Digital is the new Green

Think back about five years and it was quite hard to pick up a newspaper without encountering news of another retailer that was trumpeting a green or greener initiative that it was putting into place. Look at any form of news media today and evidence of that trend is actually pretty hard to find. It’s not that it’s gone away, it’s just that these days, being green is something of a given and certainly not worthy of prolonged comment - it is no longer newsworthy.

Much the same could be said of the manner in which technology is developing as a way of engaging shoppers in stores. At the moment, retailers are falling over themselves to put iPads or iPad-like devices into stores as not only will this be evidence that they are finding new ways of interacting with their customers, but it also proves that they are at the sector’s multi-channel leading edge.

Indeed, talking to a designer recently, many high street retailers are now writing in digital interactivity as part of the brief that is given to a consultancy when charged with creating a new look interior.

There will probably come a point however when a digital mirror, a screen that allows you access to all of a retailer’s products or a virtual fitting room are so commonplace that they will confer no competitive advantage. And that is where green and things eco are today. For some, green was less about saving the planet and a good deal more about getting one over on commercial rivals - the thinking being that shoppers would applaud such moves by patronising a retailer’s establishments in consequence.

Whether the same motive underpins the rush for in-store interactivity is a moot point, although it seems likely that this is the case, but the outcome looks set to be the same. Shoppers will expect digital elements as part of a new or refurbished store and the only surprise will be when it happens to be absent. There are a fair number of retailers, think any of the Arcadia fascias, that have yet to embrace the in-store techno revolution, but this will probably alter over time. Meantime, enjoy the novelty of in-store digital gadgets - they’ll soon be the norm, at which point shoppers may well return to scrutinizing the stock more closely, digitally or otherwise.