Page 57 - February 2021

consumers online shopping without ever having to look at one hyper personalisation will become a huge trend in the
a screen, especially on Amazon. But even brands who aren’t market this year. One-to-one personalisation is the dream
on Amazon can leverage smart speaker and voice search of all retailers; some of the technologies that enabled
technology. Here’s why: When a voice assistant provides closer personalisation in the past also came with a bundle
an answer, it also allows users to open the website where of privacy issues. However, recent advances in cognitive
the answer was found. For brands that prioritise voice- technologies will help retailers move closer to true hyper-
optimised SEO, this could mean a boost in traffic. personalization in 2021. This has been one of the most
Another trend for 2021 will be subscriptions, according demanded retail trends for a very long time - finally it is
to Lory Ajamian in her article ‘Tech Trends for 2021: The here to stay.
Future of Retail’ on the TotalRetail website. She explains Sentiment analysis, A.I. & machine learning, natural
that subscriptions offer consumers a simple way to buy language processing currently allow retailers to process
their favourite products and discover new ones. Through huge amounts of unstructured customer data. This data
curated boxes or monthly membership fees, subscriptions - from online and in-store activity, social media, and
are a convenient and personalised way for retailers to build other brand touchpoints - can help retailers understand
loyalty and lock down recurring revenue - and an easy way customers’ needs, concerns and their current stage
for shoppers to replenish stores without leaving the house. in the buying journey. Retailers can then leverage this
The online paper by intelistyle entitled ‘The Top 9 understanding to deliver deeply targeted messaging and
Technology Retail Trends of 2021’ suggests that one-to- more personal interactions.
ADIDAS LDN
London, UK