1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:03,920 Zara and H&M are facing a lot of competition from the likes of 2 00:00:03,920 --> 00:00:08,720 SHE and and to some degree both are trying to elevate who they 3 00:00:08,720 --> 00:00:13,400 are and what their position is to justify their perhaps higher 4 00:00:13,400 --> 00:00:26,520 cost. Hello, welcome to the Retail 5 00:00:26,520 --> 00:00:29,040 podcast. Now for some of you who are 6 00:00:29,040 --> 00:00:32,000 savvy out there and have been to a few conferences across the 7 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:36,280 globe, you'll recognise my next guest, Michelle Evans from 8 00:00:36,280 --> 00:00:39,920 Euromonitor is the global read. Sorry, global would be for 9 00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:44,480 retail insights. She was also at NRF doing the US 10 00:00:44,520 --> 00:00:48,200 grocery trends, so we're very fortunate to have her. 11 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:50,880 I'm, I'm a massive fan of Michelle and Urine monitor. 12 00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:55,520 I really enjoy the way that they distil these major trends, major 13 00:00:55,520 --> 00:00:57,800 data elements. I've I've seen Michelle, I think 14 00:00:57,800 --> 00:01:03,480 over two years now at different conferences at NRA Shop Talk and 15 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:07,720 each time I'm left delighted. Michelle, welcome to the show. 16 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:09,640 And thank you. Thank you for having me on. 17 00:01:10,320 --> 00:01:14,080 That's OK. So I believe in, in, in 18 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:17,720 imminently you're going to be releasing your top five digital 19 00:01:17,720 --> 00:01:22,400 trends for 2025 and you're going to be able to maybe just take us 20 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:25,280 through through that. Yeah, yeah. 21 00:01:25,280 --> 00:01:27,600 So this is work we've done annually. 22 00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:31,960 I think this is our 9th year. So our digital shopper trends 23 00:01:31,960 --> 00:01:36,480 look at, you know how our most digitally savvy shoppers are 24 00:01:36,480 --> 00:01:40,440 changing and, and what to expect in the year ahead. 25 00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:43,680 So yeah, I'm happy to to talk through some of them with you. 26 00:01:43,840 --> 00:01:47,000 Could you just give us a little heads up on you know yourself 27 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:49,480 and your own monitor? Yeah. 28 00:01:49,480 --> 00:01:53,000 So for those maybe not familiar with your monitor, we're a 29 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:55,360 global market intelligence agency. 30 00:01:56,080 --> 00:01:59,840 So we're based out of London, I'm out of our Chicago office 31 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:05,040 and we help clients around the world with their growth 32 00:02:05,040 --> 00:02:08,160 strategies. We do research across the number 33 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:12,720 of industries in particular I'm in our, you know, retail 34 00:02:13,120 --> 00:02:17,440 ecommerce type area. So I've managed insights and in 35 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:20,040 our client engagements in that realm. 36 00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:24,720 So I've been at the company it's you know, this year will be 15 37 00:02:24,720 --> 00:02:29,680 years and have been in in this space for a while helped to 38 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:32,440 launch originally our digital shopper. 39 00:02:32,440 --> 00:02:36,440 We do have a product called digital shopper that's coming up 40 00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:40,080 on I think 9 years since we've launched that. 41 00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:43,240 So that was early days on mobile was, you know, starting to 42 00:02:43,240 --> 00:02:46,440 change how consumers shop. So I've been focused on that and 43 00:02:46,440 --> 00:02:50,960 then obviously picked up for this wider repel vantage point 44 00:02:50,960 --> 00:02:52,960 along the way. And that's why I spoke about 45 00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:55,440 grocery trends of the recent interrupt show. 46 00:02:55,640 --> 00:02:58,720 What are the top five digital trends that you're seeing for 47 00:02:58,720 --> 00:03:01,920 2025? Yeah, happy to talk through some 48 00:03:01,920 --> 00:03:05,320 of them. So I think you know, every year 49 00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:10,160 when we do this, there's some some overarching trends are 50 00:03:10,160 --> 00:03:13,400 overarching themes, I guess is the right word that come to 51 00:03:13,400 --> 00:03:16,720 mind. So in recent years, things like 52 00:03:17,080 --> 00:03:20,920 greater sophistication of E com and social media, social media 53 00:03:20,920 --> 00:03:23,760 is playing a big role in our report this year. 54 00:03:24,160 --> 00:03:28,640 One of them is around the idea of brands and retailers having 55 00:03:28,640 --> 00:03:34,080 to rebuild trust with consumers. So this is, you know, if you 56 00:03:34,080 --> 00:03:37,160 think about social media when it started, you know, consumers 57 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:40,880 became a bit savvy, realised, you know, brands and retailers 58 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:43,880 may not, you know, they're, they're putting out messages and 59 00:03:43,960 --> 00:03:45,880 maybe I should trust or not trust. 60 00:03:45,880 --> 00:03:49,240 And then influencers came along and, and then they were 61 00:03:49,240 --> 00:03:53,360 obviously selling, you know, sponsorships against against 62 00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:56,480 themselves as well. So increasingly consumers will 63 00:03:56,480 --> 00:03:59,800 become, you know, a bit more wary when it when they're 64 00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:03,720 interacting in that medium. So what we're talking about here 65 00:04:03,720 --> 00:04:09,240 is more so the rise of, you know, micro nano influencers and 66 00:04:09,240 --> 00:04:13,840 the role that that they play in, you know, building that trust 67 00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:17,480 with consumers. Obviously they tend to be, you 68 00:04:17,480 --> 00:04:20,079 know, a bit more community driven, Maybe they're actually 69 00:04:20,079 --> 00:04:22,960 in your community or maybe they're, you know, in a 70 00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:28,640 community, you know, that that more centred around interest, 71 00:04:29,280 --> 00:04:34,640 but someone that you can trust to guide you to to products and 72 00:04:34,640 --> 00:04:38,000 services. And so one of the other trends 73 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:42,600 that we're looking at, I would say speaks more to it. 74 00:04:42,600 --> 00:04:48,720 It's also social related, you know, consumers or clearly on 75 00:04:48,720 --> 00:04:53,200 social media or clearly online more and on social media more. 76 00:04:53,560 --> 00:04:56,480 So it's just the place that they're interacting and 77 00:04:56,480 --> 00:04:59,640 naturally, you know, looking maybe to shop. 78 00:04:59,800 --> 00:05:04,600 So this trend looks at, you know, the the shopification of 79 00:05:04,600 --> 00:05:09,480 social media, the idea of making these platforms easier to shop. 80 00:05:09,560 --> 00:05:14,520 So we're seeing, you know, these operators, you know, bring in 81 00:05:14,520 --> 00:05:19,760 these different types of new functionality to make it easier 82 00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:23,560 to, you know, execute the purchase right online. 83 00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:27,640 So one of the ones I think about is Instagram and they pushed in 84 00:05:27,640 --> 00:05:32,400 the last year, you know, making retailers and brands stay within 85 00:05:32,400 --> 00:05:37,960 Instagram to sell the product. So you know, if, if it is a 86 00:05:37,960 --> 00:05:42,400 brand or a retailer pushing something and you see the video, 87 00:05:42,760 --> 00:05:45,800 you know, as you click on it, you'll see the, the buy now 88 00:05:45,800 --> 00:05:49,600 button and you're taken through through that experience. 89 00:05:49,600 --> 00:05:52,480 So it's, it's keeping them within the platform. 