Looking at the payoff of the latest edition of Mapic 2022 “Live, play, shop” it is clear that shopping centre marketing is evolving towards “experience”!
Digitalization, even before the pandemic, is generating new demands for change in both real estate management and management companies.
The smoking gun questions for all actors are as follows:
- How do we imagine the shopping centers of the future?
- Will the ever-increasing use of online shopping spell the end for them, or will they evolve too?
- And if they do evolve, how will they be able to accommodate new technologies?
- Which technologies will shape the future of retail and how are they changing the shopping experience?
"I believe we will see a dramatic shift in retail," said Martin Lindstrom, a renowned branding expert. The future of retail will undoubtedly be characterized by the integration of the latest technologies across all aspects of the business: from distribution and quality control to staff training and the design of the shopping experience (both online and offline).
Retail is aiming to find the optimal balance between online and offline according to Martin Lindstrom who stated that «online shopping will have much more to do with the purchasing and product research phase» while «traditional brick and mortar will become a showcase», a place where you can see up close and pick up the goods you have already searched for and found online.
Regarding business models that integrate online and offline, the so-called "click and mortar," according to the expert, a certain balance between the two is already beginning to emerge. A prime example of this is Amazon, which several years ago decided to open physical stores, creating Amazon Go, and more recently Amazon Books. Traditional brick-and-mortar stores, however, are also beginning to penetrate the online world, and, as Lindstrom stated, "this balance will be found within two or three years."
HOW WILL THE SHOPPING EXPERIENCE CHANGE (OR IS IT ALREADY CHANGING)?
Retail outlets will become much more sensorial, according to Martin Lindstrom. "It will be like being transported to another universe, where the experience will be driven byentertainment and storytelling," he said.
"The world of retail will change because stores must redefine their purpose," said Giuseppe Stigliano, executive director Europe at AKQA. Regarding the function of stores, he added:
"Are they still places enclosed by walls where you store goods and wait on the doorstep for someone to come and buy them? If we look at them that way, we're probably doing the job of e-commerce, which, however, is not limited by space, time, holidays, etc.".
In this sense, to continue to offer added value to the consumer compared to the online store, the store must " be a place where the brand is celebrated , where the product is showcased, a place where the experience connected to the product or service is enhanced ".
He continues by saying: «if we observe the way in which consumers are changing their expectations and desires when they go to a physical store, we find confirmation of the fall of the axiom according to which the purpose of a store must be the economic transaction».
FROM ENTERTAINMENT TO SUSTAINABILITY: HOW MUCH IS A PHYSICAL STORE WORTH?
Therefore, it would not be a question of a very distant future, but of a change already underway, which leads consumers to turn to a point of sale not because they need it, but because they want to have a specific experience, different from the online one, that is, an experience that goes beyond functionality and aims atentertainment and strengthening the bond between brand and consumer.
Another important trend concerns sustainability, especially if we consider that for example Generation Z, which in the coming years will acquire an increasingly important role in guiding the trends of this sector, is particularly sensitive – according to studies and research – to environmental issues compared to previous generations.
Multinationals have already moved in this direction by creating eco-friendly stores. Brand stores like ZARA, for example, use technology to create sustainable designs and eco-efficient stores that even reduce water and electricity consumption by up to 30 % or 40% compared to a traditional store. Ultimately, it's always about using the store as a privileged point of contact to communicate a specific message about the brand and its identity, but also to establish an emotional connection with the customer, which is essential for building loyalty and enhancing brand reputation.
So, what should the retail of the future be based on? Alberto Mattiello, founder of Future Thinking Project, explained that consumers with three different mindsets:
- locating: when the consumer knows what he wants and his only need is to purchase a specific good and leave immediately;
- exploring: when the consumer has a specific need, "he knows he has to buy something but doesn't know exactly what" and therefore needs "an experience that helps him make the right choices";
- dreaming: when the consumer enters a store because he or shewants to be inspired or because the brand him or her intrigues, but has no real need. He or she just wants to be inspired, to be pleased , and to have fun.
According to the expert, "retail in the coming years will have to work on the second and third" categories. "The retail of the future (in fact) is a retail that helps explorers make the right choices and dreamers have fun, get inspired, and leads them to a purchase."
Among the many possible technologies, proximity technologies are the most readily applicable: " Beacons are often mentioned, which are devices that use a radio signal to communicate with ad hoc applications " and then send personalized , targeted messages to consumers' mobile devices based on their location, " but at the same time also monitor and map the flow of people within a space ."
There are many technologies already transforming the industry and the way we shop, but retailers must know how to leverage them effectively to increase brand loyalty and be truly useful to consumers.
