The future of connected retail

The future of retail is in my opinion not only physical but will be the combination of both worlds. Real world shops will get a hub function between the digital en physical world. Let’s call it Phy-gital

The idea of bringing digital technologies into brick-and-mortar retail is becoming more and more a normal thing in our everyday lives. Think of examples like Burberry. This brands has a flagship store in Shanghai which they describe as, “part entertainment hub, part event space and part store. Burberry merges in this flagship store the real world with the digital world. They added a extra dimension to their store. For example the walls react to changes in natural light. This is on the outside of the store. On the inside of the store you see RFID, intelligent mirrors and displays which show extra information about products customer might like.

The retail store is becoming with all those new technologies a real hub between the ever competing worlds of digital and physical. The best aspects off both worlds combined will give retail an advantage over the digital only stores. So there is still a future for the physical shop. But the future is radical different just like the role and needed knowledge of the shop owner.

Another nice example is shown in the embedded video below. Fashion designer Rebecca Minkoff worked with eBay to create a high tech digital connected store in SoHo New York. The result equals the store made by Burberry I think. Again we see a connected wall, interactive displays and mirrors. 

As a retailer you will have to embrace the digital possibilities but you have also take into account that people are also becoming more aware about the ethical questions and dangers off new technology. People want to be in control over the technology being used and of course the data people share with companies and retailers. So marketing and advertising within retail has also have to make a fundamental change by putting their customers wishes at the centre instead of making profit. Marketing has to transform into mattering.