As our world evolves and advances each year, we have the opportunity, and oftentimes the obligation, to take the lessons learned from the previous years and apply them in our day-to-day lives. That’s the beauty of the beginning of a new year – a fresh start! As a business, this is the time to incorporate the latest trends into your plans for the upcoming sales year, maximizing your sales, strengthening your connection with your customers and team, and solidifying your brand’s position in your market.
We are excited to see a new year and get to work on developing, implementing, and embodying the trends that form the culture of our industry, keeping it just as strong, competitive, capable, and sustainable as ever. Within the crucial face-to-face aspect of our business, it should be noted that in-store shopping continues to generate more sales revenue than online shopping. In the first nine months of 2024, American consumers spent an average of $697.7 billion on retail, with just 15.4% of that total attributed to online sales. Statistics show that 45% of consumers primarily shop in brick-and-mortar stores, while 72% shop in stores weekly. In-store sales increased by 2.9% during the 2024 holiday season compared to the previous year, demonstrating the staying power of face-to-face interactions. And alongside the consistent and undeniable trends of our industry, we also like to set our own trends.
Instead of forecasting the latest AI influences and updates or making predictions about the ongoing battle between online and offline sales that feels like a sibling rivalry at this point, the direction we are working toward seeing reflected in this year’s in-store sales trends is based on our business model — face-to-face interactions. The trend that we want to see incorporated in our sales industry is a standard we’ve been focusing on both internally and externally for decades. Face-to-face interactions drive the stats in our business and are the unshakable why behind our how. The importance of face-to-face interactions in sales for this year and the years to come is a trend, a way of doing business, and a strategy for life that we cannot stress enough. Our vision for our industry is to focus on face-to-face interactions to strengthen our communities and how we shop and relate to each other.
Before a sale is ever made, the first thing that happens is a face-to-face interaction. The sale is a byproduct of the interaction. Well before a sale of any kind is made, two or more individuals connect, even if only for a short while. If laughter, pleasantries, or more are exchanged, it is all because of that initial face-to-face interaction. That is a trend we don’t want ever to go away and one that we will forever advocate for in our industry.
The bottom line is that people need and should have consistent face-to-face interactions, especially with those they don’t necessarily interact with regularly. Even in sales, in-store shopping is vital for our culture and world because of the opportunity for face-to-face collaborations; learning from one another and working with each other is so important to our industry and, again, our society. While making sales and a profit is why your business exists, businesses will set themselves apart and hop on board with this trend by embracing the art of human connection. Understanding body language and interacting with another person, not a computer screen, helps develop your character and critical thinking skills. Your teams can benefit from this because face-to-face interactions aren’t just for businesses with a brick-and-mortar brand. Our philosophy goes beyond sales and can positively impact our neighbors, global partners, future generations, and beyond.
Our society needs to socialize with each other, not only for money but also for humanity’s sake. When face-to-face interactions are practiced, they strengthen our everyday communication and presentation skills, sharpen memory and cognitive abilities, and improve our overall well-being. It’s also just friendly! The benefits of this core aspect of our existence cannot be compromised for mere convenience or any one business’s return on investment. Our teams deserve it; our customers deserve it; our industry deserves it; and so does our world.
Here’s to a new year of coming together though sincere face-to-face interactions.