How changing consumer tech trends affect in-store

Mark Wood, general manager: general merchandise division, buying division, at Pick n Pay.

It is fascinating to see how fast consumer tastes are changing along with technology. We spend a great deal of time analysing our customer and smart shopper data and it certainly is moving in a very exciting direction.

In-store, it's all about changing the way we do things in order to stay relevant to customers by allocating the right amount of store space to the products that customers want the most at any given time.

Product decline

In the photographic area, the category of "snappy" camera has all but died out and retailers are very hesitant to stock this item.

Whereas in the past, snappy cameras would occupy an entire display area in our stores, the smartphone has totally cannibalized this and has resulted in a right-sizing of this department. However the DSLR camera category is still very popular, as the real photographer will always want a professional device.

Another category notably affected by technology convergence is the navigation (GPS) category. According to Wood, brands like Garmin and Tom Tom navigation systems are selling around a third of the volumes they used to due to the arrival of free navigation apps and Google maps which are available on smartphones.

This in turn has had knock-on effects as the navigation companies need to reinvent themselves by entering categories such as personal health with sports watches, which is definitely growing in popularity.

The effect of the convergence of tech products can easily be seen in Pick n Pay stores where we have had to realign categories and products as well as entire floor plans.

There is no longer a need for extended ranges of CDs and DVDs to occupy the store's prime trading area. This category is showing declining sales in excess of 20% per annum and so we now use this space for categories which are showing good growth, such as tablets and data storage devices.

Growth categories

Other growth categories include home-ware and décor categories as shoppers show more and more interest in investing in their home space. Home-ware products such as furniture, textiles and appliances are taking centre stage in-store, with products such as smart TVs likely to be the next big category to dominate floor space.