La Paris Retail Week offers, in partnership with Havas Paris, the results of a study carried out in July 2017 on new distribution trends in France and around the world. 4 major trends have thus been identified: the need for more comfort during the in-store experience, social networks and mobile as tools increasingly integrated into the purchasing journey, the importance of sales associates as a differentiating factor and the hedonic aspect of the shopping experience.
The store gets renewed attention with the development of the strategies omnichannel. It must give maximum priority to human relations and digital services in order to maximize the consumer experience. The commercial space must become a fun place and therefore attractive because of the pleasant experience that can be enjoyed there. In this sense, the store must reinvent itself and the personnel in contact must be committed and involved in their task.
Consumers are looking for people, sharing, hedonism and tailor-made services. The physical store can provide all of these elements, provided that the strategies offline be reinvented!
Trend #1: The search for practicality and comfort in shopping
77% of French people want supermarkets to respond more and better to their consumption habits. Consumers are increasingly looking for convenience and comfort when shopping in stores. It is now possible to offer such advantages thanks to digital innovations that create a frictionless experience for the consumer. These solutions simplify purchases and even repeat purchases by learning more about consumer needs. For example, it is possible to subscribe to solutions that send products automatically once they have calculated that the consumer has consumed everything.
In stores, reducing potential friction during the shopping journey involves trying to reduce queues. Indeed, 74% of French people are less and less able to stand queuing in stores. In this sense, innovations are emerging such as the Amazon Go store which allows you not to checkout (consumer behavior is observed in-store using different technologies, products that are added to the basket are automatically identified and payment is made later).
Trend #2: The weight of m-commerce and purchasing via social networks
49% of French people aged 18 to 35 use their smartphone to do everything on the internet (26% for all French people). On the other hand, 45% of French people aged 18-35 would also like to be able to buy directly on social networks.
Internet purchases are increasingly made using mobile phones. Consumers also appreciate messaging and social networks and are abandoning websites for their purchases. In this sense, social media are launching solutions allowing purchases directly on their platform. Pinterest, for example, implemented its buy button in 2016. Facebook now offers a marketplace and Instagram will definitely be rolling out “ shoppable tags " soon. Social network messengers will be the next to deploy solutions allowing purchases directly via their platform, that's for sure.
Trend #3: Renewed interest in in-store sales associates
85% of French people like salespeople to be passionate about the products they sell. Stores that succeed in involving their employees in the consumer experience will benefit from a strong competitive advantage in the market. It is not because digital is at the heart of practices that the human is no longer important, quite the contrary.
Employees have an essential role to play in strengthening the link between the company and its customers. 45% of seniors and 43% of those under 35 also choose the stores where they make their purchases according to the sellers. It's time to make employees true ambassadors of your company or your brand!
Trend #4: The store becomes playful, captivating, filled with emotions and sensations
“60% of French people aged 18-24 want stores where they can do something other than buy”. For consumers, the hedonic aspect of in-store shopping is central. Indeed, the in-store shopping experience must now be fun and host events in order to be differentiating. It's about making people want to spend time in the store and share moments of life and emotions. Technology and digital are therefore tools that support this transformation of stores.
