Survey Reveals Top Trends Shaping the Future of Retail

Mall developer Westfield Group (Los Angeles) conducted a survey to uncover the biggest trends that will shape retail in the future. From that survey, five trends emerged that the group advises retailers to begin embracing, reports The Record.

One trend is that of rental retail, which would allow customers to rent clothes and household goods from their favorite stores. The second trend is that customers would like to see stores offer in-store classes and host interest groups, such as book clubs.

Another trend the survey uncovered was for retailers to offer virtual reality devices in-store that would let customers see how a product would look on them or in their homes. They also want to be able to better interact with merchandise, a trend the survey is dubbing “sensory retail.”

The last trend is for loyalty programs that reward customers not only for spending money in a store but for doing activities such as volunteering or recycling.