Whilst crystal ball gazing is far from a science, I'm pretty confident that all of these trends will occur: whether they happen in 2013 or a little later may be up for debate. But here we are - this is what the industry, and shopper marketing in particular, can look forward to in 2013

If you were to believe what is written it would be impossible to find a shopper who wasn't using their mobile phones and consulting their social network over most of their purchases. It is hype: even in advanced markets like the US ninety percent of shopping takes place in a bricks and mortar store (source Forrester Research). The hype will continue, and online shopping will continue to grow, and for some companies, targeting specific shopper segments, this will genuinely be important. The majority of marketers however should focus on getting it right in offline stores.

Whilst times are getting tough for many manufacturers, don't expect pity from retailers. Desperation on both sides of the manufacturer retailer divide will drive more price discounts. In some markets the percentage of products on promotion in a typical hypermarket already top 40% - expect that to continue to increase.

Data availability will increase: more data from social, online shopping, and retailer loyalty cards - you name it - Big Data has it. Yet, outside the very largest of organizations, marketing and insight teams are barely coping with creating insight from their current data sets: more data does not necessarily mean more insight. Expect those that get it right to tiled significant competitive advantage from their data sources: expect the rest to just find themselves with more databases, more bills to pay, and no new insight as a result. 

Shoppers are all different, and treating them as a homogenous bunch has always been daft, but it will get dafter. Shoppers have more choices, and more demands to meet, than ever before. As retailers become more niche (just think of all the online offers), then the ability (and the need) to segment effectively becomes paramount. Companies which can effectively segment their shoppers, and map them onto channels will reap the rewards: enabling more tailored marketing mixes, and hopefully stepping away from all the mass discounting that goes on.

Shopper Marketing has been a buzz phrase in the industry for a long time, but there is still yet to be a definitive text that explains what it is, why it is important, how to do it and critically how it should be integrated into the marketing lexicon. Welcome then "The Shopper Marketing Revolution” written by myself with shopper expert Toby Desforges, which will be available from April this year.

Lots will happen in the world of shoppers, and many of the trends are continuations of what we have seen this year. There will be more pop-up stores, virtual stores, and more online offers. Companies will continue to experiment with formats, and data, and unfortunately continue discounting. Maybe a few people will read "The Shopper Marketing Revolution” and decide to change the way they market forever. I hope so!