Prepare yourself for the future of retail

Image by Chawakorn - stock.adobe.com. This work product was created with assistance from generative AI.

Since the emergence of e-commerce in the 1990s, some observers had predicted the demise of in-person shopping. They were mistaken. What has emerged is much more complex than a simple, binary online/offline shopping dichotomy. Consumers today enjoy a growing number of ways to shop that cater to their individual needs at any given moment. From delivery to click-and-collect to personalized in-store shopping, the retail ecosystem has exploited new technology to give consumers exactly what they want.

• In the JLL Experience Matters 2024 survey, 67% of shoppers in 10 countries told us they prefer shopping in person to shopping online.

So much has changed in recent decades and there is no reason to believe that the pace of change will slow anytime soon. To get a handle on what the future might hold, we conducted a series of interviews, workshops, and brainstorming sessions as a part of our Future Vision program. We imagined possible futures and how they could impact how we live, work and shop. What follows is a selection of some of those possible retail futures. Retailers, developers, and investors may benefit from considering these possible futures and how they might impact their businesses.

Imagine the scenarios:
 

• An AI assistant offers a shopper a menu of suggested outfits inspired by the shopper’s past purchases and body type. The shopper arrives at the shoe store having already trialed the store’s inventory via a virtual fitting on their digital twin.
• A parent kicks off back-to-school shopping with a quick virtual fitting via augmented reality. Through smart glasses the parent is presented with realistic images of what their children would look like in their new outfits.

This work product was created with assistance from generative AI.

When future shoppers do take the time to go out and buy things in person, the trip could be something of a special event: a fully immersive personalized experience.

We know already that many consumers today find a good experience worth the cost. In our 2024 People Experience Survey, we found that 65% of shoppers said they are “willing to pay a premium for high quality experiences.”

Premium coffee shops, restaurants, bars and ice cream parlors may remain much as they are today, at least in the front of house. In a world of digital ubiquity, paper menus and warm interactions with a human wait staff take on more significance. But for inexpensive quick service and fast casual chains that are looking to attract value conscious diners, there's quite a bit of an opportunity for additional automation.

Here we imagine a few moments:

• A dinner at a casual restaurant is served by an ordinary human wait staff, completely unaware that in the kitchen, much of the cooking is being handled by robots.
• A family visits an amusement center within a mixed-use development that is a blend of low and high technology. One minute they jump together on trampolines. Another they embark on an augmented reality treasure hunt, chasing virtual cartoon pirates in search of hidden gold.
  
  

Automated restaurant kitchen

According to a 2018 report from the World Bank, global waste is projected to grow at a rate twice that of population growth. Retailers and retail centers each have a role to play in promoting waste reduction and recycling.

Global apparel chain H&M accepts donations of pre-owned clothing and textiles at its many retail locations. Items are sorted for reuse, recycling or incinerated for energy recovery. In 2023, 68% of the textiles H&M collected were resold.

In Sweden, ReTuna Återbruksgalleria bills itself as “the world’s first recycling mall.” This attractive modern building holds 14 independent retail businesses, all of which are supplied by donations received at the recycling center next door. ReTuna inspired a similar project in Norway called Resirkula, which opened in 2020.