In my Contemporary Business Strategies class, when we were discussing virtual retail enviornments and technological inventions for retail enviornments, I was asked to imagine that it was 2015 and write a paper based on what I thought the future of retail would look like.

1. Brianne Key
Contemporary Business Strategies
2015
From this current moment in time, six years is not far away at all. A lot can
happen in a short period of time. In the year 2015, I presume we will be past the worst of
our economic and environmental woes but we will still have plenty of room for
improvement. Along with new trends and bolder fashion statements, the technological
advances that are new to us today, will be old news. Green practices will be a regular
occurrence in the corporate workplace and civilian homes. Hybrid cars made for
durability and endurance rather than strictly gas mileage will be an innovative custom
rather than a concept. Gas prices will once again be at equilibrium… if we are even still
using oil. Hopefully the conversion of waste (and other pollutants that are harming our
precious earth) into fumeless forms of reusable energy and accelerators will be an
enforced practice rather than a distant dream.
For the retail industry, technological advances such as smart carts, virtual
dressing rooms, virtual personal shoppers, holographic visual displays and
advertisements, and electroluminescent ads and displays will all become customary
performances by the year 2015. How much more effective would it be to stand on a
neon lit pad in a neutral colored room that is dimly lit and instantly, a holographic
replica of yourself appears? Next to your three- dimensional body is a selection of three-
dimensional clothes and shoes, and even accessories that you picked via a “smart
retail rack” screen at the center of the retail store. The choices are uploaded virtually to
an assigned dressing area of which you now test and try your choices without the

2. hassle of getting undressed and re- dressed. You can fill your virtual shopping cart with
all the items you want to keep and they are virtually sent to the back order room of the
same establishment. Within minutes, a sales representative walks up to you and asks you
to swipe your loyalty card (with a built-in transmitting microchip that activates when
you walk into the store and deactivates when you leave) to catalogue and pay for
your purchases. Total elapsed store visit time: 30 minutes. Total items purchased: 25.
In my wicked futuristic scenario, the ideal fashionista would visit two to three
times her average number of stores and make double or triple her usual purchases due
to the stress free and entertaining new methods of retail buying. Retail stores could
manage their inventory and currency levels better which would cut back on
unnecessary human resources and salary expenses. It’s truly a win- win for everyone.
Next, imagine that you are standing in line for the new summer
blockbuster film and the wait is unforgivably boring. You look to your left just as a
flashing neon display of lights bursts into your line of sight and overwhelms your visual
receptors with images of your favorite band posing in the foreground of an
electroluminescent ad for iTunes. A neon pink, green and blue outlined, silhouette
dancer wiggles and jiggles across the background. Then the band’s name flashes
across the paper thin installment in a blaze of retina- burning, time square worthy bright
lights.
Imagine that you are sitting at home and decide you need an outfit for a party
you have been anticipating. You haven’t the best taste in clothes and all of your friends
are busy. You head over to the mall and decide to wing it and hope for the best. You
come across a computer larger than your entire body and it asks if you need help. You
vocally announce that you want to go to a store your friend suggested a while back

3. but you have no sense of style. A virtual person appears and says “I have and opening
available now if you’d like.” You agree to meet the virtual personal shopper in a store
on the second floor in ten minutes. When you walk in the store, Rose, as she likes to be
called, is waiting eagerly on an identical screen by a rack of cocktail dresses. You feel
skeptical but Rose says one of the satin, strapless, violet dresses with lace accents will
compliment the red and blue tones in your skin and, bring emphasis to your legs and
shoulders and could be paired with black patent leather kitten heels adorned with a
small violet rose. You try it all on and instantly fall in love. While you are busy in the
dressing room, Rose has selected a shiny, silver, jeweled cocktail ring and matching
studs. Rose asks if you would like help with make- up selections and you decline only
after making a nail and eye brow waxing appointment for the next day at the salon at
the opposite end of the mall. You thank rose, pay for you items and leave. Disaster
averted. Your friends cannot stop praising you, your crush cannot stop staring at you
and you are overflowing with confidence. Not a bad way to end the weekend if you
ask me.
There are infinite possibilities for the future of retail. So many different modes of
retail enhancement are waiting to be imagined, designed, tested and turned into
permanent practices. The ones I discussed here are just the beginning of what the
minds occupying our planet are capable of. How can retail get anymore fun and
addictive than it already is? I guess we will just have to wait and see.

4. Works Cited
1. YouTube. 7 June 2009. “Electroluminescent Retail Advertisement- Samsung”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=9sXaNlqSLwY&feature=PlayList&p=2B949F340CC4545A&playnext=1&playnext_f
rom=PL&index=33.
rom=PL&index=33.
2. YouTube. 7 June 2009. “The world’s first holographic illusion, designed for retail”.
“The
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDMgXoAySME.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDMgXoAySME.
3. YouTube. 7 June 2009. “Kate Moss Hologram”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIcsYBZSQ48?.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIcsYBZSQ48?.