1. 8 trends that will redefine retail in 2016
www.footfall.com +1 (224) 698 8514

2. The retail environment was
challenging in 2015, and it’s not
going to get any easier in 2016.
Intense market competition,
channel complexities and
pressure on prices are making
it more and more difficult for
retailers and shopping malls
to drive profitability.
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3. However, it’s not all doom and gloom. We’re part of an innovative industry,
full of energy and positive change, which makes it possible to
connect with the consumer in newer, more dynamic ways than ever before.
One of the most exciting things about retail is that we never
know what’s round the corner. Yet at the same time we need to
understand what’s evolving, where possible, in order to align activities
with continually changing consumer behavior patterns.
To get retail businesses off to the right start in 2016, FootFall has delved
into the future to look at what we can expect amongst the unexpected.
Here are 8 key retail trends that will separate the stars and the strivers
over the next 12 months, enabling commerce spikes.
Acting on this insight is the key to soaring
retail profitability in 2016.
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4. Retailers and shopping malls
will need to take a long, hard
look at why brick-and-mortar
is falling out of favor
1
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5. 9%of total retail sales
will be made through
the web by 2018
1 Emarketer
On the whole we saw Year-on-Year footfall
improve globally in 2015, as increasing
consumer confidence and spending power
managed to outweigh market turbulence.
However, there’s no ignoring the fact that physical
retail is losing sales share of channel to ecommerce.
A recent report that we published analyzing online
vs. offline activity noted that every region globally
will see an increase in both internet users and
digital shoppers over the next three years, with web
sales accounting for nearly 9% of total retail sales
by 2018.1
One of the reasons behind this is that these new,
agile digital channels can intrinsically offer what
customers want, whereas retailers and shopping
malls are having to adapt an in some ways
outmoded model for 21st century preferences.
Additionally, for retailers, there is a challenge in
balancing fulfilment strategies between channels;
maintaining stock levels in the store whilst
supporting the‘infinite shelf’online.
Those that achieve this successfully will retain their
footfall share – and perhaps even grow it by taking
customers from less prepared rivals.
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6. Customers are changing
at a quicker pace than
the retail sector
2
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7. As if transforming brick-and-mortar for the
digitally-driven shopper isn’t task enough, the
scope of what shoppers want never stands still.
As soon as retail mastered the web, consumers
went mobile. Now we’re getting a grip on that,
they’re moving into social media commerce.
In the physical retail environment, the main reason
that customers are moving quicker than retailers
and shopping malls is because the data they
are generating simply isn’t being converted into
insights quickly enough.
Retail businesses need to be putting greater
investment into customer intelligence solutions,
which are capable of combining multiple shopper
metrics into a single analysis, delivered in real-time
to key decision makers.
This will enable retailers and shopping malls to
react rapidly to external influences impacting
consumer behavior, and prepare for predicted
changes to shopping trends, in order to either
capitalize on them or disrupt them.
Customer
intelligence solutions
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8. Experiences will define
brand success in all channels
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9. 70%of USA Today’s
top brands for
customer service are
recommended for their
ecommerce offering
USA Today journalist Matt Granite
Increasingly, shopper satisfaction is being determined
on more than just the nuts and bolts of running an
efficient business. Customers are judging it on the
overall experience; the‘X factor’that makes each retail
encounter unique to their requirements.
On the whole, digital channels seem to be better at
customer service than brick-and-mortar. When USA
Today journalist Matt Granite was asked to name his top
10 companies for customer service in Spring 2015,
more than 70% of his retail recommendations were
either wholly online, or he namechecked them because
of their ecommerce offering.
For the two retail stores that made it into the shortlist –
World Wide Stereo and Nordstrom – personalization and
knowledge were the drivers behind his satisfaction.
In 2016, retailers and shopping malls will need to look
closely at how they connect the dots between each part of
the shopper journey, in particular incorporating the fastest
rising customer service channel: social media.
Connecting these dots is fundamental to creating holistic
experiences that deliver beyond providing the right goods
in the right place, and support customers throughout the
lifetime relationship. Achieving this goes back to data.
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10. Business infrastructures
will need to collaborate
around the customer
4
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11. Customer-Centric
Teams
Responsive Decisions
In 2016, being able to meet consumer standards
will mean not just understanding what shoppers
want – but putting the customer at the centre of the
business.
What separates this trend from previous years is that
it won’t just be a strategic shift; retail organizations
will need to dismantle and rebuild their company
infrastructure, to enable key personnel to discover and
share retail insights in a more effective way. This means
breaking down the siloes between departments.
Retail organizations embarking on changes over the
coming months will need to ensure that the change
isn’t just physical. It needs to be accompanied by a
restructuring of data intelligence, to give customer-
centric teams the metrics they need to make
responsive decisions.
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12. Retail organizations
will have to replicate
the on-demand services
shoppers crave
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13. In recent months, the demand for service-based
support has skyrocketed.
Some cities can now receive Amazon orders in under
an hour, while major U.S. retailers are expanding their
fulfilment capabilities. A great example of this is Whole
Foods, which has joined forces with grocery delivery
startup Instacart.
Another game-changer in this arena has been Uber.
By effectively crowdsourcing transportation, Uber has
caused some seismic waves across the taxi industry,
and now has more than 8 million users.
But what does this on-demand economy have to do
with retail? The simple answer is that it is shaping what
consumers expect from all businesses. A store associate
is no longer just someone who processes a purchase,
for example.
In 2016 the associate must be a point of information, a
salesperson, an advisor, a support network, an ordering
service, AND a checkout. Which they need technology,
real-time intelligence and connectivity to achieve.
Real-Time
Intelligence
Connectivity
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14. Shopping will become much
more than a retail experience
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15. One very interesting trend FootFall observed in the
shopping mall industry in 2015 was the shift away
from retail-only mandates to leisure destinations.
The rise of ecommerce has turned the internet into a
virtual shopping mall, where consumers can browse
all their favourite brands from one location. Without its
former USPs, the retail property sector has needed to
create another visitor draw, and that has taken the form
of new entertainment facilities such as cinemas, ten pin
bowling, pop-up events and experiences,
and investment in food and beverage outlets.
‘Shopper-tainment’, as Nielsen terms it, will play an
even greater role in attracting footfall in 2016, and filter
increasingly into the retail sector. The analyst predicts
that it will lead to a demarcation of store and hospitality
venue formats – such as restaurants featuring farmers
markets, or off-licenses hosting wine tasting events.2
The blurring of lines between retail and leisure will
enhance the importance of new metrics, such as dwell
time and repeat visitor activity, in assessing the success
of shopper-tainment initiatives.
Shopper-tainment
2 http://www.nielsen.com/content/dam/corporate/us/en/reports-downloads/2012-Reports/Retail-USA-Whats-In-Store-2016-White-Paper-Mar-2012.pdf 15

