‘Shop of the Future’ project specialists
I am sure we are all a bit ‘jaded’ and weary with ‘Shop of the Future’ projects as we have all probably been through a few of them. However, the terminology at least puts our initial mindsets into some kind of consensus as to what such a project entails.
We know what we are talking about. Don’t we?
I have been working on such ‘Shop of the Future’ projects for several decades and the opportunities they represent to a retail business here in the 2020s, are unrecognisable from even the recent past.
Unique opportunities
In today’s disruptive markets a well organised and scoped ‘Shop of the Future’ project can be a unique opportunity, not only to physically materialise often disparate initiatives within a business, but as a tool to practically integrate and harmonise the many functions and silos that lay behind them.
Making your ‘Shop of the Future’ vision a reality
Whether you have existing physical shops, or are planning your first, your ideas and new initiatives are only theoretical, unless you put them all together into a physical space. Only then will you know what works, and what doesn’t work.
Secondly, physical shops today are no longer isolated outposts of the business, or even a separately regarded channel. A ‘Shop of the Future’ project needs to consider everything from the assortment, shop colleagues, omni-channel services, operations and logistics, technologies – from digital payment to digital screens, customer deliveries, customer communities, location planning and location integration. Many of these areas are rapidly evolving themselves, individually.
Integrating your business ‘silos’
‘Shop of the Future’ projects are essential projects because they transparently show to the world your progress to becoming a modern multi-channel retailer. More importantly, ‘Shop of the Future’ projects show it to yourselves.
The ‘Shop of the Future’ needs to integrate with ‘The Assortment of the Future’, ‘The Inventory of the Future’, ‘The Shopkeeper’ of the Future’ ‘The Customer Touchpoints of the Future’ ‘The Technologies of the Future’ and the ‘Retail Locations of the Future.’
Planning, managing & delivering
These projects need to be planned, managed, and delivered to perfection, to ensure that the output is not defined by the quality of the project, but by the quality of your business initiatives and operations and strategies.
Integrated teams & stakeholders
Our first task is to help you assemble the correct project team and stakeholders within your business. This will always vary but must include retail intelligence, buying & merchandising, marketing, logistics & operations, HR, learning & development, CRM, IT, and all the cross-channel stakeholders that you have. This shop will need to be a showcase for what your business is truly capable of and the people who will need to deliver it.
As an external team, we will be light in number. We will need a board ambassador, an executive steering committee, and an experienced project manager. We will also need a specialist retail design agency but that can wait until we have defined what will be in the ‘Shop of the Future’ and how everything is going to work and function together.
A ‘Shop of the Future’ project could well be your most important ‘next’ project. The timing could not be better. It is a physical shop of ‘channels’, of ‘touchpoints’ in a digital world.
Your ‘Shop of the Future’ project
If you want to start the ‘Shop of the Future’ ball rolling, please get in touch. I would be happy to share with you some typical project templates, schedules, costs, and case studies.
It’s been my pleasure to have worked with a wide variety of retailers and brands on ‘Shop of the Future’ projects. I’m happy to say that if I occasionally bump into any one of the people I’ve worked with, then we are genuinely still very much on speaking terms.