Digital and online could revitalise the physical store in the future, but what about now?

Last week I had an optimistic conversation about physical stores - that other channel that’s not online. Augmented reality specialists Holition’s brand director Lynne Murray told me how she believes that the emergence of digital and online technology will actually revitalise the instore environment.

Murray said: “I think the high street will be enlivened by technology, making stores a place where you act more naturally and have more of an enjoyable experience. The UK is a nation that likes to touch and feel, so (store) retail is not going away and consumers need it for its physical nature as it is comforting, and that builds trust, which leads to sales.”

I tend to agree, shoppers do like going to the Westfield centres and to the many high streets up and down the country. By the sounds of it, the physical store could continue to be a browsing experience that cannot be captured in an online environment.

Murray added: “Digital can reinvent the physical and the online environment. Instore will become about experiencing retail theatre, making the stores the destination and part of the marketing experience that grows brands’ value. So the store becomes the flagship for the digital experience, which becomes more of a function.”

The concept of the store as a marketing channel does already exist in a few cases - take the M&Ms store across the globe. Murray also touched on the trend of products being removed from stores and that is also already beginning to emerge with some retailers - though shame for Argos it didn’t get the pattern on the concept.

What this could mean in real terms are smaller stores and smaller flagship estates. Murray said stores will increasingly become about personalised customer interaction and that current instore innovations, like paying away from the till and iPads, are already making stores more friendly, flexible, and “more like home”.

It is an exciting prospect that technology and online media will revitalise the physical store environment, instead of wiping it out entirely. But what about now and the next couple of years? How are retailers’ estates changing? What strategies are retailers utilizing today?

Topics