Customer Experience

The ideas, innovations and experts that will help shape the future of customer experience through 2030 and beyond

Our Material Future

The 10 paradigms in material innovation that we believe will disrupt industry in the coming decades.

Brand Watchdogs

Will businesses soon start employing AI's to keep themselves honest?

Tomorrow’s Textiles

Our rundown of H&M Foundation’s Global Change Award 2018 winners.

Future Trust Marks
Video

Future Trust Marks:

From space-mined minerals to income-adjusted goods and branded cities, the labels that will help consumers make informed choices beyond...

 Retail : Artificial Intelligence : Food And Drink
Interfaces of the future must focus on human needs

Interfaces of the future must focus on human needs:

Virtual interfaces that were once Hollywood fantasies are fast becoming a reality. But, asks Lee Fasciani, founder and creative director...

 Artificial Intelligence : Intuitive Interfaces : Territory Projects
A smart bandage that provides medical treatment

A smart bandage that provides medical treatment:

Researchers at Tufts University have engineered a smart bandage that can deliver drug treatments and monitor wounds.

Technology : Smart Device : Science
Hasna Kourda on how AI will drive more mindful purchasing

Hasna Kourda on how AI will drive more mindful purchasing:

The co-founder of the Save Your Wardrobe app explains why digitising our wardrobes will streamline consumption and help brands to...

 Fashion : Artificial Intelligence : Retail
Designer brings physical garments into the digital world
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Designer brings physical garments into the digital world:

The Netherlands – Aleksandra Gudkova, a recent graduate from Design Academy Eindhoven, has demonstrated a new approach to displaying...

 Fashion : Digital : Technology
Have brain-computer interfaces come of age?
Video

Have brain-computer interfaces come of age?:

Mind control could soon replace clicks, gestures and voice commands as our main means of interacting with the digital world.

 Digital : Media : Gaming
Can technology save the bank as we know it?

Can technology save the bank as we know it?:

Consumers’ on-the-go lifestyles have driven demand for convenience in all aspects of daily life, but as banks try to keep up are they...

 Finance : China : Banking
Wearables of the future could be made of biosmart materials
Video

Wearables of the future could be made of biosmart materials:

Puma’s global director of innovation Charles Johnson on the brand’s recent collaboration with MIT Design Lab and how biodesign could be...

 Puma : Wellbeing : Biodesign
How AI inspectors could safeguard consumer expectations

How AI inspectors could safeguard consumer expectations:

Through the lens of a fictional future scenario, we explore how technology is driving key behavioural shifts among brands and...

 Customer Experience : Far Futures : Scenario
How robots are transforming the travel and hospitality sectors

How robots are transforming the travel and hospitality sectors:

Service robots are appearing in a range of contexts from airport departure lounges to restaurants and hotels.

Hospitality : Travel : Technology
Does Pepper the robot represent the dawn of hospitality bots?

Does Pepper the robot represent the dawn of hospitality bots?:

Jonathan Boiria from Softbank Robotics discusses how its robot Pepper will infiltrate the West.

 Hospitality : Travel : Technology
Navigating the ethics of lab-grown materials

Navigating the ethics of lab-grown materials:

Designer Christina Haxholm discusses how synthetic biology can create a more sustainable fashion industry, and brands can help propel...

 Fashion : Biotechnology : Materials
Future textiles will be made from seaweed and dissolving thread
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Future textiles will be made from seaweed and dissolving thread:

The winners of H&M Foundation’s Global Change Award 2018 are pioneering circular processes in the fashion supply chain, using...

 Fashion : Sustainability : Circular Economy
Synthetic Leather Market
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Synthetic Leather Market:

Synthetic leather is evolving from low-quality, environmentally damaging pleather to a luxury staple for eco-conscious fashion brands.

Fashion : Apparel : Sustainability
Preston Lewis on encouraging exercise through gamification
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Preston Lewis on encouraging exercise through gamification:

The co-founder of Black Box VR discusses virtual reality gyms and their potential impact on consumers who want to raise their fitness...

 Health And Wellness : Health : Wellness
Will brands start selling digital apparel in video games?

Will brands start selling digital apparel in video games?:

Innovators are looking to the blockchain to create a universal marketplace for in-game items.

Gaming : Digital : Retail
The challenges of establishing autonomous retail in China

The challenges of establishing autonomous retail in China:

Joshua Xiang, executive vice-president of R&D at Suning Commerce Group, explains why automated stores are big in Asia.

Retail : Artificial Intelligence : Sport
What if bots started developing their own social behaviours?

What if bots started developing their own social behaviours?:

The long-term impact of robot culture and AI needs to be better investigated by the media and advertising industries.

 Technology : Digital : Artificial Intelligence
How gaming will define the future of customer service
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How gaming will define the future of customer service:

The £81.7bn ($108.9bn, €91.7bn) gaming industry will transform customer service, from the way consumers budget to how they engage...

 Tech : Technology : Retail
Corinne van Grevenbroek on a post-verbal future
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Corinne van Grevenbroek on a post-verbal future:

The concept designer discusses how augmented reality has the potential to create new forms of emotive interaction.

