Our lives have changed significantly as we adjust to the new normal following the height of the pandemic. One of the many new behaviors that we incorporated into our everyday routine was an increase in online shopping. E-commerce has continued to surge since then, with online sales projected to increase from $5.7 trillion in 2022 to $8.1 trillion in 2026.¹  Young consumers continue to shape the mobile shopping landscape, with 53% of all teens making online purchases primarily with their smartphone.² For this generation of consumers, social media plays a large role in driving trends and influencing purchasing behaviors, something that companies continue to respond to – 41% of brands plan to increase investment in paid and organic search.³

While many retailers have benefitted greatly from the acceleration of e-commerce, the pace of growth hasn’t come without its costs. Retailers had to adapt quickly to meet the new demands, putting efficiency and profitability on the back burner in favor of fulfillment solutions that met shoppers’ needs at that moment. With e-commerce claiming a bigger piece of the retail pie today, retailers are now shifting to capital investments to turn this sales growth into profitable growth.

As we look to the future of retail, we see two consumer dynamics emerging from the pandemic. “Shoppers are of two minds,” explains Leon Nicholas, vice president, Retail Insights and Solutions at WestRock. “On the one hand, they are planning purchase occasions with caution and purpose. At the same time, they are prioritizing convenience on their terms. Optionality for shoppers is the future of packaging, and the expectation that retailers will provide an array of convenient fulfillment options is here to stay.”

While they weigh shopper behaviors, retailers are adjusting to the new operational reality– e-commerce, driven by more localized fulfillment options, is driving growth and will dictate the terms for all commerce in the years ahead.

Another reality retailers are seeing is the effects the economy and current supply chain issues have had on consumer behaviors. For online shoppers in 2022, their approach to purchasing packaged goods was price-driven 32% of the time, compared to only 20% back in 2020). ⁴

As retailers look to sustain the growth of e-commerce in a profitable manner, we see the greatest investments in e-fulfillment across inventory deployment, labor and layout optimization, and especially automation. This emphasis on automation will drive packaging and supply chain ecosystem management strategies – critical areas for manufacturer alignment.