90 00:05:53,240 --> 00:05:57,480 Clearly that means more commissions for the, for the 91 00:05:57,480 --> 00:06:00,600 platform themselves. And then, you know, there's 92 00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:04,960 other things like YouTube has done some different efforts when 93 00:06:04,960 --> 00:06:10,840 it comes to an affiliate programme where they're making 94 00:06:10,840 --> 00:06:17,080 it easier to tag things within videos, you know, to to execute 95 00:06:17,080 --> 00:06:20,640 said purchase. And we're also seeing different 96 00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:25,080 partnerships, like there was a partnership between Instacart 97 00:06:25,080 --> 00:06:28,200 and Google Ads. Now they've added YouTube as 98 00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:31,120 well. So it's connecting those dots, 99 00:06:31,800 --> 00:06:35,200 you know, to make it easier for consumers to execute on those 100 00:06:35,200 --> 00:06:38,080 platforms. And next one I can talk about 101 00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:43,440 there's there is a threat of social in this one, but this one 102 00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:47,000 is tilted more towards the medium that you connect with 103 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:50,840 consumers. So specifically it's about the 104 00:06:50,840 --> 00:06:56,080 rise of sort of the, the video driven type of connections. 105 00:06:56,080 --> 00:07:00,240 So you know it, it plays out in different ways. 106 00:07:00,240 --> 00:07:04,640 So it could be shoppable video, it could be live streams, 107 00:07:05,080 --> 00:07:09,040 obviously they could be hosted on social media, but also it 108 00:07:09,040 --> 00:07:11,840 goes beyond that because they could be on retailer sites and 109 00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:17,160 brand sites and whatnot. So this trend is, it's based on 110 00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:21,400 the notion that when we think about different medians meeting 111 00:07:21,400 --> 00:07:28,800 medians, mediums of consumers obviously engage more when it 112 00:07:28,800 --> 00:07:33,480 comes to video, you know, that's deemed more engaging than words 113 00:07:33,480 --> 00:07:38,600 or or photos or whatnot. And in our data, consumers 114 00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:45,520 report streaming videos at least weekly of 71% of the population. 115 00:07:45,520 --> 00:07:50,120 So, you know, this is an activity they do frequently and 116 00:07:50,120 --> 00:07:55,520 this is, you know, becoming more powerful, more impactful, you 117 00:07:55,520 --> 00:08:00,080 know, in the retail and in e-commerce sphere where we're 118 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:03,680 seeing, you know, retailers, brands, social media operators 119 00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:09,720 leveraging this more fully. I think of an example, obviously 120 00:08:09,720 --> 00:08:13,160 I'm in the US and one of the examples I think about a lot, 121 00:08:13,440 --> 00:08:16,600 Amazon is clearly doing different things in this where 122 00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:19,880 they have the Amazon Live programme, you know, the live 123 00:08:19,880 --> 00:08:22,680 streaming. Obviously, they haven't found 124 00:08:22,680 --> 00:08:26,680 the success like an Alibaba has because of our different 125 00:08:26,680 --> 00:08:29,440 cultures. They also launched what they 126 00:08:29,440 --> 00:08:33,600 call a shoppable channel called Fast on Prime Video. 127 00:08:34,080 --> 00:08:39,480 So it's more of a throwback to the QVC home shopping type of 128 00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:42,559 experiences that Americans would be more familiar with. 129 00:08:43,159 --> 00:08:48,600 And then, you know, another example from even Amazon is, you 130 00:08:48,600 --> 00:08:52,600 know, we have our NFL and they have been broadcasting during 131 00:08:52,600 --> 00:08:57,200 the regular season in games on Thursday night on Amazon Prime 132 00:08:57,200 --> 00:09:00,840 and during the commercials, they're all shoppable videos. 133 00:09:01,120 --> 00:09:04,360 So it was a really interesting experience. 134 00:09:04,400 --> 00:09:08,440 Obviously a different type of experience and watching the NFL 135 00:09:08,440 --> 00:09:11,880 on a CBS or NBC or something like that. 136 00:09:12,200 --> 00:09:15,600 Just because, you know, the commercialization, the 137 00:09:15,600 --> 00:09:19,160 commercials that are put to you as a consumer, you know, these 138 00:09:19,160 --> 00:09:22,200 are more interactive. You know, they're showing you 139 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:24,480 products. There's AQR code, you scan the 140 00:09:24,480 --> 00:09:28,600 QR code, it's immediately going to the product page for Amazon. 