COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Leading retail industry trade association Global Market Development Center (GMDC) has released its latest research report, which identifies a top opportunity for transformation in the retail industry: supporting consumers’ health and wellness goals by providing in-store expert advice and authentic shopping experiences.
It has been commonly accepted within the industry that local retailers are facing challenges due to online competition. 95 percent of all products sold on Amazon consist of non-food merchandise, which generally holds the highest profit margin among all store products. GMDC predicts some merchandise categories will completely leave physical retail by 2025.
However, in its latest research, GMDC has uncovered one key area where consumers are continuing to return to physical retailers: health and wellness products. Shoppers are seeking authentic in-store experiences with personalized expert advice focused on products supporting healthy lifestyles, to assist with meeting their personal wellness goals.
GMDC suggests that stores align their services with this opportunity to play a key role as healthy-living experts. GMDC states this transformation can help physical retailers differentiate and grow in the face of shifting retail competition by engaging with customers, providing personalized recommendations and building trust with shoppers.
“Consumers continue to gravitate toward online shopping for convenience reasons,” said Mark Mechelse, GMDC’s vice president of insights & communications. “However, trading partners’ ability to convert, educate and have meaningful self-care conversations can only happen in the physical store. Selecting the right supplier who has a relentless focus on those strategies is essential to win.”
Retailers generally have been more focused on competition and efficiency, detracting from building credibility as healthy-living experts. By catering to the consumer experience and health mindset, stores hold the opportunity to create high-engagement experiences with shoppers when they leverage these new occasions, ultimately bringing traffic back into physical stores.
GMDC reports that the health, beauty and personal care department has grown the second fastest of any retail department during the last year (second only to the deli) and the third fastest over the last four years (to the deli and produce departments).
“Where retail was yesterday, where it is today, and where it will be tomorrow are all related, but never the same,” said Patrick Spear, president and CEO of GMDC. “When it comes to health and wellness, GMDC is focused on tomorrow: What are your next practices?”
To download the executive summary of the report, please visit https://www.gmdc.org/content-library.
To create cohesive and proven insights in the report, GMDC collaborated with Nielsen, CRN, Kantar Consulting and A.T. Kearney. The partners and supporters whose contributions have made the report possible are Acosta, Crossmark, Hyland’s, Kimberly-Clark, Kantar Retail, Pfizer Consumer Healthcare, and Unilever.
About GMDC
Global Market Development Center (GMDC) energizes members and the marketplace by advancing a culture of Connect-Collaborate-Create-Commerce. As the leading GM and HBW trade association, GMDC is dedicated to serving its ecosystem of more than 600 General Merchandise and Health Beauty Wellness retailers, wholesalers, suppliers and service/solution member companies by enabling consumer-facing innovation and retail reimagined. GMDC's combined member volume represents more than 125,000 retail outlets and more than $500 billion in sales. To learn more, visit gmdc.org.
