HTEC Retail Roundups examine retail technology trends, digital retail innovations, and disruptive products.
Consumers to cut shopping budgets, seek contactless options
For the past 35 years, Deloitte has been producing a holiday retail report on consumer and retailer traditions. As you can imagine, 2020 changed shoppers’ behavior in major ways. Many are planning to cut spending, in-store purchases, travel and events, and time spent shopping. The average budget is lower ($1,387 per household), and shoppers across all age groups sought contactless options. “Price, product, and convenience remain top of mind for consumers.”
Source: Statista
However, NRF predicts a holiday shopping binge
More optimistic predictions come from the National Retail Federation, who announced that they expect a 3.6% to 5.2% holiday season sales increase due to “psychological factors” such as soothing pandemic anxiety with a good old shopping binge. Moreover, based on some consumer surveys, a sizeable group is ready to spend more on household goods and personal care products because they’ve saved on travel, events, restaurants, and night life.
Shopify to counteract carbon emissions from Black Friday & Cyber Monday shopping
A few innovative brands are experimenting with“Anti Black Friday” messaging for different reasons, according to Marketing Brew. Some are pointing out the need for more sustainable shopping habits and raising awareness about the pressure of shopping, while others are gamifying the experience to alleviate shopping stress. Shopify went the extra mile with a promise to use its Sustainability Fund to offset carbon emissions from orders placed over the busy Black Friday/Cyber Monday shopping weekend.
Shopify partners with Alipay to give merchants access to global consumers
Shopify announced a partnership with Alipay, Asia’s leading digital wallet platform, to allow merchants a new payment gateway. The “gateway” will allow Shopify merchants to seamlessly accept payments through Alipay from more than a billion active users in China alone — and hundreds of millions more across Asia. Shopify merchants have had the Alipay payment option through third-party providers, but this partnership will reduce friction for customers.
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