With retailers still adjusting to new shopping behaviors and customer expectations, 2022 will see the continued evolution of some long-standing trends.
After a rocky 2020 and a 2021 that was still very much in flux, will 2022 see things stabilize for retailers? While we’re seeing more agility and adaptability in this sector, one thing is for sure: retailers have learned to move fast and leverage technology when they need to confront a challenge. And while we don’t know exactly what 2022 will bring, we know there will be challenges to overcome.
Having said that, some of the trends we’ve marked for 2022 predate the pandemic. Customer expectations around engaging and highly personalized interactions remain, as does a strong preference for omnichannel shopping. So let’s see what trends retailers can expect to see in 2022 – and how technology will help them meet these needs.
Retail Tech Trends for 2022
Furthering Omnichannel
It’s not news that customers are shopping in places other than a retail store or its online equivalent. Today’s shoppers buy from apps, from social media, from huge e-commerce sites, and so on. They use everything from voice assistants to desktop computers to make these purchases, and they expect a smooth and consistent customer journey regardless of the medium (with exceptions made for different platforms, of course).
Thus, retailers must explore options like headless commerce (where the visual frontend and functional backend of a website are separated for greater flexibility), blended shopping experiences, and augmented digital shopping (which we’ll discuss next) to keep up with this demand.
AI Makes Shopping Easier
Often, the blending of online and offline shopping seems be reduced to curbside pickup or a blend of online and offline research. However, tech-savvy retailers are using tools like Augmented Reality (AR) to help customers try out furniture, glasses, or even makeup before they buy it. This removes some of the uncertainty around buying a product sight unseen, but it also adds a fun interactive element to online shopping.
We’re also seeing more retailers – particularly those with strong e-commerce games – invest in visual search (aka image-based search) and voice search/voice shopping. The end goal is to make online shopping as quick and easy as possible, removing some of the barriers that come with using a small screen.
In a similar vein, shopping livestreams are breathing new life and interactivity into the longstanding genre of the shopping channel. Instead of hosts discussing and demonstrating an item (and not necessarily live), shopping livestreams feature social media influencers livestreaming their product promotions in the platform of their choice. The influencer can interact with the audience, answering their questions and sometimes offering special deals during the stream.
Contactless Shopping Continues to Spark Interest
One lasting effect of the pandemic is the increasing interest in contactless shopping. What seemed a few years ago like a futuristic vision of self-scanning grocery carts and checkout-less shops is gradually becoming more and more viable – especially as many people are still concerned about person-to-person contact with strangers. While many physical stores might not have the budget to transition to this type of experience, many are accepting contactless payment or allowing customers to use a store app to scan and pay for their order without having to queue up. This not only allays the anxiety associated with shopping during a pandemic, but it also shortens the checkout process and virtually eliminates waiting in line.
Retailers Find More Customer-Facing Applications for AI
We’ve already seen AI flourish in what we might consider the back office of retail: strategy, logistics, forecasting, pricing, etc. What we can expect to see in 2022 and beyond is more customer-oriented AI usage. For example, AI can combine a customer’s shopping or purchase history with location information to produce hyper-targeted messaging. Or it can store customer preferences and other data and use that to help store personnel make personalized recommendations that are based on data as well as the employee’s observations. The potential applications are numerous and very exciting.
2022 Will Be the Year of AI
In conclusion, retail will continue to explore different ways to harness AI for internal and external applications. It will be interesting to learn just what 2022 will bring in terms of the adoption of these technologies, but one thing is sure: we’re well on the way to a tech-enabled shopping experience that spans the online and offline worlds.
Authored by: Dr. Anil Kaul, CEO of Absolutdata and Chief AI Officer at Infogain
Related Absolutdata products and services: NAVIK AI Platform, NAVIK MarketingAI, NAVIK Digital Twin, AI & Data Sciences, ASK NAVIK, Revenue Growth Management
