Forget the man wearing the oversized Dominoes pizza box at the busy intersection, artificial intelligence technology will be the humanized advert of the future. After pondering the potential for interactive billboards, the route that advertising technology is on is looking mightily familiar, almost human.

What makes up a human, well a number of things, including opposable thumbs, feeling emotion, self-awareness and the ability to learn? ‘Strong A.I.’ can learn to simulate human thinking, recognise emotion, are self aware and thumbs are just unnecessary. Blade Runner hasn’t come to life just yet but the rise of the machines is on the horizon and they can show you the way to your nearest Dominoes.

Google have trained their search bots to understand and categorise humour, digital signs can recognise facial features, race, age, gender and recommend a bag to match your outfit. In the future they could discern emotion, and in turn react to the consumer’s mood. Let’s go one step further. Hooking up social media and your online purchase history to adverts would give the real insight into our minds that these virtual sales assistants need to make their pitch more personal.

NEC are confident in their A.I. signs released in Japan but Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt called facial recognition ‘creepy’. Privacy has been a core issue of controversy for advertising and social networking sites alike, but Amazon’s recommendations and Facebook’s adverts are both dipping into your personal information for marketing purposes and we’ve all grown accustom to it. I thought it would be amazing to have an advert refer to me by name and know what I’ve ‘Liked’ on Facebook but what if I joined the Twilight fan page ironically. Can strong A.I. understand sarcasm, would everyone be as overjoyed by a usually inanimate object talking to them? What if that billboard looked like a human, would that make the encounter anymore comfortable? Perhaps in time it will become the norm, we will grow accustomed to our digitised human advertisements.

With the development of the internet, mobile apps, state-of-the-art displays and geo-location devices, many new concepts are evolving in retail, but one area that is more prominent than most is the rise of phygital displays. Phygital displays merge the physical and digital worlds together by creating a paradigm that has encapsulated many of the world’s largest brands, including Coca-Cola, IBM and Adidas:



Phygital solutions now enable brands to fully engage with consumers, physically and emotionally, by tracking and measuring customer behaviour. They often utilise existing products that consumers are well and truly familiar with, such as mirrors, radios and even post-it notes. Therefore, are we seeing a steady move away from apps that have arguably become the ‘norm’ for high-street retailers?

Just one advantage of developing phygital solutions within the advertising sector is the ability to work seamlessly within all environments, including shopping centres, festivals, bars and gyms. This flexibility has offered brands the chance to target new consumers in different sectors, physically grasping the popularity of the digital world that has been created by the likes of Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.

The digital landscape in 2011 has clearly taken over every aspect of the consumer shopping experience, promoting entirely new behaviours in the world of retail. US online sales reached $170 billion in 2010 and £58.8 billion in the UK. Yet, more noticeable is the increase in non-store retailing that has seen a 5.4% rise in 2010, the largest since March 2009. Clearly, this has resulted in an increase of pressure on high-street retailers, who now need to bring consumers and revenue back into the stores by providing new solutions that make for a more pleasurable experience for tech-savvy consumers.

During the past three months at ClustaLabs I have thoroughly researched into how the retail industry has being influenced by the development of technology, but it is now time to utilise this research into creating innovative solutions for brands.

Shoppers are increasingly becoming more tech-savvy, expending more from retailers in regards to customer experience and deliverables. Retailers need to embrace new technologies; otherwise they are faced with the prospect of being left behind. Across the high street, Brick and Mortar stores are beginning to shut down due to rising costs, the recession, e-commerce and advances such as downloadable music/books putting retailers like HMV out of business.

So what does the high street need to do to get customers through their doors? They need to embrace in the technological world. Some retailers are already starting to use technology in and outside of the store, such as JC Penney’s, Nordstrom’s, Forever 21, Ralph Lauren and Burberry. projection mapping on the exterior of buildings, live streaming of London Fashion Week and interactive bill-boards.

However, small incremental changes can be the key to success, such as ‘tweet-mirrors’ that are used in high street retailers like Pilot and New Look, contactless, RFID tagging, apps and QR tagging.

So what do I think will be in the future for retail? There are various speculations about what technologies will be used in the future of retail and fashion stores. Some will build upon technological solutions that are in-store now, like gesture based window shopping and Augmented Reality, but how is this really helping the consumer and does this mean that people will have to wander around wearing augmented reality glasses all day?

Microsoft Office Labs called “2019″, star men, women and children playing with what they think will be the next-generation of communication, collaboration and production technologies. This includes a “transparent wall” between two classrooms around the world, animated drawings, real-time conversation translations, surface displays, electronic boarding cards, transparent displays, mini projectors and electronic newspapers.



Some believe that there will be a future made of glass, from when you wake up in the morning and your TV tells you the news to special greetings displays in shops, phones, touch-screen bus shelters and even across oven surfaces.

Others believe like Microsoft that augmented reality will be the next big thing in retail e.g. when you go into a supermarket, your shopping list will be projected in front of your eyes. It will be able to guide you around the store and say when stock levels are low. It may even be used to develop an instant social networking solution, virtually bring up information about the person you are talking to including stats, likes and dislikes.

