A couple of years and how we buy

At the end of the decade, hybrid solutions that combine reality with virtual technologies will become a part of everyday life and enable a new level of customer experience. This is exactly what the “early adapters” who took part in this year’s Ericsson 10 consumer survey expect. Extensive research shows the expectations and forecasts of approximately 57 million users worldwide who are already adopting pioneering technologies.

The report, released in December 2021, now focuses on a mall that offers the eleventh consecutive, imaginative, hybrid shopping experience. By 2030 users will need to evaluate 15 services that combine the shopping experience with the digital technologies available at such hybrid malls. Nearly four out of five respondents believed that all 15 comments tested would be available in some form. Creating these “bricks and mortar” features is possible by combining physical and digital reality with virtual (AR) and augmented reality (VR) – XR – and programmable materials.

We believe that shopping malls may be the first places where the next generation of digital experiences will appear, because these closed spaces make it easy to provide the very short network response time required for such applications.

– Magnus Frodigh, head of research at Ericsson, said the site could provide users with access to digital services with the ability to make XR a livelihood by connecting to a private business network.

It is hard to imagine that by 2030, a large number of users will have the technological tools needed for advanced reality, such as AR glasses, waterproof VR glasses, touch screen controls or tactile gloves. But if they use these equipments in the mall at affordable prices then why not introduce these new services in the malls?

Said Michael Bjorn, head of research at Ericsson. Most respondents agreed that shopping malls are more likely to have next-generation technologies than individual users, as 3D and 4DX have long been high-tech hubs for theaters, arcades and similar facilities. High-tech shopping malls will make small towns and rural life more attractive as they make global experiences locally available in cyberspace.

Image Source: Ericsson