Retail sales in the US increased 18 per cent over 2019, according to the recent report by NPD Group. Growth in the US economy continues to rise as vaccination rates increase and as consumers, as well as businesses and schools, begin to map their post-pandemic paths forward.

The trends that are likely to affect the global industries including apparel and footwear were explored during a recent ‘Future of Style’ event hosted by The NPD group.

With US and global vaccination rates on the rise, consumers will once again start spending on experiences, leading to a socialisation shift that will create more movement in products related to emerging needs. As consumer behaviour starts to bounce back, leaders in the retail industry are looking beyond what happened last year to determine the behaviours that will change, as well as those that could remain in force for months, or even years, into the future.

The power of the pandemic lifestyle pillars like home-based work, fitness and healthy home will continue to propel retail growth upward. Even so, the pandemic pillars will eventually start to moderate, as restrictions ease and consumers revive more of their pre-pandemic activities, the report said.

Consumers used to plan their shopping carefully weeks or even months ahead of time, but that forward-looking focus shifted appreciably last year. Due to all the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, along with the convenience of one- and two-day shipping, curb-side pick-up, and other convenient options, the retail cadence became much more immediate.

Over the past few years, a big story in retail was the steady digital transformation of many sectors of the retail market. However, after the pandemic hit, the size of e-commerce growth for some industries leapt forward by three years while still leaving plenty of room to grow. Although apparel still benefit more from in-store traffic, due to the need to see and try on products, other retail categories will increasingly reap benefits from the consumer’s accelerated migration to shopping online.

NPD offers industry analysis and advisory services to help retailers and manufacturers identify market trends to make smarter business decisions.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KD)