Shopify boss Harley Finkelstein talks winning holiday season strategies
Harley Finkelstein, President at Canadian e-commerce platform giant Shopify, has been giving his predictions for how the 2021 holiday season in retail will pan out.
Taking to Twitter, he said: “QR codes will continue to play a big role - the pandemic reinvigorated the use of QR codes as a form of communication. This will continue as retailers seek out contactless interactions.”
The line between retail and gaming will, meanwhile, become increasingly blurry.
Brands and celebrities will use platforms like Roblox to extend and monetise their reach, giving customers new shopping experiences.
And retailers with strong omnichannel strategies will succeed.
“Consumers will continue to shop in a hybrid reality of online/offline and brands that cater to this (ie. showing inventory availability online before shopping in-store and augmented reality try ons) will succeed,” Finkelstein observed.
Let’s get physical
Despite facing unprecedented disruption over the past 18 months, physical retailers will most definitely come back in a post-Covid world, according to Finkelstein.
In a series of tweets during March, he argued that the future of retail is not going to be online or offline. Rather, retail will be everywhere. Companies should build their brands accordingly.
“How you’re going to win in retail: Capitalise on your customer knowledge and be flexible when it comes to platforms,” Finkelstein said.
“You need to be able to sell everywhere from TikTok to Pinterest to a physical store and understand the different customers and merchandising needs between platforms.”
He concluded: “Having a deep understanding of your customer is the power of retailers today and in the future. Owning that relationship and understanding what they want and where they want to buy is key.”
