We all know that what the introduction of advanced technology brought to the retail industry. Physical stores, so-called brick-and-mortar stores, are losing their position in the market and more and more people purchase what they need while sitting on their couches at home. This means that many things are done online. But, just like cassettes are only found in grandma’s house or people no more visit physical travel agencies, will brick-and-mortar stores also be slowly fading into our history? Will physical stores be replaced with online shops and technology?
Many retail companies and startups encourage you to shop without leaving your home nowadays. Two months ago, Amazon announced that it has opened 10 VR kiosks in 10 shopping malls to promote its upcoming Prime Day event. Rather than taking you to a cyberspace apart from the real world, Amazon instead transports you into a city full of entertainment — you can first start from getting on a hot air balloon ride (Shopping involves fun indeed!). Once you get bored, you can walk through rooms that feature current Amazon products, and by grabbing those products, you will immediately get more information about the products you may need for purchasing them. This Amazon’s futuristic retail concept involving VR technology is not something new in the industry since many retail companies have dealt with importing the VR into their businesses and VR manufacturing companies have been trying to reach as many industries as possible — for example, Sixense, a leading provider of VR/AR enterprise solutions headquartered in Los Gatos, California, has presented VR platform including VRetail which enhances shoppers’ e-commerce experience by virtual fitting simulation. Other than that, Amazon’s Dash Button, a wi-fi connected device that allows you to reorder your everyday products at home, and AI speakers which users can place an order by voice and execute screenless monetary transaction are the inventions that enhance your shopping experience with ease.
Meanwhile, in-store tech has arisen simultaneously aligned with the development of the home devices. Walmart, the US’s biggest retailer which has raised a lot of ideas behind the retail scenes, introduced its smart shopping cart paired with a sensing device, which will perform navigation operations in a store. In December 2016, Amazon opened its first Amazon Go in Seattle where shoppers can grab products and checkout — grab and go! —without standing on a long line. It is expected that many other companies will follow these big companies’ strategies that are of increasing convenience of in-store shopping by adapting technology because advantages claimed for brick-and-mortar stores regarding real-life experience cannot be achieved from virtual reality or online shopping malls.
We may draw a conclusion from this retail trend that e-commerce will be developed in a way that compensates for the drawbacks of brick-and-mortar stores. Shoppers want to wear shoes before they make a purchase to know in advance if they fit comfortably on your feet. In my case, I press all the avocados with my fingers to feel how soft it is in a supermarket. As long as we have different kinds of needs and are in need of real-life experience that only brick-and-mortar stores can address to us, brick-and-mortar stores will remain near of us while technology will offer convenience in our shopping experience.
References:
Chiu, E. (2015, November 13). Virtual Reality Shopping . Retrieved from J.Walter Thompson Intelligence: https://www.jwtintelligence.com/2015/11/virtual-reality-shopping/
HorwitzJeremy. (2018, July 12). “Watch Amazon’s VR kiosks transform the future of shopping”. Venture Beat: https://venturebeat.com/2018/07/12/watch-amazons-vr-kiosks-transform-the-future-of-shopping/
Perez, S. (2018, August 27). Amazon opens its second Amazon Go convenience store. Retrieved from Tech Crunch: https://guce.oath.com/collectConsent?brandType=nonEu&.done=https%3A%2F%2Ftechcrunch.com%2F2018%2F08%2F27%2Famazon-opens-its-second-amazon-go-convenience-store%2F%3Fguccounter%3D1&sessionId=3_cc-session_daddea99-db0d-4ae0-90a1-e6799be28225&lang=&inline=fal
(n.d.). Retrieved from Sixense: https://www.sixense.com/
