Three visions of the future of retailing

Suning

What is the future of retailing? Different businesses have differing visions of how people will shop and buy in the future. Here are three visions among the many being planned and tested worldwide:

• Suning, a Chinese retailer, is testing unstaffed stores. (Photo above is from its news release.) The company calls this 'smart retailing' because of omnichannel choices and automation. Shoppers who have registered their Suning financial services account are identified via facial recognition and gain entry to the unstaffed stores. The idea is that some shoppers prefer to examine merchandise and buy in person, with tech assistance to speed transactions. 

  

  Start Today

• Twenty-year-old Japanese fashion e-commerce firm Start Today wants to help customers order clothing in the correct size. Shoppers dress in a Zozosuit and their measurements are captured electronically. Then shoppers can order clothing made to fit. 
• Retailers (both online and offline) are increasingly stocking a larger selection of preowned products (meaning gently-used merchandise). This is a trend in the upmarket wristwatch business, for example. It's also a trend in designer clothing and accessories. Not vintage, necessarily, but used items that originally were luxury priced.

Marketing almost-new electronics

Refurbished products--returned to the manufacturer or store because of physical or functional defects--are increasingly popular with price-conscious consumers. The manufacturer (or a third party repair specialist) fixes the blemish or replaces the defective part, cleans the item up and repackages it with a full warranty, ready for purchase at a price lower than the identical new item.

Most of the time, 'refurbs' are marketed online, mainly by the manufacturer selling directly to customers but sometimes by retailers. For example:

• The Apple Store UK has a special online section devoted to refurbished Macs, iPads and other electronics. This is one of the very few ways to buy a product that ordinarily isn't discounted by Apple or its channel partners. Another channel is through Apple's eBay presence, where refurbs are featured (see above).
• Curry's offers refurbished laptops from Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba, Apple and other manufacturers.
• Staples sells refurbished laser printers, desktop computers and other equipment for home or office use.

Even after the economy returns to vigorous growth, refurbs are likely to remain popular among consumers who want gadgets that work as well as brand-new items but cost significantly less.