“Physical retail isn’t dead – born retail is!”, as Steve Dennis from Forbes once said, was one of the main points of the breakfast seminar organised by Virke and Deloitte Norge. This morning anyone working with trade and retail had a chance to participate in the seminar about trends and highlights from the world’s largest retail conference – Retail’s BIG Show 2019 organised by the National Retail Federation (NRF) in January 2019 in New York. 

Even though there are many pessimistic views on traditional shopping and fear of the online shopping domination, however, retail won’t die soon. It will change, as it has always done before. We don’t have to go to the stores to shop anymore, but if we do so – it’s because we want it. Supermarkets get combined with restaurants and stores become experience centres offering both sales and adventure. As the current trends show, we are more willing to pay for something to experience and remember. The usual Vans store, where we used to buy shoes, is not just a store anymore: it becomes a cultural center with social events, concerts and happenings changing the shopping game completely. 

Some of the main trends expected in retails:

• People care about the purpuse behind the business. The questions of how the customers and the employees are treated become more important.
• Retail goes on the next level: customers and employees want to experience more, therefore, the maximum focus should be on this. 86% want to pay more for better experience.
• Usage of Artificial Intellegence in retail is increasing. For example AI is used in sales prediction – it is as much as 90% accurate in predictions what goods are going to be sold in the next 30 days.
• The physical stores have a new role now: they aren’t just stores anymore, but more social centers and event venues. It’s not about only selling, but also combining sales with experiences, as people don’t have to go to the stores for shopping anymore, but they still do so for the experience.

We would like to thank the organisers for the interesting event! We will take these tips and information further to our members and partners.