Red Ant CEO Sarah Friswell: Customer expectations will drive retail regeneration in 2023

2023 is unlikely to be a normal retail year, and in fact even the retail peaks we’ve become accustomed to recently could change to more volatile micro-climates as we move through the next 12 months.

This could be the year of reckoning where we see retailers making those critical updates they’ve been holding off on for a while to become truly omnichannel. 

There are five trends that retailers must be aware of for 2023 - wherever they are on their omnichannel journey. 

Experience value will be big 

Keeping pace with evolving customer expectations will be critical for 2023. When pushed, customers will look for experience value over purchase value and demand for exceptional customer experiences will drive retail regeneration.  

The research phase of a purchase is critical for retailers to focus on, and personalisation is key to this.

Clienteled customers that are supported through their browsing and buying experiences by data empowered store associates in store or online, via WhatsApp or email will generate the greatest value for brands.

Clienteling results in consumers making larger and more frequent purchases, with lower returns. 

The rise of blended tech 

Blending online and in-store tech will be a big focus for investment to offer consistent, intelligent, and impactful customer experiences. 

Seamless shopping experiences will require customer data capture and intelligent AI-based applications for personalisation and to enable recommendations that cross-sell and upsell. 

Harnessing data from many sources and empowering store associates with the right technology that brings together and makes available all customer information will create consistently remarkable experiences, making them feel like VIPs – whether they are on social media, an app, website or in-store.   

Hybrid client/tech teams will build global partnerships 

With the accelerated development of communications technology, brands must realise they can work closely with tech experts, even if they’re on different continents.

The ‘think global, act local’ approach allows for more international collaboration and can offer just as speedy development and deployment in the local time zone, with access to more senior and specialised experts ‘in the room’. 

Making human connections will matter more 

Increasingly, retailers must consider the network around them and their environment to be seen as an attractive retailer. They need to be ready for more focused buying, as customer values in this area are playing an increasingly important part in their buying decisions.

Those retailers that innovate to provide exciting, human experiences will be the last ones standing and keep their customers for a lifetime, not just a marketing campaign.  

Eco-awareness will build among consumers and retailers 

Most of all, it has never been more important to share information about ethical trading and sustainability. 

A 2022 Red Ant survey revealed 38% of UK retailers have invested in sustainability strategies.

Yet without brand-consumer engagement, directly achieved via clienteling, those vital sustainability initiatives can’t be communicated in an easily accessible way.   

Embracing retail peaks and troughs 

Keeping pace with evolving retail tech that can deliver this experience is essential.

Along with clienteling for a truly personal, informed service, some key priorities to maximise retail success include data integration, employee engagement, and an upgraded PoS platform which factors in order management. 

Red Ant identified that data integration was retailers’ biggest challenge in 2022 and will continue to be so next year.

Allowing data to flow seamlessly across all areas of the business will avoid business functions operating in silos and enable them to withstand those retail peaks and troughs – wherever they may be - in the year ahead.