5 1/2 Technologies That Will Change Retailing
By Thomas J. Blischok on Nov. 15, 2016By 2035, planet Earth will teem with 8 billion people and 80 billion devices connected in every imaginable—and unimaginable—way.
Between now and then—and indeed much closer to now—emerging technologies will reshape and/or transform the world as we know it.
This is not hyperbole. The seeds already have been planted.
As you read this article, ask yourself, “Is technology destined to augment or exceed humanity?” Albert Einstein would suggest the latter. As technology innovation advances over the next 20 years, humankind will face a number of choices that will reshape daily living as we know it.
Here are five technology platforms destined to reshape our retail world. For each, I offer a grade of likelihood ...
1. The internet of things (IoT) at the core of daily living
By 2035, expect every home, office, common space and vehicle in the world to be connected. You might call it the new global grid.
In the next 20 years, homes will be increasingly digitally connected to the world. Kitchen appliances and devices will help you select and prepare every meal and snack. Cooking, cleaning, personal care, family care and entertainment will be wired seamlessly, ensuring every activity is orchestrated in real time.
Take a family movie night. The artificial intelligence in the home “understands” that the family likes a certain brand of soda and popcorn. The home network realizes that there is no popcorn on the shelf and that there are only two cans of soda remaining in the refrigerator. So the home network sends a request to the local convenience store to deliver—by drone—both items by 7 o’clock.
At precisely 7, the drone lands on the “home pad” and notifies Harold, the home robotic assistant, that the delivery is made. Harold picks up the items, restocks the refrigerator and asks the refrigerator to quick-chill the soda, and then places the popcorn in the IoT microwave.
By the way, the TV has told Harold that the movie is about to start. The popcorn being popped is automatically nutritionally enhanced and personalized though a customizing capability on the IoT microwave. Dad wants salt-free, the kids want buttered and mom wants regular popcorn.
In this scenario, the home is the shopper, not just the individual.
2. Practical robotics for home, office and manufacturing
Within the next 20 years, floor-cleaning and home-chores robots will have developed into the next generation of practical personal robots (PPTs) destined to reshape, enhance and alter the quality of living by freeing us from daily tasks and labors. Whether doing the wash, helping prepare the meals, cleaning floors, answering doors or cleaning windows, “family robots” will be in the majority of homes helping the family enhance the quality of daily living.
Yes, you’re not far off if you’re picturing Rosie from “The Jetsons” in your mind. These PPTs will enter the workforce, assisting not only your calendar, but also all of your interactive activities.
This is the world of AI on steroids, and we’re already heading there. (Who’d have thought that driverless cars would become a reality?)
But personal robots that start out as home and office assistants will quickly move to the new role of home and office companions. With increasingly complex generations for artificial intelligence, Harold, your PPT, could become a robotic companion for your children, a care monitor for the elderly or sick (directly connected to caregivers), a teacher helping your children learn their math, or a coach to motivate you through your daily exercise.
At retail, as you enter a store, you are met with its “robotic concierge.” It helps you select that special gift or purchase, points you to where it can be found, helps you purchase it and, if you like, arranges for gift wrapping and/or delivery.
Robots in retail for basic tasks will begin to become commonplace as labor becomes increasingly costly and human employees are redirected to higher-value tasks.
A closing thought on robots: They don’t argue, don’t fight, are never late, take simple direction and can be turned on or off as their owners please. Oh, and don’t worry about threats of unionization.
3. Drones of all types and sizes
It began with a simple TV unveiling in which Jeff Bezos started the “drone revolution” of 2013. It is estimated that 1 million drones were sold during the 2014 holiday season. In July 2016, 7-Eleven made the first commercial drone delivery from the store to a consumer’s home. The Federal Aviation Administration has instituted Federal Air Regulations (FARs) regarding owning and flying drones. And we are just two years into the evolution of drones as both a personal and business technology. Drones in the coming years will do more to reshape both the home and commercial distribution system than any previous technology.
First, drones are increasing in size, lift capacity and failsafe redundancy. No longer are they made with just two electric motors/propellers; six to eight are the emerging standard, and we can easily see drones with 10 to 12 based on lift capacity. Advances in drone platform stability continues with next-generation inertial navigation capability coupled with onboard traffic collision avoidance systems (TCAS, which alert every drone in a given area where the other drones are and are going)—both augmented by next-generation satellite navigation.
