A sneak peek into the high street of the future

Rohit Gupta, Cognizant’s VP and Head of Manufacturing, Logistics, Energy and Utilities, discusses how technology will help retail recover post-pandemic.

It is no secret that the coronavirus outbreak has disrupted all industries across the globe. Unfortunately for the retail sector, it has been one of the most significantly impacted.  

As a result of lockdown, consumers increasingly turned to e-commerce, not only for items like clothes, but also for basic necessities such as groceries. 

Despite more and more retailers opening their high street doors and figures demonstrating rising retail sales, it seems most of us are in fact still choosing to shop online.

These trends prove what we already knew: the high street will never be the same again. That is not to say that consumers will never return to the physical store, but retailers need to do more to get them there. For this, technology will play a huge role.  

Re-adjusting to a new future  

Now, more than ever, retailers need to find effective ways to attract customers back into the store and away from the comfort and ease of online shopping. 

Two main things for brands to consider in the post-Covid era are people’s fear of catching the virus, which will take some time to change whilst we are still without a vaccine, and secondly, the impact that consumer spending has on the economy. 

Although many brands have decided to reopen their high street doors, there are still many that have decided not to. In light of this, the future high street looks like it will be made up of fewer, but much larger stores, with the concept of the mega store potentially becoming much more familiar to UK shoppers.

These will provide an end-to-end experience for customers, whether that is with in-store cinema screens, restaurants, or even beauty bars. However, these mega stores will not be physical stores as we know them, as social distancing and hygiene will remain top priority. 

Smaller stores that are left unopened will then be used as ‘dark stores’ – more convenient and local warehouses used for fulfilment to improve the ecommerce home delivery experience.

We are already seeing this trend come to life as Amazon has entered into talks with a shopping centre giant about transforming current department store spaces into warehouses for online orders. 

Prioritising the health and safety of customers with technology 

Social distancing, although a virtually unknown expression just a few months ago, is now a critical prevention strategy for people around the globe. 

For many, it is vital that the brands they choose to shop with are able to provide the experience they expect in-store, while allowing shoppers to maintain social distancing with others. 

This will be key moving forward in maintaining customer loyalty, and technology will be vital in helping retailers to ensure health and hygiene remains a top priority. 

For example, blockchain will become an increasingly valuable tool for tracing the journey of products, so that customers have much better visibility over where an item has come from and where it has been on its journey. 

IoT will also be crucial in providing sensor data to monitor whether customers are adhering to social distancing. This will be a much quicker, easier and more accurate method than watching shoppers with human staff.

Furthermore, there have already been numerous innovations in virtual fitting rooms delivered by augmented reality in recent years to allow customers to try on clothes virtually, and a more widespread adoption of AR by retailers was already on the rise before the Covid-19 outbreak. In fact, prior to the pandemic, it was expected that the global virtual fitting room market would reach over $10 billion by 2026.

However, with increased regulation to manage hygiene and social distancing measures in store, we expect that this figure has already risen and will only continue to do so as these innovations become all the more important given some people might no longer feel safe trying on clothes in fitting rooms. 

Making the necessary changes 

The pandemic has thrown the globe into disarray and while none of us can predict the future, the one on our horizon now is very different to the one we anticipated just a few months ago. 

Though full of uncertainty, there is an opportunity for retailers to find their feet again, but alongside emerging technologies like blockchain and AR.