20 New Shopper Trends Retailers Should Know for 2021

20 New Trends blog banner featuring hands holding glittery 2021 paper numbers
As we look forward to a 2021 full of hope, we decided to look back on what shoppers have taught us this year, which is what retailers and brands will need to deliver next. Here are 20 of the most significant findings from WSL’s 2020 archives. Determination. In the WSL Dictionary of Retail and Shopper ... Read more

Passion for WELL Remains, 3 Tips to Capture a Booming Market

Passion for WELL Remains, 3 Tips to Capture a Booming Market blog banner featuring woman wearing mask and smiling up at the sunny sky while holding yoga mat
Shoppers may have fallen into less-healthy eating and wellness practices during the pandemic, but those wellness values are still embedded, and shoppers are getting back on track, our latest How America Shops® report shows. Here are a few tips for how brands and retailers should be marketing WELL now. The Pandemic Changed WELLness Habits, But ... Read more

How Retailers Can Show the Love this Holiday Season

How Retailers Can Show the Love this Holiday Season blog banner featuring woman in a mask loading her trunk with wrapped gifts
Gifting is how we show love, and many are feeling love and gratitude this year. So WSL expects shoppers will want to give and give this holiday season. Three findings from our new How America Shops® survey suggests retailers need a new approach to holiday marketing in 2020. How Are You Preparing to Show the ... Read more

Shoppers are Taking Back WELL: 5 Ways Retail Can Help

Shoppers are Taking Back WELL: 5 Ways Retail Can Help blog banner featuring overlay of two people raising their fists into the air and a clock labelled well being in the backrgound
Remember December, when so many people resolved to include holistic wellness in their foods, products, and activities? The pandemic sidelined the healthy-living movement for many, but now, after several months of sheltering-in-place, shoppers are reclaiming the concept of personal and family wellness in all they do. Here’s how retail stores can help. Shoppers Are So ... Read more

How to Wrestle a Crisis: 8 Retail Revelations from Helena Foulkes

8 Retail Revelations from Helena Foulkes blog banner featuring glowing marker on a glass window that reads "Stay Strong we are all in this together"
Helena Foulkes is a rare retail titan. She has spearheaded dramatic transformation as both the former president of CVS Pharmacy, and as CEO of luxury brand Hudson’s Bay Co, and she is a board member at Home Depot. As a cross-channel retail leader, Foulkes has learned how to manage a crisis in real-time. Here, she ... Read more

Will Shoppers Surge to Re-opened Retail? Probably Not

Will Shoppers Surge to Re-opened Retail? Probably Not blog banner featuring line of people in a store next to a line of carts
Sales signs may not be enough to bring shoppers into reopened stores. Two mighty forces are working against a resurgence of store traffic: One is the risk of contracting COVID-19, which will keep many shoppers away; the second will be how shoppers rethink spending after being unemployed or furloughed for months. Our Retail Safari® scouts ... Read more

Stores are Reopening | Lessons for Retailers

Stores are Reopening | Lessons for Retailers blog banner featuring grocery store worker with mask and gloves putting carts away as customers walk into the store
As pandemic-related business restrictions ease and retailers reopen, they will be evaluated by how much they show they care about protecting their shoppers. Retailers have an immense responsibility for the attitude and presentation of their stores, in addition to the safety of all inside. We took a few shopping trips and found some good examples ... Read more

Holiday Shopper Talk: Shoppers Call Off Black Friday

Holiday Shopper Talk: Shoppers Call Off Black Friday blog banner featuring collage of woman shopping at home on her laptop next to an image of Black Friday mob shoppers
Who’s waiting for Black Friday? Fewer people than last year. Holiday shopping is increasingly becoming an all-season affair, diluting the deal-busting power of Black Friday. This isn’t necessarily bad news – as long as retailers recognize the advantages behind the trend. Here’s what our 2019 Holiday How America Shops® research reveals. This Holiday Season, Any Day ... Read more

A Peek Into the Health Store of the Future

A Peek Into the Health Store of the Future blog banner featuring green and blue background with vector illustration of stethoscope and other medical icons
The future of health care is being seized by retail, from innovative independents offering to relieve joint pain to Walmart installing examination rooms. All of which means the health store of the future is still a free-for-all. We have four observations to help retailers ensure they remain in the health industry’s heartbeat. Health Stores Are ... Read more

In Design, the ‘New’ Normal is Anything But – Pratt Design Symposium 2019

In Design, the ‘New’ Normal is Anything But blog banner featuring photograph of six Pratt Design symposium members
[ Photos by Rebecca Smeyne, courtesy of Pratt Institute ] WSL joined leading designers at Pratt Institute’s Design Symposium to discover the “new normal” in fashion, home design and retail and how to reach increasingly educated shoppers. Hint: Get out of the studios and design around the new shopper values. It’s Time to Redesign Design When consumers have unprecedented ... Read more

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