As soon as we announced the development of our trend report on the Future of Luxury Fashion Retail, we were asked to participate in an interview that was broadcast on national television about the final destination of physical retail.
It was a remarkable experience. Our colleague Sara Teixeira, Director of Marketing and Future Insights, travelled to Lisbon to appear on “A Culpa é dos Economistas” a financial analysis program broadcast on TVI24, a prestigious Portuguese news channel. The rubric was developed by the talented Vanda Jorge from EcoolHunter, a trend press platform that puts the future first.
The main topic covered in the programme was the need to rethink physical retail and to redesign the purpose of bricks-and-mortar stores.
What exactly are physical stores for? Being pragmatic, we could say “to sell things”, but in the last few months the retail landscape has changed so much that sales can be carried out more comfortably online. Actually visiting a shop must be for some other powerful reason. We call this powerful reason: The need for experience.
We also talked about new technologies that are changing the shopping experience, and changes in consumer behaviour that have made retail reinvent itself at a breakneck pace.
The interview took place at Banema Studio, a concept store in the centre of Lisbon that goes way beyond being a traditional store. It is a space for leisure, culture and architecture, and an epicenter for different experiences.
This was one of the first of many opportunities that our trend report will bring us. It is always a challenge to discover the future, but we love challenges and we can’t wait to share everything with you!
Stay tuned! #TheFUTUREisNOW
You can see all the news and update about our The Future of Luxury Fashion Retail trend research in here.