Keeping up with top shopping trends

As new styles and innovations keep emerging, retailers are constantly seeking for ways to keep the shopping experience fresh and more engaging. The following trends in shopping are guiding malls and retail spaces to seamlessly connect with shoppers and set modern shopping to higher standards.

Omnichannel shopping

From merely physical spaces, shopping is now being redefined to a combination of in-store and online shopping. According to audience research company GWI, 59% of people prefer online shopping, while 41% are still shopping in physical stores globally. Interestingly, in the Philippines, a unique shopping trend has emerged, with many embracing omnichannel shopping.

At a Retail Asia Forum 2024, Jerome Andrew Garcia, Principal of Advisory Services at KPMG in the Philippines, emphasized that 61% of Filipino consumers prefer the omnichannel approach, while 22% prefer physical stores, and 17% with online.

This trend allows shoppers to seamlessly blend their shopping habits, for example, browsing items online or checking local store inventories, depending on what is most convenient for them. Ultimately, the goal is to create a shopping experience that is both seamless and personalized, empowering consumers to make shopping choices that align with their lifestyles.

“People browse online before they come to the store,” Rosemarie Bosch Ong, Wilcon Depot, Inc.’s senior executive vice-president and chief operating officer, said in the same forum. “We’ve learned that people browsing before coming to the store greatly enhances the chance they’ll buy something in-store.”

Adding to this, the omnichannel approach has equipped retailers to track and analyze trends and data insights in real-time, enabling them to cater to consumer preferences more efficiently, as Jayan Dy of SM Retail said.

“A specific example is when we noticed an increase in demand for cranberry bread in a particular urban area. Upon checking, even offline sales matched that trend,” he said.

Personalization

Moreover, in modern shopping, personalized shopping drives tangible results, enabling brands to serve customers more effectively. Recently, brands and retailers have been leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) technology to create more customized shopping experiences, using data analytics and behavior insights to better cater to consumer preferences. With AI on board, shopping has reached an entirely new level of personalization.

Recognizing AI’s potential, GWI indicated that 56% of Gen Z are optimistic about AI’s impact on society. On another note, a recent study by McKinsey & Company revealed 71% of consumers expect businesses to provide personalized interactions, while 76% feel frustrated when they don’t get such kind of interaction.

AI fundamentally enhances personalization in retail, offering benefits such as more efficient customer engagement, creative and tailored content, refined marketing strategies, and customizing of promotions and product recommendations across e-commerce platforms and other marketing channels.

“Many retailers view AI and GenAI (generative AI) as a way to reverse the downward trends and accelerate growth,” McKinsey explained in a report. “An increasing number are starting to experiment with AI to improve mass promotions. But companies can be more strategic by employing AI for targeted promotions, using data to tailor discounts based on people’s shopping preferences or their affinity for different types of offers. With a more granular approach to customer segmentation, retailers can craft promotions that target specific customer life cycle stages (such as new-customer acquisition, customer retention, repeat purchase, or risk of churn) or specific business objectives (such as promoting a particular brand or category or encouraging cross-selling).”

Experiential retail

Another rising trend in shopping is experiential retail, where shopping destinations are transformed into immersive environments, where entertainment, interaction, and the community come together as one. Experiential retail can thus be another means of creating meaningful connections with today’s shoppers and attracting them to physical stores.

By embracing this trend, retailers can enhance brand strategies and unlock numerous benefits. This involves designing immersive store environments that highlight the brand identity and invite shoppers to interact with their products. Another way is integrating technology, such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mobile apps that can provide fun and engaging experiences that go way beyond simple browsing.

In experiential retail, retailers can transform their stores from mere points of sales into dynamic destinations that captivate today’s experience-driven consumers. Brands that go the extra mile to create unique shopping experiences can cultivate deeper customer connections and strengthen their brand reputation.

For instance, Ayala Malls has been redeveloping its four iconic malls — Glorietta, Greenbelt, TriNoma, and Ayala Center Cebu 3 — since last year, to create immersive shopping experiences that fuses shopping, entertainment, and technology. This redevelopment focuses on providing the best dining, entertainment, and leisure experiences for shoppers. For Ayala Malls, this initiative is crucial as it strives to meet the new tastes of the generation, enhance customer engagement with advanced technology, and set new standards in retail landmarks.

“With this transformative era, Ayala Malls firms up its dedication to creating dynamic, innovative, sustainable, and memorable malls that serve, empower, and celebrate the local communities the malls are embedded in. Ayala Malls moves towards the future with a strong vision to be the mall of choice — the mall that customers keep coming back to, the third space that customers love,” the company said on its website.

Going sustainable

More than an accessory, sustainability has also become one of retail’s latest components in response to an apparent consumer shift for sustainable products. GWI’s report noted that 58% of consumers are willing to pay more for eco-friendly products.

2025 marks a transformative period for retail, where integrating sustainability into modern shopping is reshaping the market. The benefits are clear: less environmental impact, attracting more environmentally conscious consumers, less material waste, and improved brand reputation. But more importantly, this trend highlights the growing importance of environmental responsibility in businesses, and how it is redefining the future of retail, creating a more responsible and resilient landscape.

Prominent shopping centers and retail brands in the country are championing sustainable shopping through various initiatives. For example, SM Supermalls allows shoppers to upgrade their digital devices into new ones at the Power Mac Center. For those looking to dispose of old or broken electronic devices responsibly, SM Cyberzone offers e-waste collection points. Brands like H&M and Uniqlo use recycled and sustainable sourced materials in their clothing lines. — Angela Kiara S. Brillantes