THE FUTURE OF RETAIL.

As retail evolves over the coming years, the world of gaming, immersive experiences and brand transparency will become increasingly influential. 

 Here are some of the key trends that are likely to shape the future of retail

E-commerce and omnichannel retail

Online shopping has been growing steadily in recent years, and the pandemic has accelerated this trend as more people shop from home. E-commerce is likely to continue to grow in popularity, as it offers consumers convenience, a wider selection of products, and the ability to shop at any time from anywhere. However, brick-and-mortar stores will remain important, especially for those who want to touch and feel products before buying. As a result, retailers will increasingly adopt an omnichannel approach, offering a seamless experience across online and offline channels.

Personalization and customer experience

As competition increases, retailers will need to focus on providing a great customer experience and offering personalized products and services. Personalization can take many forms, from tailored recommendations based on past purchases to customized products that meet specific needs. In-store experiences will also become more important, with retailers using technology to create immersive and interactive experiences that engage and delight customers.

Sustainability and social responsibility

Consumers are increasingly concerned about the environmental and social impact of their purchases, and retailers will need to respond by adopting more sustainable and socially responsible practices. This could include everything from reducing packaging waste to sourcing products from ethical and sustainable suppliers. Retailers that prioritize sustainability and social responsibility will be more likely to attract and retain customers who share these values.

Artificial intelligence and Industry 4.0

Advances in artificial intelligence and automation are likely to transform the retail industry, from inventory management to customer service. AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants can help customers find the products they need and answer their questions, while automation can streamline supply chain and logistics processes. As a result, retailers will need to invest in AI and automation technologies to remain competitive.

Mobile commerce and contactless payments

Mobile devices are increasingly the primary way that consumers shop online, and this trend is likely to continue. Retailers will need to ensure that their websites and apps are optimized for mobile devices, and offer features like mobile payments and digital wallets. Contactless payments will also become more popular, as consumers seek to avoid touching shared surfaces in stores.

Conclusion.

In conclusion, the future of retail is likely to be shaped by a combination of these trends and innovations, with technology playing a key role in driving change. Successful retailers will need to adapt to these trends and provide great customer experiences, while also being socially responsible and environmentally sustainable. The future of retail is exciting and full of opportunities for those who are willing to embrace change and innovate to meet the evolving needs of consumers.

Manufacturing  4.0 is also refereed to as the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

It is the next phase in the digitization of the manufacturing sector, driven by disruptive trends including the rise of data and connectivity, analytics, human-, and improvements in robotics and machine interaction.

Manufacturing 4.0 has significant implications for brands across industries. By implementing advanced technologies and data-driven processes, manufacturers can produce products faster, with greater precision, and at lower costs. Here are some ways that Manufacturing 4.0 can benefit brands:

-Faster time-to-market:

With the help of digital technologies, manufacturers can shorten the product development cycle and bring new products to market faster. This means that brands can respond more quickly to changing customer demands and stay ahead of the competition.

-Improved quality control:

By integrating sensors and data analytics into the manufacturing process, manufacturers can detect and address quality issues in real-time. This helps ensure that products meet or exceed customer expectations, reducing the risk of product recalls and negative brand reputation.

-Customization and personalization:

The use of advanced technologies such as 3D printing and machine learning enables manufacturers to produce products that are tailored to individual customer needs and preferences. This allows brands to create unique, personalized experiences for their customers, increasing customer loyalty and engagement.

-Sustainability:

Manufacturing 4.0 can help brands reduce their environmental impact by optimizing production processes and reducing waste. This can be achieved through the use of predictive maintenance, energy-efficient equipment, and sustainable materials.

In summary, Manufacturing 4.0 presents brands with an opportunity to improve their products, processes, and customer experiences. By leveraging advanced technologies and data-driven insights, brands can stay competitive and meet the evolving needs of their customers.

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Swedish design agency, Tomorrow Machine has developed a biodegradable bottle made from a potato starch-based material that can be peeled away like fruit skin and then eaten or dissolved in water.

The concept is being developed with global company Eckes Granini for its juice brand Brämhults.

In a truly terrifying future scenario, Hashem Al-Ghaili envisions a transhuman future, where babies are grown in an artifiical womb. The parents can specify, skin tone, eye colour, hair colour, intelligence, strength and height.

Say goodbye to the mess of pregnancy and child birth!

A truly dystopian vision.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2RIvJ1U7RE

Plastic free, is the world’s first innovation platform for materials and system solutions • Rich in case-studies, proof-points and trusted editorial from leaders in design and science • Instant connection to innovative makers • Future trends with scalable answers for today.

https://plasticfree.com/

Haeckels skin products are packaged in Vivomer created by sustainable packaging company Shellworks. It is a plastic alternative that is 100 per cent compostable; and no matter where the material ends up, it will contribute to the biosphere in as little as 48 weeks.