We know that in the future, personalisation will be fundamental to consumers. This means that the retail industry will change from business to consumer to consumer to business. As you walk into a store, everything should be personalised to that person. This may be digital displays that are aimed specifically at an individual, kiosks that suggest clothes for you, technology that recognises age, gender and needs, but remember this information is for all retailers, not just fashion.

Yet, this is all still speculation! It might be an accurate representation on what is coming out over the following couple of years, but more importantly is the ability to understand what is available now. Security and comfort is clearly the number one issue for consumers, hence do people really want to give their fingerprint every time they go shopping or swipe their phone to pay? Will people trust this?

Lastly, retailers need to realise that to increase their brand value and name, they first need to understand the customer and provide solutions to their in-store problems. Hence, retailers have to now concentrate on Queues, Time, Mess, Information Search and Customer Service. No-one has really done anything to tackle these areas yet, why?

The last area that I am concentrating on is how Touch technology is used in Fashion Retail, or should I say ‘non-touch’ as Kinect applications and Hygienic issues arise.

Touch surfaces are becoming increasingly popular in our everyday lives, including the Microsoft Surface 2.0, tablet PCs and Smartphone’s enabling consumers the opportunity to directly interact with brands.

Solitary shopping is being increasingly more obsolete, since touch screen technology enables consumers to link directly to their social networking sites, gaining immediate opinions from their friends and family at a touch of a button.

Nordstrom's BP Photobooth now allows girls the chance to take photos of themselves whilst trying on clothes. Why? Because girls often bring in camera phones into the dressing room to take snapshots of outfits that they have tried on to help with later purchasing decisions or just to update their Facebook profile picture.

Seventeen and J.C. Penny launched the virtual dressing room, incorporating augmented reality, motion capture, social media and e-commerce.  Fashion choices can now be made through mobile devices or webcam; hence if they like a product they can then buy it through the J.C. Penney website. With a simple wave of a hand, shoppers can now select, rate and share their top pictures with friends via Facebook or email, creative a much more engaging way in regards to online shopping.

The Tweet Mirror, as seen on Mary Portas show, has since become increasingly more popular within retail. It makes the overall shopping experience more enjoyable, interactive and social, merging the worlds between physical and digital.



Although touch has become increasingly popular, the future will be based upon the opposite; ‘non-touch’ screens.  The gesture based 24 hour window shopping has recently been developed, in which consumers can order products outside of store. Fraunhofer Institute even suspects that in the future, technology will be able to place through orders by recognising twitches and emotions from peoples’ faces. The interactive shop window uses infrared cameras that register the movements of a persons’ hand. The consumer simply points to the item of their choice that is shown in 3D, along with prices, colours and availability. Twisting the hand rotates the images on the screen. To buy, the customer then moves an arrow on the screen to a checkout icon, clicks on it and completes the purchase by placing a mobile phone against the glass. This gives a new form of interaction and brings people back onto the high street.

If you have any questions as to how non-touch screen applications will revolutionise the fashion retail industry, please feel free to email me at emily.clarke@clusta.com

Today I have collated my information together on Apps, how they have revolutionised the fashion and retail industry.  Retailers have been quick to capitalise on the trend of Apps; in the UK alone the number of Smartphone users has increased by 70% in the year of 2010. Eventually all phones will be ‘smart’ to some degree. On January 22, 2011 the 10 billionth app was downloaded from Apple App Store.

Mobile social networks and in-store technologies are enabling shoppers to receive real time feedback from friends and likeminded people. Instant opinions are transforming even a solitary shopping trip into a more social experience. Fashionista’s like their apps so they can get up-to-date fashion tips, styles, hot off the catwalk looks and promotional offers.

Debenhams launched the app for the professional shopper making the retailer the first on the high street to offer apps for the three key Smartphone’s. The app was designed to target the on-the-move shopper and enrich the in-store experience, with the success of the iPhone app and sales on Debenhams.com increasing by 82.4%. The ‘Barcode Scanner’ acts as a virtual shopping assistant, using the phone’s camera to snap barcodes, automatically checking pricing and reviews. The ‘Store Finder’ is the shopping sat-nav, helping customers locate their nearest Debenhams store and view contact details, opening hours, facilities and a floor guide.

Gucci was the first luxury brand to embrace the iPad, showcasing Gucci’s world through this season’s look book, including videos of their catwalk shows. Other retailers have been quick off the mark such as Vogue Stylist App, allowing you to take photos of magazine photography to unlock more information of them.



Stylish Girl app categorises everything in your wardrobe from underwear to shoes.  You enter a picture of the items then create outfits; view your wardrobe, copy items to your virtual suitcase for holidays and weekends away and shop online, matching clothes against your own.

Style Advice Glamour ‘Ask a Stylist’ is like having your own personal stylist on call 24/7. If you are shopping alone and you see two outfits but can only have one, you can send a picture to Glamour's stylists and they'll give you their advice within fifteen minutes, a must have for every girl wanting to be at the forefront of this season’s trend.

Ebay ‘See it On’ iPhone app allows you to try products on before buying it, using augmented reality. Consumers can take a picture of themselves, browse through products they like and roughly see what it is going to look like on them – genius! So what’s next in fashion technology, how is film used to emphasise brands and how can voice applications persuade consumers to buy? Watch this space.