The New Habitat 27/28 Report Maps Three Retail Design Shifts as Physical Stores Prioritize Experience Over Transaction

Key facts

• The New Habitat 27/28 is the sixth edition of a report by APE Grupo produced by Futurea.
• Flexibility and adaptability to events, activations and seasonal changes lead commercial space design priorities at 23.4%, followed by immersive experiences at 19.8% and product display at 18.4%.
• Criteo data cited in the report shows 76% of consumers find e-commerce boring and 78% feel overwhelmed by options.
• PwC data indicates 40% of consumers expect to use AI to compare products by 2030; 33% would let AI plan purchases and 22% would trust it to complete them.
• Snøhetta's 113 Spring project in New York is a "retail lab" hosting three-to-six-month artistic residencies with modular walls and adaptable lighting.
• Landini Associates designed a hybrid supermarket-restaurant for FairPrice in Singapore with zones for cooking classes and demonstrations.
• Hilton data cited in the report shows 77% of travelers enjoy visiting local supermarkets, a phenomenon termed grocery store tourism.
• Shopify's "Agentic Storefronts" distributes product catalogs to AI interfaces including ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini and Perplexity.