Vivomer is a completely vegan and compostable material, made from friendly microbes. When you throw this jar away, the very same microbes in the soil and the marine environment will see it, recognize it as its food essentially, and break it down.

https://www.theshellworks.com/

Remote is an emotional study of a technological, consumerist future.

From her high rise in a future Kuala Lumpur, where goods are delivered by drone delivery, herbs and vegetables grow in hydrponic cabinets and all packaging is edible, Unoaku ekes out a lonely existence.

Commisioned by UK no profit organisation Artangel and a consortium of international galleries, Remote is that rare beast, an ‘art movie.’

BUG LIFE

I like insects. They are beautiful, fascinating and essential for pollination. But I am a little concerned with the way insects are being pushed as the future for food for humans.

On the 4th of July 2022, the European Union approved insects as human food. These include Crickets, Mealworms, and Grasshoppers.
Scientists are now proposing introducing insects to Primary School children in the school meal program.
Might be worth proceeding with caution on this subject, before we start a large-scale experiment with young children.

Consider:

-Chitin (exoskeleton of arthropods),
has not been proven to be easily consumed in large quantities by humans.

-Humans have not evolved to consume large quantities of insects.
We have evolved as omnivores, with a diverse diet, a small part of which is insects in some cultures.

-We have just emerged from a Global pandemic, the cause of which has still not been identified, but one cause could be zoonotic pathogens, where the infectious disease jumps from non-human animals to humans.

-Insects are mycotoxin and fungi powerhouses.

Might be worth proceeding with caution.


https://lnkd.in/e37AAVmW

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Uncovering the hidden impact of the internet.

The Artist Thijs Biersteker has created a machine that demonstrates that there is a price to pay for our digital use. The artwork allows the user to dial into a video call, that then calculate the C02 used and your impact on the planet.

https://thijsbiersteker.com/mbco2

UP PAINT

The Problem

Over 850 million gallons of paint is produced each year and an estimated 10% of that paint goes unused. The amount of paint wasted continues to grow year after year after year. Unfortunately, much of the unused paint ends up in landfills or improperly dumped which has detrimental consequences for the environment.

The Solution

Thanks to state governments and non-profits across the United States, millions of gallons of paint are prevented from being poured into the environment. Up Paint gives unused paint a second life, by purfifying the waste and refining it into a new product that is a fraction of the price of other brands.

Little signals

Little signals is a series of interaction experiments and thought starters on how we can foster new behaviours and relationships with our technology.

As digital technology matures, humans will require subtle background signals rather than the constant pings and alerts from our devices.

Condiments such as Heinz HP and Coleman’s mustard are a mainstay of British food. But despite the ‘cost of living crisis’, there is a boom in posh condiments.

These affortable luxuries are offered by top chefs cush as Tom Kerridge and Danish fermenters, Epirical Provision.

https://www.empirical.co/shop/provisions/pasilla-sauce/

Francesca Tambussi a recent graduate of the Design Academy at Eindhoven has devloped a prototype of a ‘invonvenience store’ that is designed to serve communities rather than businesses. “It’s a supermarket entirely run by consumers,” explains Tambussi. “They’re the ones who put the food or boxes on the shelves.”

Hyperburgers is meant to be a place anyone can drop into at any time to buy groceries or prepared foods. The only catch is that they need to give something back when they do.

Here’s how it works: The shelves of Hyperburgers could be stocked with food, most of which is provided by other patrons. Home gardeners might stock the shelves with produce. People with a chicken coop could bring in eggs. Travelers who brought back some bottles of wine from a visit to France might even stick a couple on the shelf.

When you want to buy something, you use your phone to directly pay whoever supplied the food. (This isn’t the barter system! It’s still good old capitalism.) The money goes right to the food supplier—each item is linked to a peer-to-peer payment system on the backend. However, you’re still supposed to give a little something extra back to the store, and here’s where things get interesting. You might volunteer time to clean. You might bring in packaging—cleaned plastic yogurt cups to be reused or paper bags that are still in good shape—for other patrons or suppliers to utilize. Or, in a Hyperburgers kitchen, you might help cook the store’s prepared foods and drinks. Tambussi points out that oat milk is very simple to produce with the right machinery. So you could show up on Sunday and help make the oat milk sold at Hyperburgers.

To be economically sustainable, Tambussi concedes that the store would need to be a nonprofit, with space donated by the cities where the store resides. Grant funding could cover a single employee who could oversee operations. But this is a just use of public funding, Tambussi argues, because food should be a civic resource rather than a commercial enterprise. Tambussi even plans to share it as an open source book that anyone can reference to open their own Hyperburger-style store.

Now, it’s easy to scrutinize the concept. How would this non-store have everything you need? Couldn’t some people sandbag the system? Won’t you have more people consuming food than providing it? What if people steal? Tambussi acknowledges such unknowns and potential pain points, but is undeterred from realizing this prototype as a permanent storefront if the opportunity arises.

