Some days after,still not convinced with such deceptive online experience, I ordered online on the supermarket. So I gave it a try on the online supermarket app. Iwas expecting I couldsave a long visit to the supermarket and have my pantry and refrigerator stocked up with nice products. It took me a while to find all I needed on a minuscule computer screen, navigating through the virtual shelves of unflavored, senseless products. After 1 hourI could get the full list and still subject to availability confirmation. The payment was not so hard, butthe app decided to blockmy delivery address,stubbornly sending mygroceries toanother place, my office,rather than at home. After a call to the helpdesk I finally I finished my order with 90% of what I initially needed,with a 2 day delay in the delivery.
2 days after I got the delivery tomy door. While I was packing my goods,my wife kept asking, where is the rice, where is the paprika, where are the yogurts? I just said, check the other bags, and she checked. The deliver guy was already gone, and no more bags were at the door. I calledthe helpdesk and try to understand what was happening. The nice lady who got my call just replied,probably someone got it for himself at the store.
In the end,I hadmany missingarticles that Ihadpaid for, and had to change my dinner plans as the jasmin rice was missing anyway.Anotherawful online shopping experience. In the end,I had to go to the physical store to guarantee I had what I needed. That’s actually a happy ending as I did enjoy being at the physical store.Retailers have been adapting to modern times creating online stores that are a complement to the physical store. But still the physicalremainsmore important. They allow several payment methods, using mobile appsor touchless transactions.They integrate multimedia in the stores, but human beings arestillat your service. How good can it be, when you get a smile while youareshopping?
Malls and shopping centers have adopted strict hygiene measures and now are providing numerous “ease of use” tools to make yourlife easier, like queue management systems, drive in delivery zones, traffic control systems, digital push notifications to customers, marketplaces for tenants, 3D visual websites and 3D experiences, robotic information desks or car park location systems. But all these arejust add-ons to what the realphysical experience represents. The physical experience of retail is still what consumers look for.Digital works as the cherry on top: a complement that adds-on to the service qualityand emotional experience.
At a certain point of maturity, all sectors go through a process of separating the wheat from the chaff. So,weknow the market will eliminate a few retail destinations, but the best locations will prevail.
The design of spaces and the quality of the tenant mix will be of major importance.Leisure areas and playgrounds will make the difference.
Leisure cathedrals will be again the meeting places, and the retail experience will be physical. Amazingfood halls with space and lightwill make clients wish to come back.The retail experience is physical. All the rest is a complement.