Omnichannel Retailing - China - December 2020
Overview
 
What you need to know
Omnichannel retailing has leveraged technology to bring an enhanced shopping experience. Brands and retailers are still exploring its many possibilities and consumers are eager to try the smart features that promise to enhance their shopping experience with convenience, personalisation and entertainment. 

Innovating around user experience will be paramount to the appeal of omnichannel retailing, which will make shopping easier rather than marginalise less tech savvy customers. A learning curve is expected before consumers can fully embrace many new retail solutions, such as unmanned convenience stores, virtual product trials or smart customisation by a machine. To ease them into the unmanned economy, a ‘high touch’ approach will complement the ‘high tech’ solutions nicely.

Digitally savvy younger generations will be expecting a continuous experiential shopping journey where the boundaries between online and offline blur. The growing importance of interactive virtual worlds as consumers’ primary product information and brand engagement channels provide both opportunities and challenges in omnichannel retailing. Successfully joining online and offline experiences will create the “shoptainment” that consumers desire. 

Covered in this Report
This Report covers a variety of omnichannel retail formats and experiences, market drivers, opportunities and challenges, as well as consumers’ shopping behaviour and attitude towards them.

Retail formats include unmanned services, such as unmanned convenience stores, vending machines, self-service kiosks, and more. Omnichannel retailing experiences refer to various online-to-offline shopping experiences, including smart devices that allow consumers to remotely try on or customise products, connected showrooms, social media engagement, among many others.