Havas Paris have collaborated to present the five major trends that will change tomorrow’s retail trade in France and around the world.
Paris, June 11th 2018: The fourth edition of Paris Retail Week will take place 10th-12th September. Ahead of the event it partnered with Havas Paris to discover the most most innovative and exciting retail trends of 2018.
The lines are blurred more than ever between physical and digital trade and this year’s study only confirms this, putting an end to the binary vision of an all-powerful, all-digital retail sector and a critically endangered physical retail sector.
"With the multiplication of technological innovations, phygital is imposing itself in retail trade. Even though many believed that e-commerce would sweep shops under the carpet, a hybrid of on and offline commerce is emerging. This reshuffling is opening the way to new alternative players and novel practices."
David Mingeon, Deputy Director General of Havas Paris
The survey confirms that the Smart Phygital era is certainly set to shape the retail landscape
The five retail trends identified for 2018 are:
- 1. From the path to purchase to the path of life - today’s consumer expects retail to be accessible wherever, whenever.
- 2. The conversational age has finally begun - 2018 marks the year of the acceptance and need for voice assistance.
- 3. From customer care to ethical manufacturing - environmental factors are now affecting consumers’ decisions in retail.
- 4. Big data, safe data and dirty data? - due to new data protection laws, data has become the new black gold, even for retailers.
- 5. New trendy discount - a new way of seducing a generation whose financial means are inversely proportional to their power of influence.
Whether digital or physical, retailers must reinvent their relationships with consumers by developing hyper-proximity, setting an example for transparency and ethics, and proposing augmented offers. The digital and physical retail worlds must meet to serve an ecosystem that is ever more intelligent and agile.
"The results of the study show the rise of a new paradigm that we call Smart Phygital. During the 2018 edition of Paris Retail Week, nationally and internationally renowned speakers will analyse and debate this subject to provide essential keys to understanding for retailers.”
Arnaud Gallet, Director of Paris Retail Week
