Global Shopping Trends Essay Example

Survey were planning on shopping multiple channels in some manner - viewing or researching products in one channel and purchasing in another, for exam peel.

Since customers do not distinguish between channels, retailers will have to support seamless integration among and between each of them, including access to assortment, customer inform Zion and order information. Within the next few years, it is likely that nonusers will expect to use a mobile device to get realities inventory information about the closest stores or to order a product while in a store and have it delivered to their home.

Therefore, in 2012 it is likely that retailers will continue to develop and launch innovative multinational solutions. Retailers will need to have a clear understanding of the shopping Journey and how consumers move across channels, from mobile to social networking, the web and in store. Understanding how they go through the purchase, purchase, and post purchase process will be key to retailers identifying opportunities that both enhance their bottom line and actually make sense to consumers.

For example, most large retailers in developed multinational markets like the United States and the U. K. 2 of 14 no longer operate in silos but have become "brand and product showrooms" that drive revenues across all channels and are "destinations" for consumers to do more than Just simply browse and transact To support similar integrated, seamless and consistent multinational experiences, many retailers will need to reevaluate their business and make fundamental changes across their organizations in all functions.

With the incredible speed t which the phone AS sold - one million units in 24 hours, four million the weekend it was

launched - and smoothness's emerging as the most dominant consumer technology platform, one cannot mention multinational without also discussing mobile. Moreover, since a significant population of mobile users has not even reached shopping age, one can anticipate that module, Ana all ten capableness Ana opportunities It OTTers, will De top AT mina among retailers in 2012. Mobile consumers are no longer Just early adopters: They represent a broad range of consumer segments and have become part of the mainstream population.

For retailers looking to remain relevant in this connected consumer environment, the ability to leverage mobile to deliver an improved customer experience will be a critical success factor. To be sure, there is a great deal of activity in launching mobile solutions focused on the predisposing experience. However, many retailers are diving in without a clear strategy and few have launched an integrated multinational experience. Retailers that can deliver an integrated customer experience demonstrating a clear understanding of consumer preferences and behaviors across the arches process will have an advantage over the competition.

In the race to put out a "cool" app, retailers must not neglect three important factors: Usability and the user experience, including integration points between mobile and other channels. A poor customer experience is worse than no app at all. Security and privacy. A infiltrated security or privacy breach could severely damage a retailer's reputation and hamper adoption of mobile capabilities. Access for employees and business partners. Sales associates need access to the same information as the connected "super user" consumers who walk wrought the door.

Providing suppliers realities visibility into the location and estimated arrival time of shipments can ultimately benefit

consumers as well. From data to personalization Data analytics and personalization will continue to be critical success factors in 2012 and beyond. Indeed, personalization has become the norm for growing numbers of consumers. Given all the new channels through which retailers are interacting with consumers, from pointless to mobile to social media sites, the sheer volume of data that can be collected about consumers and their shopping behaviors continues to row.

The industry is evolving quickly in its data analytics capabilities and in its ability to develop personalized marketing campaigns and customer experiences. Still, the ongoing challenge for retailers will be how to best analyze all this rich data and derive from it valuable insights about what consumers want and need. While technology is bringing radical changes to how people shop, the bricks annotator store remains the core of retail. The physical store, however, is no longer the final shopping destination; increasingly, it is becoming a piece in a larger, more connected customer experience.

Many of considered themselves to be highly capable in terms of researching and purchasing inline. In fact, 72% of US respondents consider themselves to be either confident or experts in this regard, slightly besting the 69% of global respondents that consider themselves to De at tans same level. AT ten overall gar town In online sales In 2012 came from existing shoppers simply buying more online The popularity of online shopping is rooted in many factors What is it that is so attractive about online shopping, regardless of nationality or geography?

There's a great deal of global consistency in the top five factors cited. The conventional wisdom is that the issue

of price is the driving force or the growth of online shopping, and indeed, it does feature among the top three reasons cited by our survey respondents Insights for the US Retail Industry, retailers can gain an additional margin opportunity of 8% to 12% by offering free shipping, yet of retailers charge for shipping products.

Perhaps even more impacting is the fact that 2 out of 3 US consumers say they are likely to cancel a purchase without free shipping The desired multinational purchase Journey Online shopping has opened up huge new choices for consumers, not Just in terms of what they buy, but how they buy it. The Internet 6 of 14 has empowered the consumer in three ways: during the decision making process leading to the purchase; at the actual moment of purchase; and throughout the product ownership period, including product delivery, maintenance, and return.

The challenge - at least for some retailers - is that consumers are starting to behave in far more sophisticated ways, whether they're buying expensive items or weekly groceries. Because most retailers haven't yet created efficient multinational models, consumers are working it out for themselves, using different channels in ways hat best suit them. Consumers may choose to research a product in the store ? a shoe perhaps ? then use their mobile phone to find a better price online, and then call into the retailer's customer service line to order and have the shoe shipped to their home.

In essence, consumers are creating their own multinational experiences by leveraging multiple retailers across a single category or product Keeping up with multinational shoppers is getting more complex Take

the clothing category. Almost nonwhite of our respondents said they prefer to research and purchase clothing inline, and this puts an onus on the retailer to manage the return process The role of the physical store is changing A key issue for all retailers with large numbers of physical stores is the role those stores should be playing in a multinational world and how that differs by country.

Chinese online shoppers, for example, are embracing the online medium more quickly than shoppers from other countries, replacing the need for physical retail outlets. But no matter the country, retailers should consider the roles of their stores now and in the future. Are they flagships for the brand? Are they a combination of flagship and technology emporiums, such as the Apple stores? Are they showrooms for product display, as is increasingly the case with white goods?

What is the role of the retail store in the Utter Nine world Is getting smaller: Local players Dewar our survey results show that within individual territories there exists a strong bias towards the most welkin, encounter, or homebred retailers. For example, the survey shows that the top ten retailers shopped across channels in the last 12 months include Walter in the US  Argos and Tests in the I-J, and Taboo in China.

Critical Evaluation of the Strategy Adopted Multinational shopping is here to stay with the ability to shop anywhere at any time with any device, consumers are demanding excellence and consistency at every turn and are challenging retailers and brands to keep up. The key question retailers must now answer is How will multinational shopping behavior continue to evolve?