The Future Of Shopping

The retail industry is more complex than ever. Every year, startups release new technologies that promise to help consumers shop more easily or aim to help retailers improve their businesses. At the same time, consumers are changing. Digital natives are now sought-after shoppers with disposable income and retailers are nervous that these consumers are capricious and demanding, with unique expectations for products, customer service, and payments. But larger economic factors pose even bigger challenges for retailers: Real incomes since the 1970s have declined for many households, driving fierce competition among retailers, even more so than web pure plays or mobile devices. We expect these negative economic trends to continue and the retail sector will face even bigger obstacles to growth like runaway inflation in education and healthcare. This report outlines the challenges and opportunities that eBusiness and channel strategy professionals will need to address to grow their online and offline sales.