Future of Retail: 10 powerful trends and 1 meta-trend
I have just come across this – an excellent resource from PSFK on the Future of Retail.
The report covers 10 major trends:
1. World as retail experience
2. Pre-view shopping
3. Tablet enabled services
4. Selling the ideal
5. Every store as flagship
6. Complementary curation
7. Revolving decors
8. Taking the store to the customer
9. Instant show & tell
10. Group clout
You can quibble on the specifics, but there are some great insights here.
Much of this points to what I see as the dominant meta-trend in retail: the merging of online and in-store buying.
It is a false distinction to separate clicks and bricks, online and offline, virtual and physical in the retail world.
The successful retailers of the future will bring all of the connection and richness of the digital world into their physical stores. Online and mobile shopping will be closely linked to the powerful experiences possible in the physical space of what we currently call a shop. Virtual and physical buying will be one (for the most successful retailers).
I’ll be sharing more thoughts on the future of retail in the next while.
