5 Retail Trends Over the Holidays and Beyond

Written By

Cookerly Public Relations

In the thick of the holiday season, B2C marketers are keeping an eye on retail trends to gauge how the marketplace is evolving. Uncertainty surrounding the effects of tariffs, the role of mobile commerce and more may point to big shifts in the upcoming year.

Cookerly breaks down five retail trends to keep an eye on:

1) Owned product brands will offer new opportunities

Retailers are increasingly featuring stores within stores and rolling out differentiated brands within existing structures. For example, Bloomingdales plans to unveil a shop-in-shop called WellChemist dedicated to clean beauty.

In fact, retailers are looking to expand overseas by using these specialty brands. The grocery store Kroger is using this brand-by-brand approach and expanding their successful private label brand, Simple Truth Organics, to international markets. The retailer has diversified its revenues by selling this brand’s product line on Asian websites like Alibaba’s Tmall.

2) Retailers are evolving into media giants

Retail companies are beginning to develop their own mini media and advertising empires. These new retail-led media networks are helping brands identify loyal customers online, on mobile devices and in stores to share motivational brand messages. An excellent example of this trend is Target’s “Bullseye Marketplace,” which aggregates websites and apps from NBCUniversal, Spotify, Heart and others.

 3) Physical spaces are making a comeback

Despite the rise of eCommerce giants like Amazon and eBay, digitally native vertical brands (DNVBs) are increasingly expanding to brick and mortar locations to increase profitability. Amazon Go is a prime example. The company’s cashier-free stores, currently in Seattle and Chicago, are projected to grow to hundreds of physical hubs in the future and offer more possibilities for fulfillment.

Visit Cookerly’s blog to learn about the other two retail trends to keep an eye on this holiday season.

Cookerly is an award-winning marketing communications firm based in Atlanta, Georgia. Since 1991, Cookerly has focused on powering perceptions through media relations, managing reputations through effective crisis communication, producing measurable results with digital marketing and developing integrated marketing strategies for clients.