Red-letter retail day Cyber Monday broke single-day spending records this week after consumers parted with $2.29bn (£1.46bn) online.
Love or hate them, Christmas season retail events like Cyber Monday are fascinating case studies of how much shopper behaviour and retail experience have changed in recent years. Black Friday, for example, saw internet traffic up 60% compared with last year, while online sales for Cyber Monday grew by 21%, with mobile sales exceeding 17% of total online sales. Tablets, phablets, smartphones and social media all played a key part over a Thanksgiving weekend stuffed with discounts and deals.
But while shoppers may be turning to online channels to get their retail fix, the high street has also been evolving. From interactive storefront windows to holograms in changing rooms, technology is changing the way we shop in-store. Connected shelves, robots and 3D printing are being tested in retail settings and could well become a regular fixture of high street stores in the future.
With technological innovation moving at such a fast rate in the sector, and with online and offline coming together to change the shopping experience in so many different ways, it’s difficult to know what’s going on right now, let alone what the future might hold for our bricks and mortar stores and online marketplaces.
But that’s what we want to do in our next webchat: look at the technologies, behaviours and platforms that will change the way we shop in the next 10 years. What will the shop assistant of the future look like and how will our high streets change? Will it be for better or worse?
Join us and an expert panel from 12:30-2pm GMT on Wednesday 10 December to answer these questions and more. We’ll take a look at what is and isn’t working now (will click-and-collect be here to stay?) and examine the devices and experiences that are yet to reach the mainstream: wearables, virtual reality and beacons.
Panel
Michael Kliger, vice president, international, eBay Enterprise
Ranjiv Dale, head of technology, GfK
Toby Abel, chief technology officer, Befittd
Andreia Campos, managing director, Gleam
Richard Perks, director of retail, Mintel
Gary Davies, professor of strategy, Manchester Business School
Henry Lawson, CEO, AutoGraph
This live chat takes places in the comments section below.
Take part by logging in (or signing up) as a commenter and submit your question or query below. You can post something now for the panel to pick up on the day or join us live.
This live Q&A is provided by eBay, sponsors of the Guardian Media Network’s Technology in Retail hub
