Future Retail Store

The project, spanning over a period of nearly three years, aims to create a real retail and experimentation space that represents a future-oriented brick-and-mortar retail sector along with digitized business models and innovative concepts. Real-world experiments in retail mean: no pop-up, no showroom, no laboratory; instead, it offers a physical sales area with real customers. Selected medium-sized companies will implement innovative retail concepts in this space, accompanied by scientific guidance, to test and evaluate various components of their business models (such as digitized customer interactions, value chains and processes, circular economy & sustainability, community aspects). The Future Retail Store thus becomes a hub for new concepts in the medium-sized retail sector and a beacon guiding its self-determined future.

How does digitalization transform brick-and-mortar business models, and how can/digital technologies be economically and effectively utilized? What are promising, yet simple and easily integrable applications that can truly make a difference? How can experimenting and learning with new (digital) concepts be implemented? These are not easy tasks for the medium-sized retail sector!

To compensate for resource disadvantages compared to large corporations and start-ups with venture capital investors, the project enables retailers in the brick-and-mortar sector to experiment with new business and interaction concepts, technologies, and working methods. From these experiments, transferable insights, approaches, and application examples will be developed that are applicable to the medium-sized retail sector.

• Physical and publicly accessible 'experimentation space' for relevant application knowledge, exchange, inspiration, and concrete experimentation for the retail sector in a highly frequented city center location
• Publication of insights from the project and discussion through various event formats with retailers, as well as with policymakers and other stakeholders interested in vibrant and livable city centers
• Roadmap for 'Experiments' in Retail: Documentation and evaluation of the conducted experiments for practical application and applied research
• Derivation of implications and recommendations for further promotion of the medium-sized retail sector