What’s Around The Corner In 2018? A Preview Of Next Year’s Retail And Consumer Trends

The FGRT team is busy preparing our 2018 forecasts for what is traditionally our most-read report of the year—our annual retail and tech trends report. Here, we share a few of our long-listed retail and consumer trends, including some that we have seen yet more evidence for in just the last couple of weeks. Next year, more brands will look to bypass retailers and sell directly to consumers. So far, the big moves in direct-to-consumer selling have been in nonfood categories such as apparel: Nike and Adidas are among the brands growing their direct sales quickly through flagship stores and e-commerce sites. In 2018, we expect many more brands, and grocery brands in particular, to adopt the direct-to-consumer model. Two recent developments support our expectations. First, Campbell Soup announced last week that it would be testing its own online delivery service of its packaged soups, which suggests that even the longest-standing grocery brands are starting to look beyond conventional retail. Second, the past week has also seen INS Ecosystem, a company that wants to cut retailers out of the grocery supply chain, launch its initial coin offering (an ICO is, effectively, a bitcoin-based version of an IPO). INS Ecosystem plans to launch its service in 2018 and it promises to deliver a decentralized system that directly connects grocery manufacturers and consumers. Read more at Forbes.