EuroShop trends: from natural wallpaper to AI-powered real-time analysis

1,800 exhibitors, 18 exhibition halls and countless innovations for the retail of tomorrow. Anyone wanting to keep track at EuroShop needs a trained eye. This is exactly what trend scout Alex Gehle and retail expert Chris Zorn from the interior design company Knoblauch offered with their expo tour, “Spotting the bold”, at the Düsseldorf trade fair for retail innovations.

Their aim was to guide retailers to where materials surprise, systems are rethought and digital solutions take store design to a new level.

Gehle has summarised his highlights for FashionUnited.

Hay flower scent in-store

While the topic of sustainability was still a highlight at EuroShop 2023, three years later it seems to be more deeply rooted, at least in terms of what exhibitors are offering. Take Organoid, for example, a Tyrolean company that brings nature into stores with surfaces, wallpapers and acoustic walls made from rose petals, hay flowers, moss and much more. Brands such as L'Occitane, VW and Microsoft work with Christoph Egger and his team. Here, sustainability becomes a true sensory experience, as the rose wallpaper, for example, is even scented.

Bricks made from recycled clothing

Recycling has been a difficult topic in the fashion industry for years. What if textile fibres were returned to the cycle to produce materials for store design? This is what the Spanish artificial stone manufacturer PanelPiedra does. Its products are used extensively not only in retail but also in the catering industry. For example, PanelPiedra has a brick on the market that has made its way into Zara stores in the form of display tables. The bricks consist of 50 percent recycled clothing fibres, which are mixed with cement and other materials. They are real eye-catchers, in 'fire protection class 1' (non-combustible building materials without combustible components)!

It gets even more striking with Paneco, a platform for the circular economy of textiles from the Japanese company Workstudio Co., Ltd.. Paneco produces surfaces from waste. Clothing, scraps, food – everything is shredded and processed into surfaces. These can consist of up to 90 percent clothing, for example, and are used in store design as well as for the interior design of offices, hotels and restaurants. Pop-up furniture was also on display.

Beautiful mannequins

Craft Mannequins from the Netherlands showed a really exciting concept. The mannequins are made of papier-mâché and are 100 percent biodegradable, apart from the metal in the shoulder areas. Recycled paper is processed in a highly aesthetic way, sometimes in eye-catching colours. Perfect for pop-up spaces!

Outform provides amazement

The contrast could not have been greater at this point: out of the material halls and into the digital world. “Together we shape the World of Retail” is the motto of the US display manufacturer Outform. Even though Americans are known for their tendency to exaggerate, they are definitely right here. With huge LED formats displaying razor-sharp content, they caused many “oohs” and “aahs” at EuroShop. There are already branches in the UK and the Netherlands. After all, clients such as the coffee machine supplier Nespresso, the beauty brand Vieve and the home appliance manufacturer Miele need to be supplied.

Real-time customer analysis

Data-based decisions have been a topic at the point-of-sale (POS) for some time now. Do you remember the time when someone used a manual frequency counter to track how many customers entered a store? Those days are over, of course, as there are now operating systems that enable real-time customer analysis. Such as Ariadne, based in Munich. The system enables indoor and outdoor localisation in many sectors. It uses algorithms and artificial intelligence (AI) for precise yet anonymous customer tracking. There is no doubt that AI will take retail to another level. There are many solutions for the “how”.

Digimago, which brings digital signage solutions to the POS, shows what can happen with real-time analysis. A camera analyses customers in the store live by gender and age, in compliance with data protection regulations. With the help of AI-powered software, content is displayed directly on screens in the store that is suitable for the respective customers and perhaps even for the weather conditions. Stefan Richter, managing director of the Usedom-based fashion retailer Pier14 Group and a participant on the tour, has already had his first experiences with Digimago. Visual experiences in stores implemented smartly!

First Impression – from the DJ booth to retail

Three DJs, one idea – that is how the company history of First Impression, a Dutch digital company, begins. First Impression designs, develops and implements audiovisual concepts and solutions. At EuroShop, they showcased spaces that combine digital signage and audiovisual technology with interactive content – an exciting mix!