Two large sensors hovered over the entrance to X07, the Store of the Future centerpiece exhibit at this year’s National Retail Federation Expo at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York. The Store of the Future is an annual effort by NRF to excite, inform and reassure retail attendees about the possibilities of technology in their stores and in their lives. And the sensors, which compute customer traffic and flow, were a suggestion of available technology and a measure of attendee interest.
In just two days in January, those sensors rang up 10,000 visitors into the space. So NRF attendees were clearly seeking both information and reassurance. As retailers, they’re also seeking to lure more of the Internet generation into their stores, that group that shops, communicates, gossips, schedules, flirts, studies and lives on the computer. This year’s Store of the Future was an attempt to attract those shoppers with both technology and philosophy.
As in the past two years, the 2007 Store of the Future was created and designed by Hybridia Design (Clifton, Va.) and its president, creative director of retail design/corporate imaging, Richard Russo. The space has grown, as has the impact of technology on the store design process. Two years ago, 2000 square feet were allotted to Hybridia’s X05 bookstore of the future. This year, its “ultimate pop-up boutique” occupied 11,400 square feet.
The space was filled with the usual high-tech suspects: flat screens, smart shelf talkers, LED lighting, hand-held scanners, digital floor mats, artificial scenting, even a message-bearing fog screen visitors could walk right through. But Russo wanted to tell a larger story than simply how technology is invading the sales floor – in fact, two stories.
One story was how today’s and tomorrow’s technology will allow retailing to become a social networking theater if retailers are prepared to think creatively. So the centerpiece of his centerpiece was a lounge outfitted with comfortable banquettes and computer stations. When a visitor logged on, he or she was connected to a dressing room mirror in a nearby “retail pod” that was also an interactive screen. At the mirror, a shopper modeled outfits and communicated via text messages with the people sitting at the stations.
“Would you like to get an opinion from the ET lab?” the shopper was asked. People in the lounge could then register opinions about her wardrobe, suggest alternatives, vote on whether she should buy the item or even try initiating personal contact.
“While communication in this case was between people 25 feet away,” notes Russo, “the technology will allow people to communicate like this all around the world.”
Most of the other retail pods featured increasingly sophisticated hand-held monitors from various vendors that stored information, provided customer data and shopping preferences, and then completed the transaction by scanning bar codes and credit cards.
“Retailers increasingly need to find a way to tear 17-to-24-year-olds away from their computers,” Russo says, “to capture their attention and make them loyal. An invigorating, technology-filled environment will do this.”
Russo’s other message had to do with sustainability, another way to get the attention of this ecologically conscious group. So the entire X07 structure was built out of a substrate of recaptured wood. All the lighting was energy-efficient LED on centrally controlled systems. Even the merchandise in the faux shops reflected environmental sensibilities: There was a new Toyota with a hybrid Synergy drive, outdoor gear from well-established environmentalist L.L. Bean and jewelry and accessories from Betty B, which employs 20 families in Bali to manufacture goods from shells and other organic materials.
Partners and sponsor in X07 included: Avocent, Huntsville, Ala. (IT provider); Bernstein Display, Brooklyn, N.Y. (mannequins, forms and fixtures); Cisco Systems, San Jose, Calif. (systems integration); Claybrooke Display, Mississaugua, Ont. (fixtures and millwork); Color Kinetics, Boston (LED lighting); Digi Craft, Orlando (brand imaging); Euro Touch, Tampa, Fla. (interactive kiosks); IBM, Armonk, N.Y. (operating systems); IconNicholson, New York (operating systems); LG Electronics, Seoul, Korea (electronics and communications products); Pictura Graphics, Minneapolis (posters and signage); Real Digital Media, Sarasota, Fla. (video displays); Symbol Technologies, Holtsville, N.Y. (RFID systems and scanners); AromaSys, Lake Elmo, Minn. (artificial scenting); DigiCharm, Montreal (micro signage); DynaScan Technology Inc., Irvine, Calif. (rotating cylinder images); FogScreen Inc., Helsinki, Finland (fog curtain and signage); Innovative Markets, Batesville, Ind. (video displays); The Digital Signage Group, Poulsbo, Wash. (IntelliMat); Netkey, Branford, Conn. (software platform); ShopperTrak, Chicago (pedestrian traffic-counting technology); and Video Visions, Philadelphia (Plasmaxx LCD display systems).
Photography: Courtesy of Hybridia Design, Clifton, Va.