Since 2006, global media agency UM’s IPG Media Lab division has been helping retail brands break down the barriers to innovation. With today’s retail landscape fraught with uncertainty, many brands are unsure how to proceed. Here, Chad Stoller, UM’s global chief innovation officer and managing partner of IPG Media Lab, and Richard Yao, manager of strategy and content at IPG Media Lab, share steps retailers can take to future-proof their businesses.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a decade’s worth of retail disruption in just a matter of months. For consumers, this crisis has made necessity more important than choice, resulting in digital shopping behaviors and expectations that are more sophisticated than ever. And retailers should expect these newly developed behaviors to stick.
For instance, in May, 83% of U.S. shoppers said the pandemic had changed the way they shop,1 and more than 50% said they may continue to take advantage of curbside pickup services even as restrictions are lifted.2 When it comes to the upcoming holiday season, 74% of U.S. shoppers said they plan to do more online shopping than they did in previous seasons, and 67% will confirm online that an item is in stock before going to buy it.3
These findings underscore why it’s so critical for brands to embrace retail’s changing landscape. As such, we’ve outlined four steps retailers can take to help deliver better shopping experiences to their customers.
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