QUICK REVISIT TO ALL THE RETAIL TRENDS OF 2022

Introduction

The pandemic in 2020 altered the retail landscape in a big way, which experts forecast will be here to stay. It changed the way how people shop; and how digital transformation will continue to play a key role in how the retail industry will function and grow.

More retailers will invest in digital marketing and eCommerce solutions to offer personalized shopping experiences and services.

As the year 2022 comes to the end of its lifespan, it’s time to make a quick revisit to all the retail trends of 2022, which  ITXITPro, a leading Digital Marketing and eCommerce solutions provider will take you through in this blog post.

RETAIL TRENDS OF 2022

Here we go on a quick revisit to all the retail trends of 2022.

SHIFTING SHOPPING BEHAVIOR & GROWING EXPECTATIONS

• The year of global pandemic, 2020 transformed the way consumers’ shop and retailers’ respond to changing trends. More people began to shop online than ever before. In South-East Asia, 34 percent of consumers’ bought apparels for the first time online in 2020; and 94 percent new digital service users’ intended to continue with the service post-pandemic. Another 61 percent found brand websites to be an immersive experience.
• People found shopping online not just convenient, but also cost-effective and time-saving as well. They found it easy to navigate, with clear product specifications inclusive of photos and videos. At the same time, consumers’ insisted on personalization and wanted their preferences to be catered to with personalization driven by transparency.
• The changes in consumer behavior and expectations come as a challenge to retail brands not able to guarantee a proper online customer experience.
• ITXITPro, a leading Digital Marketing and eCommerce solutions provider, can assist such retailers by combining design theme and extensions with ease-of-use to create personalized shopping experiences that facilitate more sales and revenue.

GROWING ROLE OF ONLINE SHOPPING

• People shopping for products and services are not a new phenomenon. But what made it remarkable post-pandemic was online shopping reached a new threshold with people shopping online more often and more businesses opening eCommerce stores. In 2022, the trend continued and keeps getting better.
• Online sales, according to a survey by the United Nations Conference on Trade & Development (UNCTAD) with NetComm Suisse e-commerce Association (conducted in early 2022), have grown from 6 to 10 percentage points across most product categories. The study further revealed that companies irrespective of the sector they belonged to can now operate online and thrive in 2021 and beyond.
• To face impending challenges better in the post-pandemic era, many companies started putting eCommerce at the heart of their business strategies. This also offers an opportunity for companies, especially those engaged in consumer goods and pharmaceuticals; and who are still comfortable with physical shopping, to make the transition and harvest the benefits that come with eCommerce solutions.
• Leading eCommerce solutions provider, ITXITPro, can assist such companies with eCommerce solutions that will help their business to gain movement and achieve laid-down targets. Additionally, its UI/UX solutions can help them deliver ultimate user-experience outcomes.

GROWING ROLE OF OMNICHANNEL TOOLS

• Shopping habits are continually evolving. Consumers more than ever value and also use omnichannel experiences like buying online and later collecting their products or returning in stores.
• However, 29 percent of retailers said delivering continual quality shopping experiences across online and physical channels remains a big challenge for them.
• This is where omnichannel tools play a critical role.
• Highly sophisticated omnichannel tools are helping retail businesses to create meaningful shopping experiences. This however can be achieved only if it’s well-backed by a robust omnichannel strategy and omnichannel selling solutions.
• ITXITPro, a trendsetter in digital transformation in many ways, can assist retailers with integrated UI/UX and web application development solutions that will enable them to string multiple channels effectively; and streamline their front and back-of-house operations. They will also be able to fulfill their omnichannel sales and keep their products moving while at the same time minimizing prevalence of excess inventory.

INTERACTIVE RETAIL EXPERIENCES

• In 2022, one of the most remarkable trends was interactive retail experiences. They helped retailers to bridge the gap between online and offline parts of their stores.
• As more customers found buying products comfortable through social media, retailers found an opportunity to interact with them through the social platforms. They also began to invest more in livestream shopping (products are shared with customers’ over live-video) in 2022. As a result, consumers’ benefited with richer experiences, and better informed product decisions.
• ITXITPRO, well-conversant with digital transformation and UI/UX, can assist retailers in this regard. Its solutions can help their online consumers’ to experience products before adding them to their shopping carts.

SEARCH INTENT’S INCREASING PROMINENCE

• More and more retail customers’ are doing their shopping online. This has ushered in its wake a more refined search intent which is only going to gain more importance than ever. Add to this, the SEO landscape is also rapidly changing. In such a scenario, content marketing will be the only way with which retailers will be able to cut through the increased noise online.
• The challenge for retailers will be to not just understand what their target-audience is searching but also where they are searching from, that is, from which platforms. It is important for them to know this as consumers are increasingly getting their content from social media. This should form the basis of their SEO strategy which will allow them understand users’ content search intent with all relevant platforms.
• ITXITPro, a top SEO and Content Marketing solutions providers can assist retailers with SEO and Content Marketing strategies and solutions that will allow them to not just understand search intent but also what drives the consumers’ to search for specific products and services.

SEO & PAY-PER-CLICK INTEGRATION

• As more retail consumers’ take to shopping online, more retailers are looking for ways to reach out to them; and most among them are placing ads online. Herein, however they face a problem. When such ads appear in search results, the search engine platform charges them.
• To avoid this, retailers can use pay-per-click to develop several advertisements that can be used by search engine users to locate their items or services. This has proved to be beneficial for them. As a result, they are increasingly aligning their SEO campaigns and pay-per-click campaigns. With retailers looking to trim their costs, this will continue to be a vital strategy in 2022, and also beyond.
• Digital marketers are increasingly using inbound marketing methods. This is helping them to target better keywords, a big driver for Google ads, and also understand the intent of keywords.
• ITXITPro, a top SEO and pay-per-click solutions provider is well-positioned to craft not just SEO and pay-per-click strategies but also develop content revolving around key phrases with keywords from the ads. This will help to increase client’s domain authority, and also lower their customer acquisition costs. Simultaneously, customers’ of clients will be able to find their products and service easily, thereby facilitating healthier client retention for them.
• As retail eCommerce grows, online shopping will become a key driving factor. The will drive more retail businesses of all sizes to evaluate how they set-up their brick and mortar locations. Top retail strategists believe that retailers will take a more holistic view at their physical stores in 2022 and beyond. The overall focus will be more on digital transformation with physical stores existing only in locales where a physical presence is justified or is critical to retail business operations.
• Partnering with ITXITPro, a leading Digital Marketing solutions provider, retailers can restructure and reposition their retail business with a healthy mix of physical and online stores.

CONCLUSION

As digital transformation percolates every area of retail, the future of retailers’ lies in digitizing their operations and trying out new ways of selling.

Thankfully, 2022 saw more retailers adopting new digital technologies which have helped them to increase their efficiencies and improve their customer experiences.

ITXITPro with its strong prowess in digital transformation can further supplement their efforts with out-of-the-box UI/UX and eCommerce solutions that will be required for them to maintain a robust eCommerce presence in 2022 and beyond.