Shopping of the future

Last year, fashion market was boosted by high street retailers Gap, Zara, and H&M all launching transactional websites. Online shopping market is expected to grow by %45 by 2015, and there's still a lot of potential. Broadband penetration more than doubled in the UK between 2005 and 2010. %69 of adults now have a high speed connection, and %28 of adults using smartphone type of mobile, which allows them to reach online information much easier. Social media is having its golden times. Facebook, I pad, I phone applications help brands to seem current, entertaining and fun. It creates a huge opportunity to connect with more shoppers. Tweeting makes customer feedback more important than it ever was. While everything evolves this fast, competition gets harder and brands have to work on their image and the way they build a relationship with their current customers and potential customers in a stronger and more original way than ever before.

Everything is about individuality nowadays. Everyone wants to make a statement. ''I like'' buttons, tweets, blogs etc. It all is personal. Being like everyone and getting treated like everyone is not cool and enough anymore. In a time where everything runs so fast and everything is so disposable, brands have to not only have to stay updated but also have to come up with interesting ideas to draw customers.

Topshop secret store

There's a website called ''Wardrobe Mistress'' with personalized services. It's not a regular online boutique. Their services include consultation with experts, personalized moodboards, calendar of shopping events, personalized lookbook. Plus, everything you purchase arrives gift wrapped in bespoke wardrobe mistress packaging. Topshop takes the pop-up store idea to another level with its secret store within store concept. It is available to see in New York Soho and London Oxford Street flagship store. It's a store within a store you discover on a visit to the shop, a small section with hand crafted, one-off pieces, designs that have never made it to production. This concept creates an intimate, mysterious feeling and draws customers to the store. The element of surprise, personal and intimate are the key words.

Topshop secret store online

Instore events and galleries draw customers to stores as well. Urban outfitters have a section in their store with couches and book, where you can spend quality time exploring. This gives a warm opportunity to have the store experience as well as workshops, djs they offer. Levi's Istanbul has a gallery where they display young artists' work, which you can only reach by going through the store. 

Responsible prosperity os becoming a powerful tool for the luxury market. Selfridges''Project Ocean '' includes series of environmental friendly campaigns. Hermes launched a sustainable line of jewelry and accessories called ''Petit h'', which are made from leather scraps and unwanted household items. It's a range of scarf prints created by students from the University of Southampton's Winchester School of Art to benefit the international conservation organisation, ''World Land Trust''.Liberty made a project called ''Save it with a scarf''.The project gives %15 of its sales to project areas in Paraguay, Borneo and the Atlantic Rainforest.

Liberty ''Save if for a scarf'' project

Selfridges ''Project Ocean''

Hermes ''Petit h''

As you can see, there are endless opportunities to offer. In my opinion, this crazy scene of retail will keep flourishing, but after a while people will return to simple ideas. As we all experienced the changing shopping habits after the global recession, now handmade, personal and valuable are the features many customers look for in a purchase. Bespoke service is now valued more than it has ever been since the growth of mass production. I think, bespoke that is marketed through popular sources these days, will become more hidden in near future. The time of appreciating the tailor around the corner, local talents will become the key to feeling special and make people wonder. As we spend enough time and energy filtering everything around us in this decade of endless information, the arrival of simplicity is inevitable.