Retail Stores of the Future

Tolani Adekoya
Sep 7, 2018 · 4 min read
Photo via Blippar

It’s no surprise that consumer spending grew in the UK this year as we enjoyed warmer days and the World Cup, however, according to the Deloitte Q2 Consumer Tracking report online sales accounted for over 65% of the growth. Overall, online sales still only account for 20% of sales but they are fast increasing by 15% each year compared to in store sales which only increase by 1.7%. Therefore, retailers with stores are going to have to spend the next few years investing in creating better in-store experiences in order to maximise sales. So in this article, we will be looking at 5 trends that are likely to improve in store experiences over the next few years:

  1. Seamless transactions— The top news of retail this year was probably the launch of the Amazon Go supermarket where customers grab items and walk out as the items are automatically charged to their cards. Most companies will be looking at how to implement seamless transactions, however, some retailers may need to first take baby steps such as fashion retailer Zara who piloted self-checkout machines this year. Other fashion retailers will probably follow suit and in the next few years most retail stores will have few or no checkout tills like we are seeing in some supermarkets already.
Amazon Go Store via Technofaq

2. Augmented Reality (AR)- This is a trend which I predict will become the norm in beauty stores. Brands like Bourjois and Charlotte Tilbury have already introduced ‘magic mirrors’ into their stores which allow customers to virtually try on products. Fashion brands are also catching on to AR which will be used on shop floors and in changing rooms according to a report by Endava . However, AR will not just be limited to testing products but can also be used to find information about products and locate products on promotion.

Bourjois Magic Mirror via The Current Daily

3. Virtual Personal Shopping — The personal shopping experience will most likely rely on virtual reality (VR). So instead of the traditional personal shopping experience where customers sit in a room and wait for a personal shopper to bring in items, customers will soon be able to virtually browse the store themselves and filter on the exact products they are looking for. AR will also come into play allowing customers to virtually try products and explore the different sizes and colours they may come in. I expect this to particularly be adopted by luxury department stores who attract high profile clients and it may even be a solution to the issue of inaccessible store layouts which is common according to a study conducted by Yu et al.

4. Beacon Technology— Customers must be willing to be tracked if they would like to gain the most out of their favourite stores in the future as beacons will be used to track their location and notify them of surrounding promotions or to detect when they are near a click and collect counter so their order can be ready by the time they arrive. U.S fashion retailer Nordstrom is using beacon technology to detect when a customer has an item in their app’s shopping bag which is available in store, such a feature can make it easier for customers to purchase items as well as increase sales.

5. Automated Click & Collect Lockers — We are all pretty much familiar with Amazon lockers but now Grocers like Asda offer automated click and collect lockers that are temperature controlled to keep groceries fresh. This will be useful for coffee and food chains like Starbucks who offer click and collect services but still find their customers joining long queues. However, the lockers may not become widely adopted across the industry due to factors like space which is why we are seeing more companies partner with collection services offered by Doddle and Argos. Moreover, the availability of lockers may become an issue, particularly for fashion brands who tend to give their customers up to 14 days to collect an order.

Other technologies include voice search and robots however commercial voice search technologies are generally not mature yet and robots are still in their uncanny phase (meaning we still find them creepy) so they are not expected to become mainstream in stores within the next few years but they will surely be implemented in stores within the long term.

If you liked this article please feel free to share and tweet me @tolani_tade to let me know your thoughts. I accept criticism too :)