1. Cheap and Cheerful

Some trends are consumer focused.  From lipstick and nail polish (the original "cheap and cheerful" cues in the new economy), to home décor items and candles.  Items that are cheap and cheerful will make the consumer happy, pleased that she is taking home something fresh and new.  And remember, inexpensive seasonal reinvention can breathe an air of freshness into any consumer's home (and your environment too).      

2.  Personal Emancipation

One of the biggest trends has been termed "personal emancipation."  Think of separates in the fashion world, interest in personalization and customization, and even though a willingness to be "cast as the outcast" seems to be all part of this new consumer psychology.

3.  Mix-and-Match Merchandising

This might manifest itself in many ways.  It can come across in merchandising and assortment, with the willingness AND expectation of the customer to be innovative and low cost at the same time, while juxtaposed against the luxurious and the exclusive.  Translating this trend into the retail environment and finding balance is one part aesthetics, one part humor, and third part cleverness.  Think rubber bracelets and Jimmy Choo. 

4. Flash Sales 

Stores are beginning to see their retail environments not in terms of decades, or even years; but today in many cases, it is considered in terms of days, or even hours.  The flash sale has gotten consumers to think in a much more nimble way, and likewise they seem less phased today than ever in the "here today, gone tomorrow" light-footedness of the pop-up store with brands, lab stores, and retail experiments where the guinea pig may as well be the retailer as it is the consumer.

5. Technology

The ability to find resources that are "big enough to serve you," yet "small enough to know you" is key to executing this new face of retail.  While the outcome is casual, the activities, input, and resources it takes to "appear" casual should not be underestimated. In the U.S., Nordstrom, Best Buy and others have publicly laid out ambitious goals to eliminate the conventional checkout, cashwrap, and even in some cases the sales associate, by putting more of the accessibility to technology either in the hands of the consumer, or in proximity to the point-of-purchase.  Rather than seeing digital as a threat to brick-and-mortar, today's retailer should embrace this and see it as a way of extending this proven purchase optimization through multichannel.   

6.  Evolving Sales Opportunities  

With the freedom of mobile checkouts, sales associate can now do what they do best: Help the consumer.  Much of this change is taking place around mobile apps, but other technologies such as tablets and other types of digital interface enhance the efficiency of the shopping experience, while expanding the diversity options to the consumer, becoming the perfect marriage between brick-and-mortar and digital.

7.  Rethinking Environments

The cashwrap has been ubiquitous in retail as both a branding point and as a stop on the consumer's path.  But the rapid spread of roaming digitial checkouts has created a rethink and is increasingly changing the consumer's view of "experience." 

8.  Creative "Sticky" Space

What should a retailer do with the space that is freed up by removing the cashwrap and some of the other operational barriers that exist in traditional stores?   Create a space that invites the customer to linger and socially interact.  Design a "sticky" model that engages consumers to see the retail space as just not a transaction space, but as a "third place" where they stick around longer.  These "sticky" spaces - comfortable, engaging, and brand-right - act as silent, but effective ways to reinforce the retail brand image, to engage in a consumer conversation, and introduce them to new ideas, services, and products.

9. Permanent-Temporary Spaces

Consider creating permanent temporary space within your store.  The brand halo of inviting key influencers within your consumer's world is a way of creating buzz and newness within an existing merchandise range.  These "influencers" might be a highly visible neighboring retailer, a brand or an author.  A famous Paris department store does this on a monthly basis, inviting high profile celebrities of various walks of life: sport, fashion, art, literature; and then asks them to find and gather their "favorite things" from the store and then organize those into a mini department.  This approach provides an opportunity for storytelling and ways to connect and identify with the personalities or muse of this internal pop-up.

10.  Community Spirit

Make a difference in your community.  Certain categories offer opportunities for emotional triggers; children, education, pets are all universal topics around which to connect your brand, your store, and your consumers.  The place previously occupied by the cashwrap provides an opportunity to create a shared interest between retailer and consumer; offers a way to give back to the community related to the causes important to them.

11.   Storytelling

The illustration of creativity and self expression can be shaped through storytelling.  You cannot help but visit a retail street in the U.S., or a shopping center today without being drawn to retailers like Anthropologie whose displays and seasonal presentations extend beyond the realm of "window dressing" and into the role of "public art."   Connect emotionally with the consumer and as well, enrich, add, and inspire her to think beyond the obvious.  The tools and the props that are part of this bourgeoning explosion of retail creativity are often ordinary, but their use is exhibited in extraordinary ways. 

12.    Communication

In the end, effective marketing communication needs to sell things, but first the brand needs to win hearts and to some degree, minds, into a dialogue before the selling begins.  The trend around visual merchandising is providing an unexpected and imaginative "kit of parts." Mannequins, forms, and mirrors to "populate" visual is increasingly important. 

The imbedding of digital technology can range from retro to high-tech, to even retro-tech, where the repurposing of materials -- whether for repetition, color blocking and storytelling -- are becoming an increasingly important part of a successful retailer's effective communication initiative.

13.    Success through Action

Think reboot, unexpected, power to the consumer - be it in understanding, discovering, transacting.  Act on trends that address the consumer's need for irony, humor, advocacy, independence, while recognizing their personal emancipation not only around the commercial retail aspects of their life, but as well, health, education, travel and creativity.  Don't forget the importance of personalization and customization, and the growing trend toward "yin and yang" all under the same roof, within the same shopping bag, and within the mind and the heart of the consumer. 

Remember, there is no success without action!

Kenneth Nisch is chairman of JGA, a retail design and brand strategy firm in Southfield, Michigan. Nisch applies his knowledge and entrepreneurial insight to create concept and prototype development and brand image positioning.  JGA's clients include Parx (India), Fantasy World (Kuwait), Cacau Show (Brazil), Hershey's, Whole Foods Market,  Museum of Arts and Design, McCormick World of Flavors, Destination XL, Sleep Number and Verizon.  Ken may be reached at 248.355.0890 or info@jga.com.  For more information, visit www.JGA.com.