Highlights 10 Retail & Shopper Marketing Trends Relevant in South Africa in 2015.

1. 102015 RETAIL & SHOPPER MARKETING TRENDS

2. MALL CULTURE
Malls will continue to be the places where more South Africans
gather to shop, eat and play. Understanding how individual malls plug
into their local communities will be key to attracting shoppers and
building programmes that create value for shoppers, retailers and
brands.
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3. AUTHENTICITY CHAPTER
The corollary to the growth in malls - and their inherent "sameness" -
is the quest for authenticity. Hipsters have shown us the way, and
now more mainstream shoppers are discovering the joy of buying
artisanal margaritas at 10 o'clock on a Saturday morning. The success
of the Maboneng Precinct, Neighbourgoods and the Old Biscuit Mill
are testament to a hunger for more tactical, personal shopping
experiences built around discovery of the local and the handmade.
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4. PERSONALISATION
The success of something as simple as putting names on Coke cans is
a reminder of how even a very basic level of personalisation can
impact on sales. South Africans are queuing to try out personalised
ice-creams at the Magnum pop-up store. Personalisation does not
only apply to product, loyalty programmes will be part of this, as
retailers look to make their loyalty programme knowledge bases work
harder to influence shopper behaviours. Finding ways to personalise
products, prices and offers while driving profit and without
excessively complicating the rest of the business, will continue to be a
major trend in 2015 and beyond.
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5. MOBILE DEVICES
The digital device that almost all shoppers have with them all the
time. Finding ways to integrate mobile into the shopper journey will
continue, whether it's about providing coupons or making the
process of finding the things you want just a little easier. Snapscan,
the Payment Pebble and other mobile-enabled payment devices are
making it easier for shoppers with credit cards to purchase outside of
formal retail spaces.
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6. SITES SET UP SHOP OFFLINE
In 2014, we saw a number of ecommerce-first businesses expand into
the offline realm. Former online pure-play Birchbox, for example,
opened its first physical shop in Soho last July. The majority of overall
retail sales are still taking place offline, and ecommerce sites have
realized that they need to set up physical shops if they want to gain
significant market share. Additionally, the need to provide seamless
online to in-store experiences continues to grow, and successfully
pulling this off requires both a digital and physical presence.
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7. PHYSICAL & DIGITAL INTEGRATION
The solution for integrating the digital and physical worlds lies in
finding a real shopper need and answering it. For example, online
grocery retailing remains tiny in South Africa. Rather than isolate
online retailing as a specific vehicle for growth outside of physical
retailing, the key in online will be retailers who can help shoppers
with particular tasks, such as making routine replenishment of
regularly purchased items easier. The investment into home delivery
(Pick n Pay TukTuks) and Click and Collect (Walmart/SASOL) services is
a strong indicator that 'making routine replenishment easier' is
getting attention in online strategy discussions.
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8. BABY BOOMERS & MILLENNIALS
Retail in 2015 will continue to be driven by the needs and preferences
of two prominent generations: baby boomers and millennials. Most
boomers will be in their 60s and 70s next year, and retailers that cater
to these consumers would need to adjust to make shopping easier for
them. On the flip side, Gen Y—a young but equally large—market
segment will also be a major influence in retail. Merchants who want
to reach millennials will need to invest in mobile, as they are
the largest group of smartphone owners (and adoption is still
growing). Speed is also an essential factor when it comes to reaching
the Gen Y market.
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9. SOCIAL NETWORKS
Over the last several years, brands have used social media to market
their products, talk to customers, and even make merchandising
decisions; but in the coming months, we anticipate merchants to add
“selling” to the list of things they can do on social sites. The recent
launches of shopping functionalities in the social realm
(i.e. Facebook’s and Twitter’s “buy” buttons and Curalate’s Like2Buy
platform for Instagram) tell us that social is going to get a whole lot
more shoppable in 2015.
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10. CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Consumers these days are more drawn to retailers that invest in
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). In 2015, we expect more
merchants to launch ethical and good deed initiatives. How does CSR
improve the shopping experience? Simple. It makes customers feel
good knowing that they’re contributing to a worthwhile cause.
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11. OMNICHANNEL STRATEGIES
As expected, retailers embracing multiple channels to serve
customers will be some of the most successful ones in 2015.
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12. REFERENCES
http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/673/123170.html
https://www.vendhq.com/university/retail-trends-and-predictions-2015
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