As a Retail / Business Futurist my role is to provoke decision makers into thinking beyond the drudgery of today, towards the infinite profitable possibilities of retail tomorrow.
 

My toolkit most often contains dreams, imagination, insights and inklings based on solid grounding of what might be and how industries, markets, customers, staff and stakeholders might evolve and react and most importantly to find the profitable sweet spot that puts clients ahead of the game and lets them profit long before their competition.
 

The exhilaration of Retail 2020 – Store of the Future is turning these vast dreams into audacious realities.
 

Retail 2020 – Store of The Future is a collaboration of some of the best forward thinking retail oriented minds, brands, companies, universities, government agencies and individuals who have each shared generously their unique perspective of retail’s future.
 

They have willingly taken us behind the scenes into their laboratories and into the recesses of their strategic mind and allowed us to take the best of what they have so that we can collectively fashion a real living breathing exhibition of what retails future evolve into.
 

This innovative unique retail of the future exhibition, is not trying to be right or wrong, it is about giving you a myriad of insights into what might be and encouraging you to reach out and experience firsthand what may lie ahead so that you can then be the architect of your own retail future.
 

You will be provoked by retail’s thought leaders and be able to reach out and touch the technology and operating methodology that will in 2020 be pervasive and commonplace, but is for now still in the realms of the “what if”.
 

You will experience elements of the supermarket of the future complete with talking shelves, electronic purses, RFID knowledge management and security, intuitive customer queuing, intelligent logistics, stores that recognise and welcome the individual customer and much more.
 

Visit the Pharmacy and Wellness stores of tomorrow and watch a robot dispensing machine pick and prepare prescription medicines, whilst in store you are being electronically scanned and diagnosed for minor medical ailments.
 

The convenience store of 2020 is a real sneak peek into what the major players in this field see as their future. Walk into the store and be engaged with the layout, the merchandising the ubiquitous technology that drives and informs every customer interaction and most importantly ponder the new thinking and revenue streams that can be created when you reimagine your future.
 

In the surf store of the future you’ll need your sunglasses, not only for the glare of the sun, but to activate and participate with the store as your avatar tries on clothes for you, as you call up surf reports from around the world and see promotion, images and clothes relevant only to you.
 

Then take the ride into the virtual retail world and see how online retailing will evolve over the next decade to become a natural extension of every retail store. In this always on and always ready virtual extension of your store your customers will be able to try and buy from wherever they are, ask questions, engage your virtual staff, consult their online community, buy, recommend and engage with you in ways that are currently impossible but will evolve to become mandatory.
 

Behind the scenes of this retail exhibition of the future, with your mobile phone activated, you will be able to engage one on one with many of the exhibits, ask for and receive information, insights, and promotional pieces, join competitions, activate and deactivate displays and personalise your experience in the same way that customers of the future will want to do in your stores.
 

The experience is rich, deep and unlike any other retail learning.
 

It will challenge you to think beyond today about your own stores possibilities and give you reason, purpose, passion and insight to ponder how you can start today to reimagine your profitable retail store of tomorrow.