When you think about a store of the future, what do you see?

If you cast a Jetson-esque projection, the Roomba replaces Rosie – but the damn car still doesn’t fly!

At this year’s SHIFT Tech Summit, to be held October 2-3 in Detroit, we’ll fast forward the retail experience for a look at things to come. After all, if you want to succeed in today’s competitive, omni-channel world, your store must embrace cutting-edge technology and implement smart strategies to improve branding, build customer loyalty, and exceed customer expectations.

We’ll talk about – and let you play with – awesome technologies, like AR/VR and beacons. Are you reading up on beacons yet? These amazing little devices detect when a shopper is within a certain radius of your store and sends a special offer to their cell phone to help bring them in – where you and your sales staff can close a sale.   

We’ll also talk about customer engagement and what that means from both an online and instore-experience perspective. If you’re not sure where your business is on the customer engagement scale, it’s time to start reading, listening, learning, and activating a strong plan.

Finally, we’ll address the importance of data analytics and unified commerce. And, some will even tackle the tough topic of evolved branding and the next level of customer service.

In short, SHIFT is designed to help you carry your business from where you are to where everyone wants to be.

It sounds daunting, but the store of the future is already within reach. With a few small tweaks from the things you learn from our featured experts – and a couple of new pieces of technology – you’ll be well on your way to breaking traditional barriers and leading the charge of home furnishings’ store of the future.