informal manifesto: part 3 — Shopping as an Interface
The informal manifesto traces back the origins of the decline of retail spaces and proposes a new way forward by reintroducing informality to shopping. It drafts the intellectual framework underpinning Informal Retail, a startup which installs retail embedded within existing local businesses and stocks them with a rotating selection of brands.
3. third wave: shopping as an interface
A new language of design born online, that of UX and UI, has no scale and is infinitely precise. Every pixel is counted and scripted, easily tested and further optimized, changing quickly and without notice. Online shopping deeply impacted our expectations of physical space. The convenience, clarity, and consistency which boutiques and department stores originally offered no longer seemed up to date. It could no longer keep up to its newly manifested digital counterpart. This presented an uncomfortable dilemma for brick and mortar retailers, which until now had little competition. Retail spaces could either further formalize — totally embracing this new language to become plug-ins, backdrops for inputting data into and delivering product from new digital platforms — or anticipate our heightened desire for human, physical connection in a digital world by responding more radically and providing a different kind of experience not possible online.
By then already way down the path and mindset of formalization, retailers felt more comfortable continuing that strategy. Undeniably, many benefits have come from this in terms of efficiency, analytics, and profitability. Yet alongside these advances, there quickly came an uneasy feeling. Where do we go from here, and what have we lost along the way? Their reliance on technology to stay relevant had done away with their last shreds of their intrinsic qualities as a physical spaces, the authenticity that comes from the sensorial and human interactions they can provide. Instead of being made to dream, the shopper was bored into sleep. Retail spaces became interfaces, environments brought to life by touchscreens awkwardly attempting to provide awe, convenience, and relevance. As such, they became meaningless vessels — poor and inconvenient substitutes for a more authentic online experience. Total formality was achieved. Look around yourself, shopper — you are in a rendering. Look down — you are an avatar customer, a data-set which has potential to be monetized. Run away!
