Question

1. How has the retail world changed in the last decade?

Answer 1

1.

The biggest change the retail world has seen in the last 10 years, is its transformation from offline to online model. While transforming into online, the retail has become mobile as significant traffic comes to the online retail stores via mobile devices.  In a survey, 44% of the mobile users, buy products online. The second change is the reduction in the level of asymmetry of information between shoppers and retailers. It means that shoppers are more informed today in the comparison to what it was 10 years ago, and retailers have adapted to the new change. Now, it is the retailers who focus upon customer service, authenticity, timely delivery & trust, rather only about the quality & features of the products to develop their business as one product is available at many online retail platforms.   The third change is the significance of sharing of reviews and opinion among the consumers of the retail products that was not the case 10 years ago. So, star ratings, reviews and opinion of the users hold huge significance in the retail world.  The fourth change is the retail world crossing international borders. For example, big retail chains such as Amazon and Walmart have moved out of the USA and reached out to Asian markets, in localized form. The fifth change is the consolidation of retail businesses and M&A so that it can add efficiency and scalability in the operations. It will help increase their profitability.  These are the changes, retail world has gone through in the last decade.