Retail was one of the sectors most affected by the pandemic. The emergency forced companies to adopt new sales and delivery models in the face of the closure of physical stores. Back to normality, the evolution of consumer habits has been surprising, contradicting trends that seemed to be here to stay, as highlighted by Bloomberg columnist Leticia Miranda, who specializes in the sector. The specialist highlights four trends that are shaping the industry:

The return of physical stores: despite the strong boost e-commerce received during the pandemic, with the end of quarantines consumers have returned to physical stores, which has boosted commercial real estate in the U.S., according to Miranda. The return to stores is driving many industry players, especially those focused on the luxury segments, to design experiences for their users, which primarily involve greater digital integration, sustainability practices and making stores more than just a place to shop.

The failure of drones: the e-commerce boom during the pandemic coincided with the rise of drones. At the time it was thought that drones would be the future of deliveries, but Amazon and Walmart's experiences with this technology were not very happy. In the case of Amazon, its drone delivery service could only be used for packages weighing less than 2.5 kilograms and for items that would not break, as the drones dropped deliveries from about 4 meters above the ground. The drones were also very sensitive to weather problems.

The advent of AI: as in almost every field, generative artificial intelligence has also moved into the retail industry. Miranda points to the case of Instacart, which partnered with OpenAI case of Instacart, which partnered with OpenAI to develop a feature that allows consumers to ask open-ended questions, such as "What could I have for dinner tonight?" and receive product recommendations.

Stores with self-service checkouts only: The technological solution intended to reduce costs has been more complex to implement than originally intended, firstly, because it is a solution that is not primarily aimed at providing a better customer experience. A study in the United States reported that 67% of respondents have had problems at self-service checkouts. Self-service terminals are also expensive to install, break down, induce the customer to buy fewer items, and increase shrinkage. They are also expensive to install, break down, induce customers to buy fewer items and increase shrinkage in stores, either because of unintentional errors by customers when processing their purchases or because they facilitate theft, for example, by marking a cheaper item and taking a more expensive one. In addition, it is necessary to have human assistants to help customers.