UNPREDICTABLE AND
INEVITABLE
When our
research team
began to assemble
case studies and data regarding the top trends
in retail and retail real estate, we initially didn’t
know what to make of our findings. What
do deliveries from UberRush, 3D body scanners
and a viral video of a deaf customer ordering
a coffee via a drive-through screen have in
common? What was the megatrend that was guiding
retail transformation?
As we refined and assembled our trends, three major
themes eventually emerged. These themes primarily
speak to innovations in customer experience.
BLURRED BOUNDARIES
Retailers, investors and consumers are crossing
borders, upending traditional roles and taking
on new identities.
DIGGING DEEPER
To create deep bonds with consumers,
retailers connect with their values,
their unique lifestyles and their
love of food.
2
NOVEL
ESCAPADES
Travelers know
the journey is half the fun. Retailers use games,
innovative store layouts and theme park thrills to
make those trips unforgettable.
In a recent paper about predicting the future
of retail, we wrote that the segments of the retail
world that meet basic human needs like hunger
and thirst can expect to be disrupted by technology,
while those that meet higher needs like the desire for
status or social connection will likely remain
unchanged. In other words, a young family will
buy Power Bars and toilet paper online, but will
still go to a shopping center for clothes or gifts. And
while at those physical stores, they’ll demand that
customer service come in the form of personalized
human interaction.
The trends we outline in this report are
mostly innovations in customer interaction.
They clearly point to the fact that successful
innovation always meets some level
of human need. Human needs are
inevitable. The only thing that’s
unexpected is how next retailers
might meet them.