What can the store of the future look like? Will we be served by robots controlled by artificial intelligence, using facial recognition technology to “guess” our mood or check what products we have bought in the past? Will there be voice-activated personal assistants from place to place, showing you the availability, color and size of the clothes you’re looking for, right on your phone?

Can you 3D print the t-shirt you want? And when you leave, will drones leave shopping boxes at your door? Or maybe you’ll shop from your living room using virtual fitting rooms and virtual reality headsets. The drones will then drop off the delivery in your backyard or driveway.

No matter how bizarre these innovations may sound now, none of them will be implausible in the next 5-10 years.

But do customers really want this experience? Dozens of leading retailers and fashion brands are increasingly opting out.

While today’s consumers believe that the futuristic store will rely on artificial intelligence to create a more efficient, personalized and interactive shopping environment where technology is used to improve the customer experience, the authors of the study insist that human interaction is at the forefront. : “because that way we can stay in touch with our customers, and it’s better to have AI tools in the back-end zone, behind, in the development zone, which helps us improve the efficiency of internal processes,” says the founder of Marketing and Consulting Cory Chimpock on National E-Commerce Day.

The store of the future should offer consumers a High-Tech (36%), High-End (35%), affordable (7%), but also a sustainable experience, mentioned by only 1% of MKOR survey respondents: “The store of the future from the perspective of consumers” presented Cimpoca.

According to the respondents of this study, the advantages that buyers want to get from the store of the future are related to good staff training, a variety of products, efficient organization, but – especially – they noted favorable prices, product quality, and a high level of digitization.

Most consumers (31%) want a digital experience during the purchase process. According to the Consumer Trends.Live data, MKOR research, the store of the future must include technologies designed to optimize it, enabling digitization, as well as an innovative approach to the shopping experience.

Among other consumer preferences in the idea of ​​​​the prototype of the store concept of the future – the presence of virtual fitting rooms, robots for placing goods on the shelves, the possibility of 3D visualization of goods, all This is in perfect harmony with the elements of traditional trade rules, MKOR research shows, referring to the verbatim stories of women aged 23 and over up to 43 years old.

Regarding the low number of consumers who consider a sustainable shopping experience, which includes, among other things, the purchase of ecological, organic products, recyclable packaging, etc., the founder of MKOR states that Romanians will not necessarily not encourage this trend, only, as she says, it won’t necessarily be a priority.

“Maybe as retailers, as organizations, we need to think about how we can better communicate this topic of sustainability, especially because it’s a very important topic for Gen Z, young people under 24, future consumers,” explains Cory Simpoka.

According to the MKOR study, the top seven digital retailers are: Carrefour (19%), Kaufland (18%), Lidl and Auchan (16%), eMAG (11%), Altex (10%) and Dedeman (9%). .

The fourth National E-Commerce Day was organized on October 18 at the headquarters of NORD Events Center by Globalworth, the Romanian Association of Online Retailers (ARMO). The event also discussed the trends of global e-commerce from 2024, as well as in two other discussion panels: increasing revenues to the state budget due to digitalization and stimulating electronic payments, as well as economic development through innovation and internationalization.

Luminita Tom