The World in 2030

260 The World in 2030
By 2030 you may very well meet a property developer who
doesn’t own a single property in the real world, but is busy
developing a virtual real estate (as some pioneers are doing
today). 480
We will fall in love on the super-web and we will have sex
in the same space. We will make firm long-term friends who
we never physically meet and, for many, the online world
(what a quaint term!) will become far more important in
their lives than the physical world.
The nature of retailing and of shopping in general is
undergoing great change and there are strong trends to
be seen which suggest that for most of us the activity of
‘shopping’ will have been divided into two new discrete
activities by 2030.
‘Utilities’ shopping – buying repeat and routine items – will
mostly be done online and will, in some instances, become
automated as your ‘smart’ home environment senses the need
for milk, eggs, tissues, washing power and other everyday
items. These will be ordered from your preferred supplier and
either delivered to your door or left for your collection.
‘Discretionary’ shopping – the shopping that you choose
to do – will have become ‘retail experiences’ in which
shoppers will take pleasure in the leisure pursuit of selecting
clothes, high-end cars, organic fresh food, furniture, etc. To
maintain profit margins within their physical outlets retailers
are already designing ‘themed’ shops and it is likely that in
twenty-five years high-end retail parks will have become a
holiday destination in themselves (like today’s Dubai).