adidas 8428 Melrose, Los Angeles, US
Digital commerce may offer consumers convenience, but they are turning to a new generation of in-person retail experiences energised by cultural relevance and built on brand community.
We are entering a culture-coded retail landscape in which stores will become ever-more immersive and personalised. These ‘story-living’ concepts invite consumers into spaces to connect and participate.
Brands will need to embrace the idea of empowering people to influence, curate and co-create their own store experiences.


Physical spaces will only remain relevant to consumers in tomorrow’s retail landscape if they become narrative spaces. Whether a flagship store, a pop-up or a guerrilla-style activation, these spaces should create a sense of cultural relevance, including content-worthy moments designed for discovery and digital amplification.
In this macrotrend report, we explore why malls are beginning to see a resurgence in popularity among younger generations experiencing – often for the first time – the community and entertainment of these shopping hangouts, and we examine how third spaces are evolving beyond retail, with brands using them to offer social connectivity and build communities inspired by health and wellness. We also uncover ‘club culture’ retailing, which is all about getting the right talent in the room for the right audiences, and we reveal how brands are adopting tourism-driven experiences that offer consumers a Fourth Retail space in which to seek brand connection.

‘Future-thinking brands will need to understand how to foster communities and how to build desire for products based on the way people feel – their mood and intentions – when they enter a physical space. All the while, agentic retail is emerging as the future of personalisation; consumers will embrace AI-informed shopping decisions and will value AI concierges for understanding their personal preferences’
Fiona Harkin, director of foresight, The Future Laboratory
Register attendance
Join us on 19 June for an overview of our latest retail sector insights, presented by the team behind the macrotrend.
The event will take place online from 2:30pm to 3:30pm BST. There will also be a live Q&A session hosted by our experts and opportunities to network with other attendees.
This event grants you access to:
: The hour-long session, featuring an overview of our Culture-coded Retail macrotrend
: A Q&A with our experts who will unpack the strategic implications of the macrotrend for your business
: The on-demand recording to watch at your convenience
Get access by becoming a member of LS:N Global

Benefit from unlimited access to all macrotrend reports and market-leading lifestyle intelligence across multiple sectors, plus expert insights, daily signals and online events.
Click below to book a demo and discuss membership options with a member of our team.
Speakers
Fiona Harkin
Director of foresight
Fiona joined The Future Laboratory in 2022, having spent 20 years working in leading forecasting and insight agencies as a content director and a journalist, delivering strategic foresight and creative content to forward-thinking businesses. Fiona brings considerable cross-sector expertise to her role leading the LS:N Global site, ranging from the digital commerce and tech sectors to the fashion and media industries.
Alison Farrington
Executive retail analyst consultant
Retail trends analyst and journalist with 25 years of experience covering where the worlds of retail design, store experience and shopper marketing intersect.
Emily Rhodes
Creative lead
Emily joined The Future Laboratory in 2021 as a creative foresight analyst, applying her background in fashion communication and promotion to the world of consumer insight and trends intelligence. Now serving as the creative lead of LS:N Global, she shapes the platform’s visual direction, crafting compelling, design-led content and reporting from major global design events. Passionate about designing for positive futures, she actively contributes to the Future Spaces and Sustainability topics, exploring how innovation and aesthetics can drive meaningful change.
Daan Lucus
Founder, Random Studio
Daan Lucas is fascinated by examining how we can blur the boundaries between art, design and technology, and the physical and the non-physical. Random Studio reimagines physical spaces, transforming relationships between brands and consumers.
Mike Tristram
Head of strategy and marketing, Checkland Kindleysides
At the intersection of culture and commerce, Mike partners with global brands to shift retail into new territories — using culture as a catalyst and brand as a blueprint across fashion, sport, beauty and automotive.
Leila Fataar
founder, Platform13
Deep strategic and executional creative/cultural brand-building expertise and a seasoned entrepreneurial business leader with a 30 year wealth of international hands-on experience of lifestyle, FMCG and sportswear brands, through her own independent practices and in senior positions at Adidas and Diageo.
Stay competitive, relevant and plugged into future markets with strategic foresight
LS:N Global® connects you with the trends, data, research, case studies, and rich consumer behaviours that drive and determine tomorrow’s business landscape.
Become a member

Want to have first access to our new retail macrotrend?