Emerging Retail Trends

# Emerging Retail Trends

Moving forward, retailers are likely to see a number of emerging trends that will shape the industry. We cover those trends below.

## Mobile Payments

While mobile payments have been around for a while now, in the near future, mobile payments will finally become a commonplace method for making payments at the checkout.

This is proving to be particularly true now that banks and retailers are making the move to chip credit cards, which offer greater security than magnetic stripe cards. That security comes at a price, however.

Chips cards do take a few seconds longer to process than a card with a magnetic swipe, and even that slight delay could be enough to convince consumers to finally migrate to mobile wallets.

## Grocery Stores Will Incorporate New Tactics.

Convenience stores and grocery stores will soon begin incorporating new trends to accommodate the changing eating habits of consumers. While millennials were once all too happy to pay for expensive meals dining out, this is a trend that is beginning to change, likely due to the fact that the older members of this demographic are now parents.

At the same time, inexpensive fast-food chains have suffered from lower revenues due to a focus on people wanting to eat healthier. This has resulted in a gap in the market as a whole.

In light of such changes, grocery stores will likely unleash a plethora of new marketing, services, and products all designed to fill that gap. In response, grocers may begin to provide more personalized snacks and meals, particularly those that will appeal to vegan and gluten-free shoppers.

Taking cues from trendy boutique restaurants, grocers may even begin trying to build customer loyalty by offering secret products and other special perks only to those customers who are in the know. The goal of such tactics is to make the routine task of shopping for groceries feel more like a fun experience.

## Dynamic Pricing

Brick-and-mortar stores are also likely to introduce more dynamic pricing. The introduction of the latest technology will help to drive this trend. Rather than posting prices on labels on shelves, retailers may now offer more real-time pricing, giving grocers the ability to change pricing at a moment’s notice based on a variety of factors, including inventory levels and demand.

This is a model that consumers are already noticing online. In the past, it is a strategy that has been difficult to execute in brick-and-mortar stores, but it is one that will become more commonplace in the near future with the emergence of digital pricing labelling.