Shopping at the bus stop, buying groceries online – what was not very common just a few years ago has now become commonplace for retailers and customers. But what does the future of retail look like? And what professional requirements does this entail?
It rings. The delivery service from an online supermarket is at Lena's door. The student didn't have time to go shopping during the day because she was too stressed about studying. Because she forgot to order coffee, the 23-year-old uses her smartphone to guide her to the nearest grocery store. Once there, she types “coffee” on the waist-high iPad terminal, which shows the quickest route to the right shelf. There is a “15 percent discount” if Lena wears eye-tracking glasses during this time. “Great,” she thinks, puts on the minicomputer and starts shopping.
In addition to Lena's eye movements, she herself is also recorded by several cameras. A heat map shows how she moves through the store: where she slows down to pay attention to the assortment, which offer signs she ignores.
What sounds like Big Brother is no problem for digital native Lena. Such situations are part of their reality. However, a fictional reality that doesn't exist any more than Lena does. Not yet at least. Because the scenario takes place in the future – a future that is not too far away.
The smartphone as a shopping bag
“Lab in the store” moments, i.e. pilot projects, are becoming more and more common. Just recently, Deutsche Bahn announced another startup initiative with the “Next Station” pitch event. We were looking for retail concepts for German train stations in order to improve or expand the existing offering. Pickup stations, short-term pop-up stores or navigation in enclosed spaces thanks to beacon technology – everything is conceivable and possible.
In 2014, according to PayPal, 26 percent of Germans who shopped online did so using their smartphone. “The stationary branch alone will hardly be able to withstand the competition in the future,” says Thorben Fasching from the Federal Association of the Digital Economy. Universal retailers like Karstadt in particular can no longer avoid multichannel offerings. The transition from offline to online to mobile and vice versa continues to increase. “The smartphone,” says Fasching, “will be the customer’s gateway to retail in the future.”
Innovative, but not always useful
According to a study by the auditing firm Deloitte commissioned by Ebay, online sales in Germany in the areas of fashion and household appliances generate almost as much sales as traditional physical stores.
However, Germany's largest online price comparison provider Idealo found that a third of German online shops do not have a responsive offering for smartphones. However, if a mobile-optimized service is available, there is often a lack of additional customer service, for example in the form of live chats.
However, marketing expert Fasching warns against unnecessary additional gimmicks. “You don’t have to take part in every innovation.” Rather, retailers would have to decide which module makes sense for them depending on the product’s need for advice.
Social meeting place and marketplace in one
Rewe and Edeka, among others, have also undertaken an obvious expansion of their scope for action. New in the range of traditional supermarket chains: a modern delivery service. “But there is also a renaissance to be observed,” explains Janine Seitz from the German-Austrian Future Institute. Markets of all kinds – whether organic, flea or craft markets – are emerging and organized like small festivals. No surprise for Seitz. “Trading and selling always has a meeting point and communication character.”
More and more e-commerce companies are proving that stationary retail is worthwhile by opening actual sales locations - while continuing to market their products online. Janine Seitz speaks of the reversal of the “showrooming effect”. “Today you get information on the Internet so you can then shop in the store.”
Creating new shopping experiences
The designers Philippe Wehrhahn and Dennis Pahl try to create collateral damage for their brand and the store of the same name through as many different channels as possible. In addition to their online shop, the Berliners also use platforms such as DaWanda, have their own shop windows in subway stations and are often at trade fairs. “People have to be able to talk to us and touch the clothes,” says Wehrhahn.
Rachel Shechtman knows how important creative customer relationship management is. The entrepreneur took the digitalization of retail as an opportunity to create completely new shopping experiences. Her New York department store Story changes its product range every two months and temporarily includes customers as business partners. The resulting community works similarly to crowdfunding: consumers become part of the product they are financing and use a sales strategy that goes beyond price, quality and service.
Wanted: Data-driven marketing
It may take some time before such visions are implemented in this country. Before that, location-based and personalized marketing strategies as well as secure, biometric identification systems for cashless payments must be further developed. After all, you can do more with sensitive customer data than just decipher the “shopper DNA” of the target group. The question of where the line lies between service and data protection is already an issue.
The search for alternative purchasing, delivery and payment options in turn opens up new career prospects. Online shops, branches, catalogs – all elements need to be better networked with each other to enable synergy effects. “But there is hardly any course content, just further education and training. “That’s not enough,” complains trend researcher Seitz. Thorben Fasching, on the other hand, already sees a suitable type of candidate in front of him. “Computer scientists who can build algorithms and develop marketing concepts are ideal.”
Shopping at the bus stop, buying groceries online – what was not very common just a few years ago has now become commonplace for retailers and customers. But what does the future of retail look like? And what professional requirements does this entail?