“You can’t get rid of the supermarket in one day,” says Tambussi. “The idea of the shop is to be incremental, a slow growth. It’s the opposite of a new liberal business where it needs to be time-efficient.”

HYPER PERSONALISATION

Enabled by technology, brands are offering tailored and highly personalised product experiences. Specific needs - using data from DNA, ph and environmental factors - are measured and used to optimise formulations.

According to L'Oréal, pH imbalances in the skin can produce inflammatory responses, which may in turn lead to or worsen conditions such as dryness, eczema, and atopic dermatitis. That's where My Skin Track pH comes in.

The last year has been a dismal year for the retail sector and no-one needs reminding that it has accelerated new consumer behaviour, online consumption and a new digital relationship between consumers and brands.

Some brands are reponding rapidly to this shift.

A.I. the metaverse, XR, E-persuasion are some of the tools, brands are utilising in the online space but there is also hybrid tech such as phygital spaces, digital changing rooms and post office changing rooms such as the new Finnish postal service which are mixing the physical and the digital.

SK11 has launched what is calling the ‘store of the future.’

The store concept relies on ‘phygital’ retail experiences that incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to take shoppers on a digital in-store journey, beginning with a reading of their facial expressions and movements at a large-scale digital wall called ‘The Art of You.’ The wall generates different energy lines and colours with every facial movement or twitch, creating a unique artistic image for each user.

Next up is a revamped version of the brand’s signature ‘Magic Ring’ skin analysis, which, unlike regular facial analysis, is carried out digitally and remotely by an interactive screen that scans the face and displays the results. A ‘Smart Beauty Bar’ offers advice and personalized product browsing, while a projection mapping table that tracks hand motions allows shoppers to add goods to their digital carts with a wave.

The average American now spends over 90% of their time indoors and by 2050 it’s estimated that 75% of the global population will live in cities. Yet, we’re hardwired to need nature. The Biophilia Hypothesis defines our pull to nature as the “innate human affinity for life and other living things” resulting from millions of years of exposure and adaptation. 

Spending time in nature stimulates our parasympathetic (rest) nervous system, and reduces stress and anxiety, while city living is associated with a higher prevalence of mental health issues.

Inspired by the concept of ‘medicalizing nature’, FOREST LUNGS uses olfactory chemistry and patented technology to replicate the molecular compounds produced by trees, phytoncides. Phytoncides are credited for the positive health benefits associated with forest bathing, namely stress reduction, anxiety reduction and boosting the parasympathetic (rest) nervous system.

Created by world-renowned perfumer Guillaume Flavigny, recipient of the Prix International du Jeune Parfumeur Créateur, FOREST LUNGS is a sensory supplement designed to support the reduction of everyday stress.

The Nue Co’s newest perfume, Forest Lungs, launched at the end of 2020, is designed to replicate the healing effects of nature. Described as a “sensory anti-stress supplement,” the perfume mimics the scent of the forest in order to boost the parasympathetic (rest) nervous system and improve “a wide variety of concerns from mental health and sleep to immunity.”

Plus Body Wash

Plus's body washes have innovated within the body wash category. Rather than opting for a plastic bottle, the body wash comes individually wrapped inside a dissolvable sachet. You simply tear open the package with dry hands, take the thin, foam-like body wash out of the sleeve, and then add water. Like magic, the body wash transforms into a thick, moisturizing lather in the palm of your hand. And the outer sachet? Just throw it on the floor of your shower. The wood pulp-based packet dissolves in the water and it (safely) disappears down your drain.

Everyone’s skin is unique – and so are its needs. Consequently, the more a product caters to one’s individual skin, the better it can fulfill these specific needs. With its innovative O.W.N face care brand, Beiersdorf is now explicitly responding to consumers’ growing desire for personalized skin care. The new brand is being launched in key European markets with a simple routine: facial cleansing plus day care as well as evening facial cleansing plus night care. O.W.N uses artificial intelligence and is built around a proprietary algorithm that brings together Beiersdorf’s profound 140 years’ skin care expertise and consumer knowledge. Thus, it is able to select the single best unique product offering out of 380,000 formula combinations. Fully in line with the strategic focus of advancing digital transformation within the C.A.R.E.+ strategy, the products are sold as part of a purely digital business model via the website www.ownskincare.eu. Here, consumers are given the opportunity to use a scientifically evaluated questionnaire to determine which care formula is best suited to their skin.

Avant, a cell culture biotech start up company based in Hong Kong, has launched a multifunctional protein for the active beauty market made from cultivated fish cells. The company says the use of this ingredient will shape a new beauty segment in the anti-ageing and protective skin care category.

Avant’s Zellulin ingredient could be used in freeze dried powder or liquid form at various doses in topical skin formulations, beauty supplements and functional drinks.