Executive Summary

The Coresight Research team attended the Retail Innovation Forum in Amsterdam on September 26 and 27. The event was organized by the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC). Here, we feature the main takeaways from the talks held over the two days of the conference.

• Technology will play a key role in physical stores, where retailers will use computer vision and artificial intelligence (AI) to assist human employees in providing an enhanced shopping experience.
• Digitalization has changed the way consumers shop. Because the physical store is now just one of the channels available to shoppers, it must become both functional and experiential, a place to get personal advice and try products firsthand.
• Personalization is key to reaching today’s digital-first shoppers. The interaction between retailer and consumer needs to be based on the shopper’s preferences and it must be adapted to the environment—time and place—in which the shopper interaction occurs.