Oh, by the way, more than 1,000 additional navigation satellites are in the process of being placed into Earth’s orbit to radically improve geospatial positioning. The technology platforms for reliable drone use are in play today and are expected only to get both more sophisticated and cheaper in upcoming years.
Now the delivery: Imagine home and office delivery platforms being licensed in the same way as satellite dishes. The retailer and/or distributor places a landing pad, aligns its exact altitude, latitude and longitude, enters that into the “delivery software” and seamlessly flies the drone with its delivery to the desired location. The launch location is the rooftop of a current retailer/distributor that has a fleet of drones with thousands of precalculated flight/delivery paths ready to transport to any delivery-licensed location in 15 minutes or less after order.
Let’s extend our thinking a little here. Larger, more sophisticated drones are possible. What if we could build a drone that could deliver a payload of 1,000 to 2,000 pounds, and it costs us no more than a battery charge to fly the drone from a warehouse to either a satellite distribution center and/or a larger store? Would this become the new “truck route”? Would this change the entire cost of distribution? Would this alter our operating model?
4. Wearables: more than looks
The first generation of wearables both monitors and reports performance (Fitbit, Google Glass, GoPro, Apple Watch, etc.).
The next generation becomes embedded in the clothes we wear (temperature sensing to keep the body at an optimum temperature with e-breathable fabrics, including automatic reflective sensing), offering everything from plug-in dry cleaning (plug in the garment and the garment electronically cleans itself), to performance augmentation (muscle-stimulating fabrics that provide strength when needed), with an entirely new generation of fabrics that match moods and activities.
5. 3-D and 4-D printing redefıning product sourcing and manufacturing
First and most important from a consumer perspective, 3-D printing is coming to the kitchen. For $199 or less, the average household will purchase a 3-D printer capable of printing simple meals, meal ingredients and components, and snacks—all in near real time. Simply insert food printer cartridges and “print” your gastronomic favorites. And the printer can cook or bake these foods, too. A day in the life of home printing “appliances”: In the morning as I leave for work, I load pizza cartridges into the 3-D food printing appliance in the kitchen and set the prep and cook time for 6 p.m. Tonight I have a meeting but I want to come home for a quick dinner before I go to the meeting. At 4 p.m., I realize that I am running a little late, so I text the food printer to shift the start time to 6:30 p.m.
I recently saw a shirt on TV and with my remote selected the shirt as an item I wanted to buy. As I clicked on the shirt image on the screen, my digital TV gave me the information on the shirt with the option to download a digital pattern. I loaded the pattern into my 4-D printer with the “fabric cartridges” and printed the shirt in my exact size and fit, ready to wear the next morning.
3-D and 4-D printing will not just be an integral element in the IoT home. These technologies will radicalize the retail store operating model. Imagine walking into a mall with the goal of purchasing a new set of running shoes. Upon entering the store, you are immediately digitally identified by your ongoing relationship with the store or brand available throughout the store as you engage in your purchase decision making. You know what you want based on preshopping the store and are ready to place your order for a custom set of running shoes.
You do final selection on the style, color and features/options. Enter your order and within 30 minutes a pair of custom running shoes is ready for pickup. In-store customized manufacturing is the new norm by 2035.
More transformation
The above technologies represent significant changes in the way we interact with retail and each other. However, they are but a small representation of how our world is destined to change over the next 50 years.
Here are the platforms I believe will transform the world we live in going forward:
- Rethinking energy and the environment: Aquaculture, precision farming, climate control, alternative energy, genetically modified foods, smart grids, desalinization.
- Manufacturing and robotics: Personal robots, smart factory robots, micro and nano machines, mass to individual customized production, and smartbot recycling of everything.
- Medicine and biogenetics: Personal medicine, telemedicine, body monitoring, synthetic organs, cancer cure, gene therapy, child trait engineering and life extension.
- E-commerce: Intelligent web 3.0-5.0, digital convergence, e-government, global access and virtual reality.
- Information technology: Optical and quantum computing, artificial intelligence, biocomputing and thought-powered digital engagement.
- Transportation: Intelligent, hybrid and driverless cars; hypersonic airplanes; magnetic-levitation-powered, near supersonic trains; automated highways; and eco-powered personal transport vehicles.
Thom Blischok is chairman and CEO of The Dialogic Group. Reach him at thom.blischok@thedialogicgroup.com.