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Retail in the age of Synthetic Society

In the 2020s, as demand grows for online experiences that are as engaging, entertaining and social as real-world ones, expect to see gaming emerge as a key channel for brand and retail engagement – with virtual offerings also enabling more sustainable and inclusive access to products.

Everything and everywhere is becoming directly shoppable. Consequently, purchasing opportunities are becoming increasingly frictionless. Driven by an accelerated shift to online living and ecommerce, media, including social media, will grow as a retail channel – providing consumers with an ever more seamless and social shopping experience online.

As technology continues to advance, emerging technologies – from mixed-reality interfaces to 3D printing – will be increasingly employed by retail brands to meet consumers functional and emotional needs on the path-to-purchase.

In these post-COVID hygiene-aware times, automated retail will be welcomed to support the move to 100% touch-free shopper journeys. In-store, digital and automated interfaces – even robots – will provide basic customer service functions previously provided by human staff.