Retail Trends for 2017

Elizabeth Link

RCSC 304

13 February 2017

                Retail trends for 2017

        There were seven retail terms as explained by Brian Pearson in the article 7 Under-The-Radar Retail Trends for 2017. The trend that was most applicable to my everyday life is the “Leaving home without it” trend, which refers to the current shift from using a physical wallet to a virtual one on a smartphone. In fact, according to Glen Robson, the executive vice president and global head of solutions at VeriFone, 2017 is supposed to be the year that “people begin to ditch the (physical) wallet as merchants start to standardize the acceptance of contactless mobile wallets and create incentives to pay this way, downloadable directly to your device”.

        An example of this can be when using an airline to travel; now you can add your boarding pass when flying to your virtual wallet and do not have to have to print off a hard copy. Another way the contactless mobile wallets is utilized is uploading gift cards or discount cards so all you need at the store is your phone. The last and most useful way the phone is now being used as a wallet in stores is downloading all your credit card information so all you have to do is scan your phone. All these ways revolutionize the way we shop because now a consumer can walk into almost any form of retail establishment and pay for product of access the service they desire. If this trend continues, soon physical wallets will be a thing of the past.