Retail is set to change dramatically in the next three years to use available technologies to better respond to consumer demands, according to Jody Ford, vice president of marketing at eBay.
Speaking at the sixth annual Net Prophet conference in Cape Town, South Africa, Ford said businesses will have to stop dictating what is on offer to consumers, and let consumers decide what they want from businesses.
“I believe there’s a new retail emerging,” Ford said.
“I believe there will be more retail in the next three years than in the past 10 years,” he said, adding the boom in retail will be consumer driven and technology enabled.
Ford said the mobile phone has become the “remote control for life” which people do not like to be disconnected from. The mobile has become an “intimate object” – a fact retailers must take notice of.
Noting the average mobile phone user connects with their device 40 times per day, Ford said the challenges facing retailers are changing.
“In this world, you have to try to retail to people 40 times a day,” he said, adding competition no longer only comes in the form of other retailers, but also social media sites, for example.
“The challenge for retailers is how are you going to create engaging content?”
Ford considered two important trends changing the retail environment. Firstly, citing the fact 75 per cent of retail spending is conducted with establishments within 15 miles of the buyer’s home, Ford said retailers need to focus on connecting consumers with these products.
Second, he predicted a boom in pay and collect purchasing – where consumers order and pay for products online, but opt to collect the product in person as opposed to paying for delivery – with 39 per cent of online purchases in the United States already operating on this model, and Ford saying the trend is “taking off” in South Africa.
Bearing in mind these phenomena, retailers need to concentrate on developing ways for technology to facilitate the connection of consumers with the products available in the 15 mile radius.
Ford said a good example of such technology is the “eBay Now” mobile service – not yet available in South Africa – which allows users to buy a product online, and have it delivered to them immediately using a network of independent couriers.
A courier in the area responds and accepts a delivery job as soon as the purchase has been made, and goes to collect the paid for product at the retail outlet, and delivers it to the customer. The customer can track the courier’s progress on a mobile map.
“From my point of view [the consumer], I can follow her [the courier],” Ford said. “It’s really cool.
“You kind of want to go out and meet them at the gate.”
Ford also spoke of the Kate Spade 24-hour window shopping experience available in New York, in the US, where products are displayed in a shop front window and can be ordered online. A courier then cycles to the consumer’s location with the products ordered from the warehouse.
Finally, Ford considered the possibility of a shift to digital shop fronts, which would enable retailers to renew and redesign their shop front and product offering to suit consumer demands.
“A new retail is coming over the next three years,” he said.
Image courtesy of Shutterstock.
