Here at C-Talk, we love to talk about all things convenience retail (obviously- created by retailers for retailers, after all). Convenience retail in the past, retail in in the present- especially retail in the future.
We seem to have done futuristic retail to the death; weâve spoken about the development of food to go and how its changed our sector massively, as well as development in the delivery of convenience store products and the overall role of our sector in society as a whole.
What we havenât done yet however, is the idea of convenience stores in the actual future.
But weâre not just talking in 10, 20, 30 years time; no, we feel as though thatâs too easily imaginable.
With Starship robots already delivering food to hungry students on University campusâ and Amazon launching entire self-serve, no-staff convenience stores that rely solely on online baskets and cameras, the technological side of convenience retail is not one we have too much more to fathom on.
No, weâre talking about the future future; a thousand, ten thousand years from now- as far as we can go without sounding incoherent. That future; bright, dazzling, techy and so different to our current reality.
Thankfully, our minds have run wild through the guidelines of a few brilliant films; ones that have already showcased the possible growth of our sector.
For example, in the 1990 release of Total Recall, the convenience store is shown as a futuristic establishment that features a variety of high-tech products. The shop is designed to accommodate automated carts that guide customers through the store, helping them locate the products theyâre after without the need to speak to any human staff. In fact, thereâs practically no human staff at all!
In addition to this, the store actually sells a variety of advanced products, such as self-heating coffee cups, virtual reality headsets and memory implants; all processed by a robotic cashier that provides exceptional customer service.
Whoâs to say that in a thousand years from now, your local wonât be run by robots and machines; the temptation to erase harmless human error irresistible?
On top of this, what items will be considered âconvenientâ in the far future? It may be a packet of gum or a can of Monster now, but if the dehydrated mini pizza scene from Back To The Future II taught us anything (where a singular bite hydrates into twelve generous slices), it could very well be entire Christmas dinners that fit in the palm of your hand!
An honourable mention weâd like to pay homage to would be the Simpsons; a classic, much-loved show with an undeniable knack for successfully predicting iconic events.
In the episode âBart to the Futureâ, Bart visits a convenience store called âKwik-E-Mart 3000â; a shop that consists of high-tech products, yet another robot cashier, yet another virtual reality headset and many more aspects that can be correlated to the films mentioned above.
Although this scene is a satirical take on the concept of futuristic convenience stores and the expectations we have of them, the repetition of ârobot cashiersâ and âVR headsetsâ and âhigh-techâ objects can only mean one thing; we know what we want, and at some point someoneâs going to take that fateful leap and give it to us!
Itâs only a matter of time before these notions become base reality, and it doesnât even seem too far away (i.e Starship Robot Delivery). Our sector is already growing in so many different ways, and we just advise all retailers to keep an open mind; even if it doesnât happen in our lifetime, you have to admit- the ideaâs still pretty cool!
