Thursday, May 13, 2010

The Future Store – Work in Progress

april19_2010 032The idea, concept and image of the future store did not escape my mind. Early this morning, I was in the kitchen preparing breakfast when Irja walked in.  She had a concerned look on her face.

“What are you going to speak about at  the conference?” she asked.

I found it hard to give a concentrated answer. “I’m still working with the presentation but I’ve a few things on my mind: the future store,  microworks, the innovation train, iTraining and iTrading.

Irja seemed satisfied with that. “Okay, sounds great, you have an idea, but don’t make it to theoretical.”

She certainly had a point. I have the habit to get overly theoretical or philosophical. Get back, down to earth, I said to myself.

"Are you expecting for something that I don’t understand?"  I asked and continued to motion my mind into a grey zone I’d not discovered before our breakfast discussion.

Obviously, I needed to learn more about. Nevertheless, my presentation wasn’t as clear as I first imagined. But I could now see the whole picture much better than ever before.

Yesterday, the time I parked my car in the driveway and entered our home, Irja was even more curious.

"What is the new thing you have on your mind?" Irja asked. There was surprise and shock in her voice.

"What do you mean?" I stammered.

"So what do you have to make a break-through?"

“Irja, I might conduct a digital tour around the facilities: someone  could be amazed and others bored. Need to find the pitch about the facilities and of our futuristic ideas," I grinned.

Her eyes showed surprise. For a moment, I thought she was going to begin challenging me again, but then, I saw that she was just having a good time analyzing the string of new ideas surfacing during our discussion.

“We certainly have some very important matters to discuss. The future store isn’t a technical thing, it’s not about futuristic logistics, the focus is on shoppers experiences and service. Some people want to do their shopping with high-speed and efficiency.”

“We’re going to figure it out!” I thought.

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