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48
NAAR INHOUD/TO CONTENT
Re-imagine the future
of shopping
Over the coming years the world of shopping will
undergo a sweeping transformation, as will the
relationship between brands and the consumer. These
changes will be driven by the internet, social networking
and the demand for richer, more immersive experiences.
Far from the internet killing shops, it will liberate them.
The physical store will remain as important as ever
providing an environment to meet the demands of a
new type of consumer.
Customers are exercising the power to choose
like never before.They expect customized, personal
experiences that they can share and critique with their
social network both on and off-line.
With increasing urbanization, smaller dwellings and
the growing awareness for sustainability, people will
own less things. There will be a growth in temporary
ownership and the hiring of more goods. ‘Rent the
Runway’ and ‘Bag, Borrow or Steel’ are two examples
of fashion brands that hire their wares. To meet this
Opinie
new demand, brands will have to develop temporary
ownership strategies. To quote Mark Zuckerberg of
Facebook: ‘Anything that can be shared will be shared.’
Futurist Marian Salzman said, “As we increasingly
live wired, digital lives, we crave for compensatory human
contact and intimate experiences.” This is reinforced by
advertising executive Kevin Roberts’ comment that
‘stores will host the next creative revolution as they become
“theatres of dreams”.
To be a brand that delivers high value recreational
shopping, there needs to be a shift in the customer
relationship from transaction to interaction and then
ultimately to intimacy. Retailers must deliver beyond
mere performance. Intimacy is remembered long
after performance and benefits are a distant memory.
Marketing communication must shift to marketing
connection from a brand-driven monologue to a dialogue
between brand and customer and between customers
themselves, both on and off-line.
Brands will develop their own specific social, mobile,
digital platforms that are ‘gamified’ allowing access to
the people behind the brand, the sales assistant, farmers,
pickers and growers. It is no longer just about localism
but also about transparency and traceability. Bringing
‘back of house’ to ‘front of house’
There will also be a shift from MERCHANDISE to
MEMENTOS, where merchandise will be bought on-line
and mementos in shops as a memory of the experience.
As designer and brand philosopher Marc Gobé
said: ‘In the stores of tomorrow, buying will be outmoded
as a sterile activity, and in its place will stand “the art of
shopping”, which is less about purchasing and more
about experiencing a brand’.
As technology becomes an all-pervading part of
the new consumer’s existence and disappears into
the background, what will occupy the foreground?
Well, we can see a steady growth in the demand for
intimate, event driven, transitory shopping experiences,