A decade ago, the face of the retail industry was starkly different from what it is today. Amazon had only just begun its foray into profitability, retailers were busy championing the cause of big-box expansions and the world was just witnessing the rise of the British high street.
But ten years on, the global retail landscape has changed drastically.
Where a decade ago, a mobile phone was nothing more than a portable telephone, today, it has become a consumer POS. A retail transaction now needs nothing more than a wi-fi signal and social networks such as Facebook and Twitter have become more than just a way to stay in touch with friends; they are now the new shop front, the newest avenue for branding opportunities, viral marketing and consumer engagement.
And this metamorphosing face of retail is expected to reflect the changing consumer habits well into the next decade, predicts a special report prepared by The Economists Intelligence Unit.
Predicting a moderate growth in retail markets in already mature Western markets, the report pinpoints exceptional growth in retail consumption in the emerging markets of the world. Earmarking the future not just in terms of demand from the emerging quarters, the report predicts a rising tide of acquisitions that would mean that a number of household name brands just might be Chinese or Indian owned by the time 2022 comes around.
China, which overtook the US this year to become the largest consumer market for food and groceries, is once again expected to overtake the US by 2016 to become the worlds largest retail market and the report predicts that by 2022, a quarter of all retail sales made around the globe will be generated by China, as much as twice the amount of retail sales generated by the US.
The report notes that a significant retail growth driver throughout the next decade will be emerging cities, not only for China, but for the rest of the BRIC nations, which are fast on the way to become retail powerhouses in their own right. And most of this growth in "third- and fourth-tier inland cities" is expected to be built upon the ease of desktop, palmtop or laptop purchases, notes the report.
Forrester, a US-based market research company notes that by 2017, the total value of mobile retail transactions made across Europe alone is expected to rise eleven times over todays value. Moreover, by 2022, mobile commerce is expected to be much more bargain-driven, notes the report, with retailers vying for consumer attention head-to-head on Group-on style consolidated platforms that will allow the buyers to automatically compare between different retailers for a best price for an item.
However, what all of this means for the future of brick-and-mortar stores is not quite as clear. While the future indeed seems to hold a systematic growth and diversification of retail formats, the general consensus remains that traditional stores are not entirely going to disappear within the next decade.
And that will be mainly because a personalised store experience will never completely lose its significance, no matter how competitive and diverse the various retail formats become in the future. On the whole, it is quite unlikely that a consumer who likes to go out and spend an evening engaging in therapeutic shopping is going to be satisfied just with staying home looking thorough virtual aisles and online catalogues.
However, the future may render the role of the high street as nothing more than a showroom- a channel for the consumers to try out, touch, and see the goods before they go home, log on to their computers and make a purchase, says the report.
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Pakistan: Lagging behind in global prosperity rankings
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Entrepreneur-
Country Overal ship & Economy Governance Education Health Safety & Persona l Social
Ranking Opportunity Security Freedom Capital
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Pakistan 132 115 103 115 121 112 139 132 137
India 101 57 99 49 100 104 114 67 138
Bangladesh 103 73 104 98 101 100 118 32 130
Afghanistan 140 130 121 141 139 131 140 135 127
Nepal 108 97 115 110 107 97 96 104 111
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Source: Legatum Institute
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