2016 Luxury Industry Predictions From The Experts

A New Age: The Latest Generational & Retail Trends

Katie Baron, Spaces & Retail Editor at Stylus investigates the emerging generational and retail trends set to become the next big thing in 2016, as consumer segments, behaviours and luxury shopping preferences undergo major shifts.

2015 witnessed many retail trends that I believe will be sticking around in 2016, notably the editorialisation of retail, the advent of fully shoppable virtual realities, an uptick in ethical attitudes as a driving force not a compromising burden, and the dawn of ‘beta’ (trial-and-error) brand mentalities.

Contextualised, culturally astute and super-socialised commerce were also more widely embraced, as were revised understandings of gender, identity and consumer tribes and ‘fandoms’.

In terms of new, or interestingly evolved trends for 2016, here are some more key predictions:

“ The premise is ‘owning over becoming’ which the luxury sector will embrace by connecting their audience ”

• Shape-shifting spaces: The direct result of brands needing to extend their role and remit as entertainers, educators and also enablers. This will take the form of new collectives, still deeper examples of hybridisation and also concepts attuned to borrowing (such Everlane’s Room Service concept that saw the e-tailer briefly inhabit hotel rooms to take a temporary grip on physical retailing). The premise is ‘owning over becoming’ which the luxury sector will embrace by connecting their audience with increasingly rarefied experiences and access of a highly topical, often intellectual nature.

This inherently connects to the below:

• Experiential and exploration-based modes of commerce: That acknowledge a growing desire for experiences over outright ownership, as well as a distinct need for retailers to counterbalance the rising use of predictive analytics and algorithms with concepts rooted in unpredictability, choice, impulse and the exhilaration of surprise. Luxury brands are especially well-placed to exploit this sentiment by investing in cutting-edge technologies that seamlessly blend digital and physical worlds to deliver ultra-immersive forms of explorative retail engagement.

• Ephemeral moments and digital delay: Two ideas that illustrate how digital retail must evolve from being synonymous with everywhere, anytime ubiquity to a playing field in which to generate both ‘now-or-never’ moments of absolute shopping hunger and the ‘wait-and-anticipate’ thrill of sustained delayed desire. Staggered releases accompanied by additional layers of rich contextual information (only accessible to elite consumers) and drip-fed content tiered for different brackets of VIP status fans, will all be part of this shift.

“ Those that explore a more spiritual, wellbeing-focused outlook – will have a significant resonance ”

• Spirituality: As the luxury sector continues to attune to an economy motivated by services, experiences and the possibility of personal connections (with the brand but also other brand fans), modes of engagement and even products rooted in a sense of imaginative, meaningful purpose – including those that explore a more spiritual, wellbeing-focused outlook – will have a significant resonance.