How digitization is revolutionizing the retail market

What does the supermarket of the future look like? How will the potential of a networked society change the way people shop? The Innovative Retail Laboratory (IRL), which has its headquarters in the Globus Markt in Sankt Wendel, Germany, deals with these visionary questions. So there is no question that the new premises of the IRL required an innovative room concept.

Centigrade's core business and the retail industry have something in common: It only works with an exact view of the user or customer. This human-centered approach was taken up for the new room concept. Using Augmented Reality, visitors of the IRL can experience shopping from different perspectives: What do vegans look for when they stand in the supermarket? How do low earners plan their shopping? What does shopping mean for allergy sufferers? Considerations that must also play a central role in future technological concepts. In addition to a new color design, we also decorated the walls with informative data visualizations relating to retail and consumption. We also developed an app on a visionary idea of the IRL: In the spirit of Urban Garding, residents can operate greenhouses jointly. With gamification elements, our app motivates residents to participate in watering, fertilizing, weeding and harvesting: Those who do more will increase their score - and become the hero of the neighbourhood, because the community benefits from short transport distances and always accessible, seasonal fruit and vegetables.