2014 was the year marked by an unprecedented surge of both online and mobile sales. It was sweat, blood and tears for brick-and-mortar stores which had to buckle down to catch up with e-ventures.

And while many of last year's major trends will continue into 2015, including further blending of online and offline worlds (omni-channel and multi-touch shopping experience will remain the industry's buzzwords), there are five new phenomena that are expected to impact the retail landscape over the next twelve months.

Amazon challengers come to the fore

Amazon's position as the behemoth of digital shopping may still remain largely unthreatened, yet major retail chains will slowly emerge as potential alternatives when it comes to online buys. For instance, market giants like Walmart and Target have considerably enhanced their online shopping experience and value proposition. Among other key retailers that keep investing in improvements of their online service are Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Nordstrom, Crate & Barrel and Costco. China's biggest e-commerce outlet Alibaba may also turn into Amazon's serious rival, especially that it contemplates expansion on the US market.

Supermarkets: from XXL to XS?

Average supermarket surface keeps on shrinking. Examples: Target and Wal-Mart, which have traditionally operated in a big-box format, have already announced small-store initiatives for 2015. For its part, Wal-Mart plans to open 200 to 220 small-format stores in its new fiscal year, while Target is expected to open five TargetExpress locations in 2015, as well as one CityTarget. It all boils down to simple math. Hypermarkets traditionally take up lots of space which means that the operational cost is huge. Given a fierce competition and growing online shopping, it just does not make that much economic sense to maintain large premises at the cost of margins. New store types will gradually take over, taking away the small categories from the hypermarkets and turning them into more specialized store types. At the same time, consumers will get a more focused experience and wider selection of products.

Beacons lead the way

Beacons are a type of a low-cost, micro-location-based technology that use Bluetooth low energy for communicating with beacon enabled devices. These smart sensors are embedded throughout a retail store’s digital touch points like shelves, signs and product displays. Their popularity with retailers is expected to grow this year. That is because retailers are making their best to personalize the in-store shopping experience to compete against online stores. Beacons also got their own mini-mes with paper-thin and ultra-light Estimote Stickers, otherwise known as nearables.

Advanced analytics turns into multi-purpose tool

Retailers will explore new ways to leverage advanced shopper analytics earlier in their store planning processes. According to experts, retailers will place emphasis on localization in an attempt to increase the effectiveness of inventory management. Skilful use of consumer data will also help them boost revenue and improve margins by coming up with the right product assortments for the right stores. Local customer demand, store attributes, and product preferences will be of key importance. Advanced analytics will also play an increasingly critical role in the design and development of new products, initial pricing decisions, and demand forecasting.

The way to shopper's heart is through his stomach

As online shopping won the hearts and souls of the majority of consumers, retailers must seek new ways to entice shopper to brick-and-mortar stores. How? By using food as temptation. For instance, Macy’s Herald Square flagship in New York City is expanding its food and beverage offerings, from a full-service Italian restaurant Stella 34 Trattoria to several Starbucks. Meanwhile, Urban Outfitters has added restaurants to its Manhattan and Brooklyn stores, while Uniqlo has added a Starbucks to its Fifth Avenue Flagship.

Source: http://www.forbes.com; http://www.cnbc.com; http://krikor.info, Photo: /www.flickr.com/photos/shinyasuzuki/