Five emergent trends that will shape retailing - VRM, Multichannel, Globalization, Payments and Data. What will be the evolution of each of these trends and how should retailers respond?

Five Drivers of Change

Observing recent strategies in retail and developments in technology and trade leads me to believe that the following issues are in play - together these will form the vortex of those changes:

• Balance of power between retailers and consumers
• The mix of retailing channels - stores, online, mobile and social
• Globalization of the demand chain
• The changing nature of money, currency and finance
• The tsunami of data and the tools to analyze it all

These trends are already emerging in various corners, their adoption by mainstream retailers will take time, effort and long investment. Technology development and customer expectations will further shape the retail proposition over the next five years.