There's no shortage of lessons for retailers, advertisers, and brands to learn from an eventful 2024, where many sectors of retail thrived even as economic anxiety affected consumer habits.
"Retailers that have a great product that people really want, that know how to distribute it effectively, that know how to market it, and bring that messaging to the right audience, they're going to see success," Ethan Chernofsky, senior vice president of marketing at Placer.ai, said in a recent webinar.
Here are four key retail takeaways from 2024.
Consumers spent a record-breaking $314.9 billion online globally between November 26 and December 2, according to Salesforce.
Lesson: "The holiday season, as a whole, is as important, if not more important, than it was. I'd argue it's more important," Chernofsky said. "Not just the grocery segment, but the beverage and alcohol segment saw a lift of 180% on the daily average... Which meant the day before Thanksgiving, many, many people were like, 'You know what we need to make sure we have in the home? Something to help us get through this long weekend.'"
Brick-and-mortar fitness grew this year, with gyms refining their messaging.
Every month in 2024 saw YoY visit growth to fitness locations, per Placer.ai data. April had the highest, with a 13% increase in visits compared with April 2023.
"Early on in that post-pandemic environment, we saw value chains like Planet Fitness, Crunch Fitness, etc., doing really, really well and more luxury chains not seeing the same recovery," Chernofsky said. "Now…we're actually seeing that success spread out. That tells us that there is a segment that is really set up for the consumer, where so many people can find their lane within a segment."
Lesson: Retailers can't please everyone. It's more important than ever to find out where you fit into consumers' lives and message that effectively.
The long-held belief that convenience trumps all was challenged in 2024, particularly for grocers.
Placer.ai has seen a steady visit growth to some grocery stores by people who don't live close to locations. In Q3 2019, 26.7% of visitors to Trader Joe's lived at least seven miles away. In Q3 2024, that number rose to 28.8%. Sprouts Farmers Market and Great Wall Supermarket also saw an increase of multiple percentage points in visitors from farther away.
In addition, traditional convenience stores had a difficult year. 7-Eleven's parent said it would close almost 450 underperforming stores in October. Among the factors it cited for a decline in traffic were more consumers living paycheck-to-paycheck, a reduction in low-income Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, and a growth of delivery.
"However you look at it, convenience is not the most important thing," Chernofsky said. "Product quality, experience, value are all superior, or all have at least a superior role in this case."
Lesson: Consumers don't mind taking the scenic route when voting with their feet. Location matters less than what you offer and what shoppers know about your brand.
As some traditional retail segments like malls, department stores, and movie theaters have struggled in the modern digital world, this year gave some evidence that a rebound is possible.
"In most cases when you see a challenge, it's a cry for a need to change and evolve, as opposed to a segment, in its entirety, is doomed," Chernofsky said. "We often underestimate just how hard it is to go from zero to something big. Retailers that are already large, that already have that kind of brand value, their ability to pivot and adapt, if they have the capacity internally, is very, very strong."
Lesson: The only constant is change. Adaptation for retailers requires knowing what consumers currently want and identifying the ways brands can deliver it.
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