Five Best Retail Innovations From Across The Globe In 2020

Matthew Brown – Retail Futurist, Echochamber London, picks out these five innovative retail concepts globally, which stood out even in the midst of a pandemic induced gloom and uncertainty.

- Matthew Brown

2020 is the year that the Retail Apocalypse finally happened. The world has seen the fastest economic contraction in history. Retail is staring down the barrel of a global crisis and many established brands are unlikely to survive the storm ahead.

When looking forward to 2021, it is tempting to think that retail will now move online and that physical store trends are a side event that are on hold until things get better.

This is far from true. The Crisis has already accelerated existing trends in retail and the next few years will see a new wave of innovation. Successful brands of the future will combine the digital and physical to create new authentic experiences, which customers can engage with seamlessly online, offline and anywhere in between.

The good news is that even in the midst of this crisis, we are already seeing innovative examples of ‘new retail’, which is all about providing surprise and delight, through connected technology, design, merchandising and personalised experiences.

As a way of proving that retail still has an exciting future ahead, here are six of the best ‘phygital’ stores from around the world, which still managed to open in the midst of crisis.

Nike House of Innovation, Paris