Euromonitor International, Chicago, released new retailing industry data.
The “What’s New in Retail: Emerging Global Concepts in 2017” report highlights the evolution and reinvention of international retail, ranking the Top 3 new retail concepts across grocery, non-grocery, non-store and digital channels.
Internet retailing is the fastest growing global channel through 2022 at 73%, and is to become a larger channel than traditional grocery retail. Within internet retailing, the food and drink category is expected to see the fastest growth at 80%.
“While store-based modern and traditional grocery retailing combined will remain larger, internet retailing is changing the traditional way of shopping for many products, but especially for groceries,” says Michelle Grant, head of retailing. “It’s no surprise that now three of the Top 5 largest retailers in the world are internet retailers.”
With mobile internet retailing expected to reach 50% of total e-commerce sales in 2019, retailers are looking at the next wave of technology to create new ways for consumers to shop.
Tao Café, a pop-up convenience store from Alibaba, ranked first place in the grocery channel, paving the way for cashier-free stores in China. Using facial recognition among other advanced technologies, customers need only their smartphone equipped with Alibaba’s Taobao app to enter and check out.