fastcompany.com

The future of retail will be about retail everywhere:

While e-commerce is accelerating to offer multi-layered experiences for customers and brands, bricks-and-mortar stores are becoming physical bastions of extraordinary, sensorial moments.

We are entering a new evolutionary stage of retail, in which big companies will get bigger, many mom-and-pop dreams will burst, chains will proliferate and flatten the idiosyncrasies of many neighborhoods, more economic activity will flow into e-commerce, and restaurants will undergo a transformation unlike anything the industry has experienced sin... See more

For a long time, retail survived on taste and real estate — curation and distribution. The internet made it possible for regional clothing stores like Need Supply to sell to a global audience and build larger businesses. But then it also made it easier for consumers to find everything, anywhere — at the lowest price — challenging any sense of loyal... See more

“It’s very much about how the space makes you feel and how memories can be created there. Physical retail can bring so much to the customer that then the transaction will follow,” observes The Future Laboratory’s Buller. “Online shopping, social commerce, live-stream selling and all of those things have their place. But, in a physical space it’s ab... See more