16. The Internet of Things will
start filling in the customer
experience gaps
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17. There’s been a lot of talk about the Internet of Things
(IoT) at industry level, but 2015 showed the first
signs of it sneaking into consumer consciousness,
with the launch of prototypes such as Amazon Dash
and Domino’s emergency pizza button.
In 2016, Gartner believes that 6.4 billion connected
‘things’will be in use - up 30% on 2015.3
As IoT evolves,
forward-thinking retailers will be connecting technology
to improve the customer experience. For example, if a
shopper is waiting outside a locked store fitting room,
they can be picked up by a security camera and an alert
sent to the workforce to open up the fitting room.
One wider repercussion of the growth of IoT in retail will
be a heightened need to make use of customer
data; utilizing analytics in real-time to influence a
purchasing outcome, and carrying out retrospective
analysis to make ongoing improvements.
Even if retailers and shopping malls aren’t using
the connected capabilities of their devices to automate
or enhance processes, the shopper experience must
still be founded in data-driven intelligence to enable
intuitive experiences.
Forward-Thinking
6.4billion
connected‘things’
will be in use; up
30% on 2015
3 http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3165317 17

18. Mobile will reveal more
about shopper behavior
than ever before
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19. We know that today’s consumer is ‘always on’and much
of their connectivity is channelled through mobile
devices. However, most retail organizations are only
using smartphones and tablets as a touchpoint for their
customers – not as a source of data.
There is another, under-utilized benefit to the widespread
use of digital devices, in that they leave a data trail in
the brick-and-mortar environment. The latest retail
intelligence solutions can detect mobile phones if the
Wi-Fi function is switched on, and use it to map where a
shopper travels within a store or mall.
Retail organizations that harness this new depth of
intelligence in 2016 will be able to build a more accurate
picture of shopper behaviour than ever before.
They will be able to monitor exactly where visitors travel,
the length of their dwell time - and in the retail
environment potentially monitor movement against
point of sale data, to correlate journeys with conversions.
And as mobile devices have their own IP address, retailers
and shopping malls will be able to determine regular
customers versus first time shoppers.
Shopper Behaviour
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20. FootFall: know your customers inside and out to increase profitability
FootFall, the retail intelligence company, works with retailers and shopping malls around the world to provide actionable insight into
customer behaviour, which delivers increased revenue and improved profitability.
Part ofTyco Retail Solutions, we provide 3D data for clear cut decisions. By analyzing the most relevant mix of metrics from both store and
online behaviour - including customer numbers, queues, sales, marketing and other key performance data - we can identify the widest
range of profit drivers.
More than 1200 retail businesses across 64 countries partner with FootFall for long-term retail
intelligence, including adidas, Hugo Boss, Lacoste, Mango, Tesco and Marks & Spencer.
www.footfall.com
Top takeaways from
2016’s key trends
Brick-and-mortar will have to work harder than
ecommerce to drive footfall and maintain share of
channel. Investment in retail intelligence
technology could prove a key differentiator
Customer understanding is everything. Businesses that
are using accurate data streams, delivered to key decision
makers will foster more profitable relationships
The quicker the insights, the easier it is to keep pace
with evolving consumer behavior – so invest in a retail
intelligence solution that can deliver real-time information
Use technology to make the mall or store do more.
Turn it into a social destination, and enrich the capabilities
of customer service. Impress shoppers wherever possible
Tap into the insights available through shoppers’
mobile devices for customer understanding way
beyond the competition
www.footfall.com +1 (224) 698 8514
For trend insights throughout 2016, follow @footfallinsight onTwitter