WPP's VML has published the 'Tomorrow’s Commerce' report, highlighting 20 trends that are expected to shape commerce in the coming decade.

Among the key trends highlighted in the report are the rise of retail media and creative commerce, the age of experimentation and search, the power of 'Social Conversion' in the east, future content supply chains relying on AI, and the maturing of the metaverse.

VML Commerce AUNZ Managing Partner, Erin Hunters said the report equips the agency's local team and client partners to "make impactful decisions for the present while planning for a future-proof tomorrow".

"The 20 trends highlighted in the report will continue to shape our perspective on Commerce in the AUNZ market, as retailers and brands continually adapt their priorities and capabilities to meet customer demands," she said.

VML Global Chief Commerce Officer, Beth Ann Kaminkow, touched on the importance of 'creative commerce' and the rise of retail media.

"The future will no longer be about retail media as a vehicle, but how it is used to engage shoppers," she said. "This is where ‘creative commerce’ comes in: ideas that inspire conversion regardless of the channel. Retail media is powerful because it gets brands closer to the point of purchase and is far more targeted. But to cut through and convert, a creative approach will be imperative."

VML Chief Strategy Officer, Michelle Baumann said retailers and brands had been met with the challenge of non-linear, non-repeating shopping journeys.

"Shopping channels are proliferating online and consumers are starting to seek out novelty in their shopping journeys as they hop from channel to channel. They will dabble here and there to test the waters, and serendipity will become a more sought-after part of the shopping experience," she said.

Debbie Ellison, Chief Commerce Officer, at VML UK Group, discusses the power of social commerce in China and its potential in Western countries. She says, "The future, when it comes to social commerce, is here… in China. Social media drives commerce in China, with 90% of Chinese consumers having shopped via social media. So, what can the West learn about this future?"

VML EMEA Chief Digital Commerce Officer, Gemma Spence said AI content creation was "quickly becoming a go-to tool for brands looking to slash production times for differentiated content across channels."

"For instance, our Brand Guardian solution uses NLP and computer vision AI to monitor large-scale content output according to predefined flexible ‘rules’ that reflect a unique brand identity; it proposes fixes to content errors too," she said. "We call it a ‘curative AI’ approach – ‘curing’ anomalies within the context of high-scale digital content creation. And together with generative AI, it could help foster the content supply chain of the future."

VML Head of Innovation, Commerce, Naji El-Arifi said that the Metaverse hadn’t yet lived up to the hype.

"Where are the immersive 3D hangout spaces we were promised to free us from the confines of screen-based social media? Why can we not yet send our digital avatars to do our shopping in giant virtual superstores?" she said.