Etail Power List: Opinion - three trends in online retail for 2017

Modern technology has made change a constant across most sectors – and retail is certainly no exception. There are some fairly seismic shifts coming and we may see significant progress in the following areas during 2017.

Things get faster

In August, the percentage of orders using next day as the delivery option exceeded those using standard for the first time, according to the IMRG MetaPack UK Delivery Index. This is likely because the option is being actively promoted by retailers with many homepages showing messages of next day delivery if you order before a certain time, and for free if the basket value is above a certain threshold.

The introduction of same day delivery by a few major retailers is also increasing the pressure on others to follow suit – all leading of course to growing shopper expectation for ever-faster fulfilment.

Things get volatile

When the EU referendum result was announced, sterling took a tumble. Since then the promised economic Armageddon hasn’t quite happened – indeed, many economic indicators have actually been quite positive.

However, Brexit will start to become a bit more ‘real’ in 2017. Thus far the UK government has been (perhaps understandably) button-lipped on the details of Brexit, but when Theresa May revealed it would trigger Article 50 in March 2017, sterling fell again.

The official negotiations will probably start next year. Will there be a sharp currency fluctuation every time a politician makes announcements on progress? This could make for an unpredictable few years.

Things get more condensed

Black Friday changed the shape of peak in 2014, condensing a massive volume of orders into a short timeframe. Retail has long revolved around Sales periods, which are used to shift out-of-season stock as the year unfolds to clear warehouse space for new ranges, but Black Friday was different. This was a manufactured, industry-wide discount frenzy that captured the minds of shoppers.

Nor is Black Friday the final word.  Major discounting days exist in different forms around the world and, as we’ve seen, in the increasingly globalised retail space they can be imported into other markets even though it seems it’s not a logical match there.

We already have two of these major sales events in the UK – Amazon Prime Day and Black Friday. I’d be surprised if there isn’t an attempt to import Singles Day from China in some form soon, and there are other candidates lurking too (El Buen Fin in Mexico, for example). Will we see further condensing of the retail calendar into huge discounting events?

Andy Mulcahy is editor at online trade body IMRG