final transaction is done. Slowly retailers are segmenting their customers into more micro-segments based on the purchasing patterns and buying behavior patterns.
Artificial intelligence has offered many solutions for client division which will permit retailers to customize the customer journey even further. This will not only help retailers to offer customers personalized products and also help them in doing personalized communication.
With the growth of online shopping, it is not possible for brick and mortar stores to compete on price and quality alone. Retailers have to offer a strong reason to customers why they should visit their store. Retailers have to focus on providing an experience to their customers that is worth remembering and sharing. Also, offering additional services & facilities, Leisure provisions and shopping environment and Convenience The importance of innovative designing comes in picture and will play an important role in the future.
Earlier retail designers used to emphasize functionality across touchpoints, the focus was on the in-store customer journey. Retailers focused on customer engagement through visual merchandising, correcting the store layouts. Whereas today retailers focus on offering Holistic physical and digital experience across the entire customer journey, Using Digital merchandising techniques like Virtual fitting rooms, Digital kiosks, Augmented Reality. Unfortunately, there are many retail design agencies but no one understands the client’s business. This gap leads to coming up with designs but not solving customer problems.
The digital shift has brought up many new opportunities in the retail business. People have started looking at retail outlets in a totally different way. From design to deployment today focus is to come up with something that will help in creating an experience, building a living and evolving space that communicates beyond its walls by designing something that brings life.