Shelly E. Kohan is a retail pundit, business strategist, speaker, professor and Senior Contributor at Forbes. On January 5th, she published her ideas on The 5 Biggest Retail Trends for 2024. Her key message is that “retailers are scrambling to become more attractive to a diverse younger consumer and retain talented employees during their busiest times, and that is only expected to grow in 2024.”

1. New General Market Redefined. This basically means the demographics in the US are shifting. Kohan sites that in 2050, a pivotal shift will occur: non-Hispanic whites will be the minority in the U.S., marking the multicultural market as the new general market. Gen Z consumers will mark the final era where multicultural individuals are in the minority, so in a nutshell multi-cultural consumers are becoming more important. We already knew that, but it looks like the industry is catching up to this idea.

2. Creator Commerce. Consumers are relying on word of mouth through creators online. This phenomenon working at a larger scale than we’ve ever seen in the history of the shopping experience.

3. AI’s Influence on Retail. Artificial intelligence is driving micro-segmentation, customer loyalty and an improved customer experience.

4. Preparing for Gen-Alpha. Digital natives got next, and they’re a different breed. Kohan outlines their shopping patterns in detail.

5. Focus on Employee Well-Being. Companies are listening and learning to invest in their people.