 Communication : Augmented Reality : Media
What programmable membranes mean for the future of apparel
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What programmable membranes mean for the future of apparel:

Material surfaces that can change their texture could be the future of functional apparel.

 Fashion : Sportswear : Product Design
These concepts reveal the Future of Convenience
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These concepts reveal the Future of Convenience:

In the future we will expect seamless and personalised service to be the default customer experience. What products and systems will...

 New Consumer Experience : Retail : Service
A post-material consumer experience

A post-material consumer experience:

London – Central Saint Martins graduate Martina Rocca’s Emovos project explores the ethical implications of a future in which brands...

 Technology : Retail : Fashion

Related to Customer Experience

The future of airport retail is hyper-personalisation Opinion

The future of airport retail is hyper-personalisation

With vast amounts of passenger data tied up in boarding passes, let’s use it to transform the airport retail experience, says Lee Carroll, interaction and experience designer at Seymourpowell.

Airport Retail : Duty Free : Customer Data
How VR and AR are upgrading employee training Big Ideas

How VR and AR are upgrading employee training

With their ability to improve retention and engagement, virtual and mixed realities are being placed at the heart of many brands’ onboarding processes.

Workplace : Virtual Reality : Far Futures
Climate change’s new economies and rituals News

Climate change’s new economies and rituals

Austria – An exercise in speculative futures, Austria’s After Abundance installation explored the emotional impact of climate change on communities that live in close harmony with their environment. ‘The uncertainty in facing climate change triggers fear, anger and the feeling of helplessness,’ explains curator Thomas Geisler. ‘It’s something we have little control over as individuals; but collectively we can find inventive ways to deal with these challenges.’

Design : Climate Change : Far Futures
Stat: Convenience and health shape US evening meals News

Stat: Convenience and health shape US evening meals

According to a recent survey by marketing and consultancy firms Acosta and Technomic, most Americans are indecisive about their evening meal choices leading to many choosing convenience foods from restaurants, takeaways or prepared meal kits.

Food : Convenience : Health
A meat vending machine for busy lifestyles News

A meat vending machine for busy lifestyles

The Applestone Meat Company has debuted several vending machines around New York, each filled with a variety of meat choices including beef, pork, lamb, as well as sausages.

Food : Convenience : Retail
Thought-starter: What are the materials of the future? News

Thought-starter: What are the materials of the future?

From fabrics that generate power through motion to food packaging that understands its contents, the materials of tomorrow will be smarter, stronger, more dynamic and less ecologically damaging.

Materials : Far Futures : Technology
Designing a hotel for single parents Big Ideas

Designing a hotel for single parents

Co-founder of architecture firm NOA* Stefan Rier and interior designer Joanna Lehnis explain why the hospitality sector needs to reconsider what it means to be a family hotel.

Travel : Hospitality : Travel & Hospitality Futures
Stat: More Americans believe three or more kids is ideal News

Stat: More Americans believe three or more kids is ideal

A new study by Gallup has revealed that three-child families are becoming more popular, contrary to recent reports that suggest middle children are becoming extinct. The share of people who believe three or more children is ideal is the highest since 1997, when the percentage was 42%.

Family : Far Futures : Culture
Stat: Americans support gene-editing to make babies healthier News

Stat: Americans support gene-editing to make babies healthier

According to a recent study by Pew Research Center, seven out of 10 US adults support editing the genes of unborn babies, but only to treat a serious health condition.

Far Futures : Family : Science
Office Stores Micro Trends

Office Stores

Through new technological and physical touchpoints, FMCG brands are exploring the workplace as a profitable retail opportunity.

Retail : Convenience : Co-working
A roving installation driven by mind control News

A roving installation driven by mind control

At this year’s London Design Festival, the Design Museum will host Mind Pilot, a robotic airship that can be controlled using the mind.

Digital : Media : Far Futures
African Speculations explores the impact of urbanisation News

African Speculations explores the impact of urbanisation

A recent exhibition curated by Christopher Marcinkoski and Javier Arpa Fernández, academics from the University of Pennsylvania School of Design, examined the impact of various speculative urbanisation projects proposed in Africa since 2005.

Cities : Culture : Africa
Could transhumanism be available on the NHS? Big Ideas

Could transhumanism be available on the NHS?

Steve Fuller, a sociologist and author of Humanity 2.0, discusses society’s aversion to taking biological risks, and says this must change to embrace the next iteration of human enhancements.

Far Futures : Technology : Health
An algorithm to predict the growth of cities News

An algorithm to predict the growth of cities

Researchers from the Universidade de Coruña have written an algorithm to predict what our future skyline will look like.

Architecture : Cities : Smart Cities
How The Restory is making luxury repairs an essential retail service Big Ideas

How The Restory is making luxury repairs an essential retail service

Vanessa Jacobs, founder of the accessories restoration company, on the growing demand for luxury goods repairs – and why brands must pay attention.

Luxury : Fashion : Retail
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