If we are going to talk about the future of retail, we have to begin at the root
The future of the shopper. If we want to predict how we build stores in five, 10 or even 20 years, we first must consider the humanizing of retail, or designing purposeful stores for the people shopping in them, versus the product we wish to sell to them.
It’s challenging to list all of the things causing angst for the retail sector, from Amazon to new startups to the death of once-popular malls around the country.
But according to Lindsay Angelo, a former Strategy Manager at Vancouver-based lululemon athletica, all that disruption creates the imperative to think differently and take risks. (Angelo left the company earlier this month, and is now a growth strategy consultant.)
"I’m going to be honest, I went to Lindsay Angelo’s talk, Betterment, the Future of Retail & Maslow, mostly because Lindsay works for Lululemon and I’m a sucker for dropping a lot of money on a pair of Lululemon Wunder Under yoga pants. I wanted to judge the company that made yoga apparel mainstream more than I wanted to learn about the actual subject matter of Lindsay’s speech. Shame on me, I know. But here’s the thing, once I was in the room, I paid attention to the actual subject matter and it was really fascinating – Lindsay turned Maslow’s tired hierarchy of needs on its head...
Driven by a digital landscape, the maker’s movement & crowd everything, we are witnessing disruption in the world of retail. Consumers are shifting from passively consuming a product to co-creating and inventing on their own. An army of authentic, innovative start-ups with engaged guests are emerging and the landscape is democratizing like never before. How can established businesses respond to maintain their “it” factor?
