At Shop.org, the Retail Digital Summit, held in Dallas Sept. 26-28, 2016, industry leaders described the future of retail as a simultaneous evolution of digital innovation and new trends in brick and mortar. This is a summary of five Big Ideas we heard at the conference that will transform retail and delight customers.

1. The Future of
Commerce Is Change
The Big Ideas I saw at

2. While digital commerce will continue to grow, the storefront will always exist
in some form -- humans will always feel the need to connect with other
humans and touch what they’re buying.
BIG IDEA #1
Capitalism Is Being Digitized, But…
Money is being digitized. Commerce will be digitized.
But the brick and mortar store will always be with us.

3. Marketers have to go where the customers are, and engage them there. One
recent promotion used TV, an online stream from New York’s Fashion Week,
mobile, as well as social media and their app to create a 360-degree cus-
tomer experience. It’s all about being customer-centric.
BIG IDEA #2
Commerce Is Evolving
Digital commerce gave way to omni-channel commerce,
and we’re now moving to distributed commerce.

4. There will always be a market for products that still convey value and bring us
back to our roots. A company has begun manufacturing watches in
Detroit, with leather bands tanned in their own tannery and lifetime warranties.
BIG IDEA #3
Products That Do Not Evolve, May Not Die
Lower tech products may find their niche in smaller
“nostalgia” markets.

5. What if your content management system understood what’s in it?
There is now a CMS that improves as marketers and merchandisers
use it. With cognitive tagging, the system learns about your content
and offers recommendations based on your preferences.
BIG IDEA #4
The Future Of Content Is Cognitive
Cognitive tools will help simplify management of a
brand’s digital presence.

6. From home, we can take a visual tour of a kitchen remodel,
picture furniture to scale in our rooms scale or try on
lipstick or false eyelashes. And that’s just the beginning…
BIG IDEA #5
Virtual And Augmented Reality Are Here
Brands have begun to introduce VR and AR for enhanced and immersive customer experiences,.
These virtual worlds allow customers to shop in context, where that product will live.

7. See more more about how content can be streamed up
based on your preferences here.
See IBM’s contribution to the future of commerce.
Our new Digital Content Hub, an intelligent content
management system powered by IBM Watson,
learns as you use it, and improves over time.