141 00:09:28,680 --> 00:09:32,000 It's about that creating that more immersive experience 142 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:34,880 online. Really there's benefits of 143 00:09:34,880 --> 00:09:37,760 shopping online, but there's there's something you miss 144 00:09:38,080 --> 00:09:41,480 versus in store shopping. So, you know, I think it's 145 00:09:41,480 --> 00:09:48,040 really about tapping into that, you know, more immersive, more 146 00:09:48,040 --> 00:09:51,880 dynamic type of experience. So, yeah, video LED, whether 147 00:09:51,880 --> 00:09:55,680 it's, you know, a recorded video that, you know, they've now made 148 00:09:55,680 --> 00:09:58,040 shoppable or if it's live streaming. 149 00:09:58,080 --> 00:10:02,600 Certainly live streaming has been fairly strong coming out of 150 00:10:02,600 --> 00:10:05,360 China, you know, five years ago really. 151 00:10:05,360 --> 00:10:09,240 But it's been slower in the West, But we're seeing more and 152 00:10:09,240 --> 00:10:12,440 more traction around that kind of idea. 153 00:10:12,440 --> 00:10:14,920 So we really wanted to highlight, you know, the 154 00:10:14,920 --> 00:10:18,720 importance of this medium and how it's being leveraged to 155 00:10:18,720 --> 00:10:21,920 connect with shoppers. It feels like one of those music 156 00:10:21,920 --> 00:10:24,320 countdowns. And on to #4. 157 00:10:27,960 --> 00:10:31,280 And this one shifts gears. It's there's no real social 158 00:10:31,280 --> 00:10:33,880 element. I think it's one of the more, 159 00:10:34,440 --> 00:10:36,880 it's one of the more interesting ones to me. 160 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:41,680 And this is where we speak about these low cost platforms that 161 00:10:41,680 --> 00:10:47,000 are really gaining traction. So obviously this ties into, you 162 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:51,160 know, the the cost of living crisis that consumers continue 163 00:10:51,160 --> 00:10:56,440 to navigate and, and seeking out budget friendly options. 164 00:10:56,760 --> 00:11:01,520 And over the last, this is the third year, we've had a trend 165 00:11:01,960 --> 00:11:06,200 that related to this budget crisis and consumers, you know, 166 00:11:06,200 --> 00:11:10,800 using digital tools to find deals, root out the best deals, 167 00:11:11,080 --> 00:11:15,280 even, you know, finding dupes, that kind of thing, how they 168 00:11:15,400 --> 00:11:19,960 might use digital platforms. But this one, you know, goes to 169 00:11:19,960 --> 00:11:24,640 the idea of these these players that have rose to prominence. 170 00:11:24,760 --> 00:11:28,240 You know, we think some of that obviously it's, you know, I 171 00:11:28,280 --> 00:11:32,200 think partially driven from this budget mindset, but you also 172 00:11:32,200 --> 00:11:35,760 have consumers that have become more comfortable shopping 173 00:11:35,760 --> 00:11:38,200 online. For some consumers, you know, 174 00:11:38,200 --> 00:11:42,760 they've been doing this for 2025 years, maybe some are newer to 175 00:11:42,760 --> 00:11:44,880 the game. And you know, I think in the 176 00:11:44,880 --> 00:11:48,920 early days when some of these platforms came out of China 177 00:11:48,920 --> 00:11:52,680 several years ago, there was concerns about the quality of 178 00:11:52,680 --> 00:11:55,000 the products. But obviously we're seeing 179 00:11:55,000 --> 00:11:58,640 consumers, you know, more comfortable with ordering from 180 00:11:58,640 --> 00:12:01,960 some of these, we call them Chinese affiliated websites. 181 00:12:01,960 --> 00:12:05,120 Obviously some of them have shifted where their headquarters 182 00:12:05,120 --> 00:12:10,240 are to to establish that or make that disconnection, I suppose. 183 00:12:10,320 --> 00:12:13,520 But yeah, they're, you know, clearly players like Timu have 184 00:12:13,560 --> 00:12:17,760 have rose to prominence of Xi'an TikTok shop. 185 00:12:18,360 --> 00:12:22,760 And then you do have others, you know, other established players. 186 00:12:22,760 --> 00:12:24,400 Marketplaces. Aliexpress. 187 00:12:24,520 --> 00:12:28,080 Yeah, yeah, long established, but I'm thinking even like an 188 00:12:28,080 --> 00:12:33,080 Amazon opening their Amazon Hall launching mat and no. 189 00:12:33,080 --> 00:12:34,920 Congee are absolutely yes. Yeah. 190 00:12:35,160 --> 00:12:39,880 And then you have a player like Zalando that has, you know, an 191 00:12:39,880 --> 00:12:45,000 off price platform as well called Lounge where it has 192 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:49,360 heavily discounted products. So, you know, players, you know, 193 00:12:49,680 --> 00:12:55,320 obviously Amazon is somewhat, I think more, more mirroring what 194 00:12:55,320 --> 00:12:59,800 these other players are doing. 