It’s true – we’ve entered the fourth quarter of the year and before we know it we’ll be looking at trends and tips for 2019. For now though, here’s the best of Insider Trends for August. Drop us a message if you have any questions or topics that you’d like us to cover on the blog…

Image credit – Nike

Retail Concepts & Innovation

Automated retail – is it the future? Let’s get this straight. You might not have thought about it before but automated retail has been around for a while now, with vending machines clearly being a thing for years. Nevertheless, the pace and scale of automated retail is picking up and the rise of the unstaffed shop is helping to contribute. Automated retail is now a broad area including everything from vending machines to unmanned kiosks to unattended grocery stores. In all cases though it sees the customer self-serving in a retail environment that is typically unmanned. These self-serving environments provide a lot of scope for innovation and growth. Read more about how you can get involved in the future.

While we’re on the topic of the future, what do you think the future of the loyalty card scheme is? Can you name all of the places you are a member of? Running a loyalty programme is by no means easy and thinking up benefits that work is a hard game. We’ve looked at nine leading examples of membership in retail and taken on the research for you – just make sure you come back to us!

Let’s move on to physical spaces. Is the store on its way out? What do you think about the standard store? Whether you like it or not, brick-and-mortar is a vital aspect of the retail world, but perhaps not in the way you know it. Although store design does indeed play a role (check out our top 50 retail design companies if that’s the part that interests you), it’s perhaps the point of the space that plays the most important role. Does a shop even need to directly sell in this day and age? Find out how physical retail is moving beyond the store in this article from our experts.

Interviews

What better way is there to learn about retail than from experts in the industry? Every month at Insider Trends, we sit down with some of the biggest names in the retail world and ask them about what they think of the industry. Check out this month’s interviewees below:

– We’ve talked about the Missguided store a fair amount on Insider Trends so it seemed only right to speak to design agency Dalziel & Pow about the Stratford flagship. Together with Dalziel & Pow, Missguided has not only successfully translated its online aesthetic and brand power into the store but further offline spaces as well. In the process, it’s inspired the retail world to do things differently. We spoke to design director Sarah Fairhurst on approaching designing an offline store for an online brand, ripping up the retail rulebook and the value of divisive design to inspire.

– We also chatted to Lihi Pinto Fryman, co-founder and CMO of technology brand Syte, about how the brand started with the biggest visual search challenge they could, how the tech offers big value to offline and online retailers, and why they’re only just scratching the surface.

Top Tips

Nigel Dolby Consulting reported that in 2013 the average amount of time spent in an airport globally was 150 minutes. By 2016 this had dropped to 133 minutes. Of this, the average shopping time was 29 minutes. So how do retailers combat the challenges of travel retail? Another issue is space and furthermore, there’s the issue of baggage allowance. These, and other externally-set challenges, can make it seem harder to innovate in travel retail. But there are ways to overcome these constraints to create better buying experiences. Here are 11 inspiring ideas that show how travel retail is moving into the future.

Retail Openings

From new banking systems to fragrance vending machines to digital shopping apps, August brought a lot of diversity in terms of retail and our retail initiatives round-up was a little bit of a whopper. See our pick of the best of London’s new retail openings from August and grab a cuppa for our best worldwide retail initiatives.

For more of our expert knowledge and to find out about the latest trends in retail, take part in one of our London retail safaris or register for one of our New York retail trend tours.