Falling into Seasonal Change: 3 Trends Retailers Should Be Prepared For

With evolving trends and seasonal changes, consumer shopping preferences continue to shift. Retailers need to ensure they are catering to evolving consumer needs, providing for new trends as we approach fall, shortly followed by the winter period. As the festive sales period approaches, it’s important that retailers recognize and respond to new consumer interests to deliver high-quality experiences and maximize sales opportunities.

Retailers should always be looking inward, considering how they can continually enhance their offerings. This becomes especially critical at this time of year when consumers are beginning to turn their attention to festive shopping and Black Friday deals. This creates the perfect opportunity for retailers to assess their efficiency, capability and service level. They can see where they can improve to drive sales and increase revenue.

In this blog, we’ve taken a look at 3 key trends that retailers should be prepared for over the next few months, and how retailers can improve their processes to prepare for change…

End of Summer Sales and Discounts

As evenings get cooler, nights become longer and winter approaches, shoppers will likely begin refreshing their wardrobes. It’s important to clear space for new stock. It’s now that time when summer end-of-season sales and clearances tend to be popular. Retailers must focus on creating personalized offers and discounts on their end-of-summer sales, encouraging consumers to get their last-minute items in for more affordable prices.

In order to create personalized discounts, retailers can lean on real-time tools that facilitate insights into evolving consumer needs and retail operations. Teamwork Commerce’s real-time Analytics and Reporting tool provides retailers with clear visibility across live store performance, inventory and on-demand KPI reports. As a result, retailers can better understand their operational needs and consumer preferences.

Similarly, retailers must stay on top of inventory management, ensuring complete visibility of stock, and enabling teams to accurately monitor inventory levels as the end-of-summer sales clear space for new stock. Overall, this ensures consistency, consolidates back-end processes and allows retailers to confidently transition their seasonal stock while minimizing waste.

Black Friday Madness

Black Friday is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, date to remember in the retail calendar. According to Statista, in 2023, almost two-thirds of UK consumers said they were planning to spend across Black Friday and Cyber Weekend. Similarly, in 2023, £3.9 billion was expected to be spent in stores, highlighting the huge sales potential that merchants won’t want to miss.

To thrive during the busy shopping season and make the most of the Black Friday footfall, retailers need to streamline their processes and deliver seamless customer experiences. As the Christmas period shortly follows, consumers make conscious efforts to look out for appealing Black Friday deals. To effectively manage the surge in in-store footfall during this time, retail brands can leverage mobile point-of-sale (POS) solutions. The Teamwork Commerce Mobile POS system uses cloud-based technology to centralize and streamline all stored data. It gives staff the ability to handle a range of customer queries and complete transactions from anywhere across the shop floor. A queue-busting revolution, Mobile POS delivers a convenient experience for customers during an otherwise chaotic period.

Retailers should also lean on RFID-powered solutions that help retailers improve transaction accuracy – facilitating a reduction in human error – whilst enhancing customer interactions through shopper convenience. RFID-powered self-checkout provides shoppers with the ability to instantly scan their items, at their own pace, resulting in optimized checkout times. This helps stores increase transactions during working hours and maximize sales opportunities during Black Friday.

Tis the Season to be Jolly…

…well not just yet!

However, as we know, time flies. Retailers must be prepared to perfect their retail processes to boost sales around the holiday season. According to Deloitte, in 2023, shoppers planned to spend more at Christmas than they did in 2022, and tend to prioritize savings for Christmas spending. Christmas is one of the busiest shopping days in the year and consumers today tend to leverage hybrid shopping models that blend the convenience of online shopping with experiences of in-store browsing. In response to this, retailers must deploy advanced omnichannel retail solutions that empower their staff to deliver top-tier customer experiences.

Utilizing Teamwork’s real-time analytics to access buyer purchasing history can help staff provide more meaningful experiences to resonate with what shoppers are looking for.

Whether online or in-store, Christmas gift shopping is intense. To stay on top of transactions and orders, retailers must manage both available stock and online orders efficiently to ensure 100% product availability for both in-store and online purchases, supporting an omnichannel approach.

With Teamwork’s advanced Omnichannel Order Management System (OMS), online orders and in-store transactions are streamlined. The cloud-based infrastructure provides retailers total accuracy and the ability to easily manage and fulfil shoppers’ orders, from any location.

Using OMS, retailers can deliver improved customer experiences, providing consumers with the ability to leverage offerings such as Buy Online, Pickup In-Store (BOPIS) and Buy Online, Return In-Store (BORIS). Teamwork’s OMS creates quick and efficient ways for customers to process returns and exchanges, straight back to the purchasing card with minimal effort whether that be in-store with staff, or online through the returns manager – delivering a true omnichannel experience.

The Takeaway

It’s key that retailers look into their strategies to see how their current retail processes can be altered and improved. Staying on top of stock availability, order management systems and customer needs and interactions should be a priority for the coming months, to drive sales and increase revenue. With the right approach, retailers can see out 2024 on a high, and position themselves for an even more successful 2025.

Want to find out more about how we can help your brand excel throughout the fall into seasonal change? Get in touch here.