Why cross-reality retail design is the next innovation frontier

Victoria Buchanan, futures director at The Future Laboratory, unpacks the key strategic take-outs from our recent retail macrotrend.

In the past year, the metaverse has grabbed the headlines, raising questions about the future of the retail industry. Digital twin stores and augmented shopping experiences have paved the way for the next retail frontier – one that is boundaryless, immersive and emotionally engaging.

The companies that have leaned in fast have offered their customers inspiration, immersion and fast test cases. But, more importantly, they haven’t forgotten about joining up the dots and treating the physical environment as an ever-evolving playground that can also upgrade over time as people interact with it.

Indeed, last year, after 18 months of pandemic disruption, marketers had already begun to consider multi-sensory experiences and brand design systems as an important future part of their brand differentiation plans, according to research conducted by Isobar.

With an understanding that high-touch experiences still offer a competitive advantage, brands are creating cross-reality spaces that curate tactile interactions, sensory stimulation and social experiences in a more purposeful way. United Colors of Benetton, for example,  has opened a new store concept with immersive pink walls that mirrors the feeling of the metaverse, offering ‘a dimensional link between the real and the virtual’, according to the company.

A desire for hyperphysical experiences also comes at a time when science is unlocking new frontiers of human perception. Last year, The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine went to David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian, who discovered a biology of senses, which means we now understand how our nervous system senses heat, cold and mechanical stimuli.

With a widening multi-sensory repertoire at our disposal, brands can now explore ways to be more selective in the emotions they induce and the senses they can stimulate in the physical realm.  

‘As we re-evaluate spaces, texture, light, sound and smell should take centre stage,’ says Kate Machtiger,  founder of Extra Terrestrial Studio. ‘Many of our strongest memories of places are not visual, but embodied: the cool temperature of the walls, the way sound echoed through the space, the smoothness of carpet under your feet.’

This also ties in to the fact that Gen Z and Millennials are looking for more than a convenient experience from brands. According to a new white paper by Highsnobiety and Boston Consulting Group, the biggest driver of purchase decisions for Gen Z and early Millennials is wanting to live the full lifestyle of individual brands right from the start.

Brand journeys are so important to this group that they account for a quarter of all purchasing occasions, and beat choice, person of influence, value, impulse
 and convenience as reasons to choose a specific brand. 

To thrive in the next decade and win the attention of Gen Z, brands must rethink their in-store journeys and re-enchant the physical space with a greater sense of curation, intentionality and attachment, and as business analyst Marie Dollé says, give a ‘higher life to stores, services and products’.