1 like Zalando obviously has a 195 00:12:59,800 --> 00:13:02,520 thread, a platform that they're looking to do. 196 00:13:02,520 --> 00:13:06,000 But then you also have other players like we talked about H&M 197 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:10,120 on our report from the standpoint that you know is Zara 198 00:13:10,120 --> 00:13:13,480 and H&M are facing a lot of competition from the likes of 199 00:13:13,480 --> 00:13:16,560 Sheen and and you know, fast fashion. 200 00:13:17,120 --> 00:13:22,040 And really both Zara and H&M have dug their heels in and 201 00:13:22,040 --> 00:13:26,920 tried to sort of adjust their messaging to consumers. 202 00:13:26,920 --> 00:13:31,080 So you know, Zara has made a lot of store upgrades, H&M is 203 00:13:31,080 --> 00:13:34,560 starting to do that. And to some degree both are 204 00:13:34,560 --> 00:13:39,160 trying to elevate who they are and what their position is to 205 00:13:39,160 --> 00:13:44,520 justify their their perhaps higher cost versus shooting 206 00:13:44,920 --> 00:13:46,920 products. Yeah, I've heard that. 207 00:13:46,920 --> 00:13:51,440 I heard that someone at one of the keynote NRF was talking 208 00:13:51,440 --> 00:13:55,040 about how actually it was the lady, the CEO of Rent the 209 00:13:55,040 --> 00:13:57,560 Runway. She was the one talking about 210 00:13:57,560 --> 00:14:02,240 how Mango Zara have all you know, their, their quality of 211 00:14:02,240 --> 00:14:05,800 their garments are getting better because they they have to 212 00:14:06,080 --> 00:14:09,560 differentiate in, in a really competitive market. 213 00:14:09,800 --> 00:14:13,800 OK, I I hope I don't sound like a radio disc jockey. 214 00:14:13,960 --> 00:14:20,560 And in a #5 we have. Yeah, of course, no trends list 215 00:14:20,560 --> 00:14:24,120 is complete without a mention of AI. 216 00:14:24,120 --> 00:14:29,360 So last year we did look at Jen AI and how it was coming into 217 00:14:29,360 --> 00:14:34,760 retail in different ways, you know, as one of the technologies 218 00:14:34,760 --> 00:14:39,720 that it was creating a more more immersive is coming to mind is 219 00:14:39,720 --> 00:14:43,840 that's not the right word that I'm thinking of a more intuitive 220 00:14:43,840 --> 00:14:46,480 was what we call intuitive e-commerce, a more intuitive 221 00:14:46,480 --> 00:14:49,000 experience. So we're taking a look at Jenny 222 00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:54,560 I again this year is specifically the agents and 223 00:14:54,560 --> 00:14:59,440 those type of developments. Obviously, you know, the agents 224 00:14:59,440 --> 00:15:02,800 and theory should help with creating a more sort of like 225 00:15:02,960 --> 00:15:07,720 complete experience and connecting the dots across, you 226 00:15:07,720 --> 00:15:11,760 know, different operations and such and you know, have a 227 00:15:11,760 --> 00:15:16,760 potential to to really have an impact in retail experiences. 228 00:15:17,880 --> 00:15:20,840 I got you. What what stands out for you in 229 00:15:20,840 --> 00:15:24,000 terms of the the five trends? What was the what was the thing 230 00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:29,440 that surprised you about it? Yeah, I think this year I would 231 00:15:29,440 --> 00:15:33,920 say we leaned in harder on social media than we have in 232 00:15:33,960 --> 00:15:37,000 past. In past we might have, I would 233 00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:40,280 say we would definitely have one, maybe two that touched on 234 00:15:40,280 --> 00:15:43,120 social. So I think it it likely just 235 00:15:43,120 --> 00:15:45,640 speaks the fact that social media is playing a more 236 00:15:45,640 --> 00:15:50,560 prominent role in in e-commerce type of transactions. 237 00:15:50,560 --> 00:15:54,560 Obviously it's, you know, really the cornerstone of how, you 238 00:15:54,560 --> 00:15:57,480 know, brands and retailers connect with their shoppers. 239 00:15:57,480 --> 00:16:00,560 So so that being one of them. So we've just had that 240 00:16:00,560 --> 00:16:02,760 unfortunately small little technical problem where we've 241 00:16:02,760 --> 00:16:06,920 lost the image from Michelle, but she's still there. 242 00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:09,440 So Michelle, with that, I'd like to say thank you. 243 00:16:09,920 --> 00:16:14,400 Thank you for sharing those digital trends with us and look 244 00:16:14,400 --> 00:16:17,720 forward to seeing you hopefully at one of the major conferences. 245 00:16:18,360 --> 00:16:19,360 Yeah. Thank you. 246 00:16:19,360 --> 00:16:23,440 It's been great to share these with your audience and 247 00:16:24,240 --> 00:16:27,560 appreciate the conversation and look forward to connecting with 248 00:16:27,840 --> 00:16:29,440 Person in 2025.