Two in five ecommerce and multichannel businesses plan to open a shop in the next three years, new research suggests.
The report, Solving the post-pandemic payments puzzle, from payment technology specialist Tribe Payments questioned 400 retailers in five European markets – the UK, Germany, Lithuania, Spain and the Netherlands, and found that 40% now want to open at least one shop. Tribe says the move is driven by shopper and payment trends that retailers will need to adapt to over the next five years.
Most respondents said that shoppers want a better customer experience (84%), to shop across borders (81%), to pay using a range of devices (80%) and to see greater personalisation (79%) when they buy.
Half the traders questioned said they struggled to compete with larger chains and the customer experience that they offer at the checkout, while 46% find regulatory compliance to be a challenge, and 46% struggle to navigate consumer trends such as the appetite for buy now pay later (BNPL), multicurrency and contactless payments. Reducing fraud was named as an issue by 27%, especially for pureplays.
A third said that they planned to overcome these challenges by giving shoppers more ways to pay. Retailers with physical stores (13%) are more likely to be doing so, compared to their online-only rivals (10%). Just under a third said they expected to launch their own branded store cards, mobile apps and increase range of payment options to better compete. Expanding geographically is another tactic being considered (59%), mostly by British (88%) and Spanish (80%) brands.
“Reports of the high street’s death may be premature – or even just wrong,” says Alex Reddish managing director of Tribe Payments. “Merchants are responding to consumer demand and want to deliver a multi-channel, highly personalised shopping experience.”
