Retail Industry Is Experiencing A Quiet, But Profound, Makeover

Transformative new technologies, hotter and more exotic restaurant spices, and major shifts in food and consumer goods buying patterns will be the key themes in retail in 2016, according to experts. Restaurants will exploit the Sriracha hot sauce phenomenon with ever spicier concoctions, but also with more exotic ones: Indian ghost pepper from India, Southeast Asian sambal, Korean gochujang, and North Africa’s harissa, sumac and dukka. Millennials are gravitating away from status-badge consumer goods toward unique brands from niche and specialty retailers. Consumers can expect to see ever wider implementation of mobile wallet schemes that make the checkout experience super-fast. And brick-and-mortar stores, including grocers, will adapt dynamic pricing technologies – used routinely online – that allow prices to be changed quickly depending on demand, inventory levels and sell-by dates.