The twilight of selling just products

‘Phygital’ solutions were in the limelight at the EuroShop trade fair 2020 in Düsseldorf: the combination of physical and digital solutions. For five days 2,300 exhibitors from 57 countries were showcasing their products and services in 16 pavilions to 94,000 trade visitors in the Messe Düsseldorf complex. President and CEO Erhard Wienkamp told: once again EuroShop proved that it is the most important platform in world retail. This year the trade show focused on sustainability, digitalisation and digital strategies (connecting online with offline), the shopping experience, the positive emotional reactions of shoppers and shopper involvement. The concepts presented suggest that in the future everything will be connected and automatic while shopping – and most stores will be unmanned.

Basically there was no stand where sustainability wasn’t a featured theme in one form or another. For instance in-store display maker Proteus manufactures the POS tool with its internal structure made of recycled plastic, and the product can be combined in 1,875 different forms and positions. Packaging use is reducing, as retailers are trying to offer products in a form that they need no packaging.

Wanzl is persuading shoppers to buy their own trolleys, so that no shopping bags or packaging have to be used. Another sustainability trend is that products and concepts educate shoppers, motivating or even forcing them to consume sustainably.

This year’s star innovations were transparent LED walls in various sizes, shapes and brightness, and 3D hologram fans. EuroShop visitors also got the opportunity to have an insight into the world of augmented reality (AR). They could see AR concepts that turned product presentation into an experience in a very innovative way. Recently creative digital signage solutions have been conquering retail. These can motivate shoppers for getting in touch with the brand one way or another. This is the sign of product manufacturers and retailers thinking in terms of more and more hybrid solutions. Shoppers meet a product in the real world and they can start personalised digital processes as a reaction.

There were several kinds of robots at EuroShop, humanoid ones that assist customers in shopping and warehouse robots that do the work of humans in the storage room. They are capable of human-like communication and they can even control the shopping trolley while the customer is trying the find the product they need.

In the store of the future customers will become part of the shop. Today the success of shop fittings specialist Wanzl’s isn’t only based on selling products, but more on providing services and realising concepts. They came to EuroShop with Urban Store: a small-sized unmanned store, where customers find all the important products very quickly, in line with the busy city lifestyle. Sensors, cameras, scales and personal identification make it possible for shoppers to avoid queuing, pay using a QR code and be on their way again. Düsseldorf will host the next EuroShop will be between 26 February and 2 March 2023.