Wednesday 26th April
16.00-18.00, FASS D72/MR11, Lancaster University
All welcome
This seminar will be hosted by University of Leeds and available to view via Livestream.
A blended retail future?:
Exploring the colonisation of shopping by on-line connectivity (and energy and mobility implications
The story of online shopping is usually presented as a story of extreme and profound change in when, where and how shopping (selling, storing, delivering, buying and browsing) occurs. Research undertaken within DEMAND suggests a more blended continuum in which on-line connectivity has colonised most product areas, but to different and varying degrees.
Emerging forms of delivery services, stand-alone lockers and third party pick-up locations have the potential to transform consumer expectations. However, ideas about online shopping are not uniform: they relate to work and family arrangements, the materiality of the goods involved, the household’s approach to retail and to logistics and storage, and the willingness to pay for swift delivery. Meanwhile, some of the systems of provision which make online shopping possible were created prior to recent changes in ICT.
This talk considers different aspects of change and relative stability and discusses likely future trajectories and trends in brick-and-mortar and online retail.