There was a time, not long ago, when shopping simply involved a trip to a store, a quick browse of some shelves and a purchase at a till.
How times have changed. Today, we browse online, offline, on our mobiles apps, through Tumblr, and by clicking products in shoppable videos. We forage for deals through coupon apps and on private flash sales. Sometimes we don’t even browse: we let algorithms automatically recommend products for us. Meanwhile, offline stores are responding to this digital disruption by embellishing the physical aspects of shopping and building awe-inspiring places of brand experience.
It seems that retail is a perpetual state of transition in our digital era. And it’s uncertain how we’ll be shopping in five, ten, fifteen years from now. But one thing is clear: shopping tomorrow will not be what it is today.
To explore this further, we’re devoting our next Protein Forum to the topic. We’ve invited four innovators in the industry, who are all setting new standards across on- and off-line shopping, to discuss and debate this new retail environment:
Philip Handford, founder of retail design agency Campaign, which helps brands such as Dunhill and Nike to develop compelling physical environments
Steve Callanan, CEO of wireWAX, an interactive video tool that has developed interactive and shoppable videos for retailers such as Oki-Ni and SENSE
Vincent Thome, co-founder of Nuji, an online tagging service that’s transforming how people browse for products and how retailers connect with customers (see our profile with them here)
Jonathan Chippindale, CEO of Holition, an augmented reality start-up that has enabled brands such as Tag Heuer and Hugo Boss to create 3D digital solutions
It takes place at 7pm on 26th March. If you’d like to join us, just click here to book a £5 ticket. Beer is included in the price (!).