Smaller Shops Catching on as Retailers Hone Physical Shopping Experience

Target - Apple

Retailers, many known for their expansive stores, are beginning to refine their footprints and rethink how they utilize floor space and real estate to create a more focused experience for customers.

For example, partnerships between brands to install shop-in-shop locations have picked up steam this year, beyond the traditional cosmetics counters that are the staples of department stores. Last week, Target said it will double the number of Apple shop-in-shop experiences, from 17 to 36 stores, including new locations in Texas, Florida and Minnesota ahead of the holiday season.

Apple and Target first opened shop-in-shop locations in California, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts earlier this year, an expansion of the companies’ 15-year partnership. Christina Hennington, executive vice president and chief growth officer at Target, said in February that the goal is to enhance Target’s reputation as a go-to destination for electronics.

“This new model was created with Target’s guests in mind, and we’ll continue to learn and enhance the experience through future rollouts later this year,” Hennington added.

Read more: Apple Plans to Double the Number of Shops in Target Stores

The Minnesota-based box store retailer also has more than 100 Ulta Beauty shop-in-shops locations across the country, which began opening over the summer. That partnership will eventually see 800 mini Ulta shops at Target stores.

Though the share of shoppers who are “brick-and-mortar native” has fallen by at least 10% since the pandemic began, according to PYMNTS research, 59% of consumers still prefer to pay for products and receive them in-store.

Steve Sadove, former CEO of Saks and senior adviser at Mastercard, told Karen Webster in a recent interview that the future of physical retail could in part be determined by how satisfied consumers are with the experience this holiday season. If it’s a great experience in which people find what they want and get good service, Sadove said, they’ll likely go back even if they continue shopping online for certain items; otherwise, physical retail could be in trouble.

“The fastest way to go into a declining trend is to not give a good consumer experience,” Sadove said. “You’re at that moment right now, and some are going to do it well and some aren’t going to do it well. And that’s going to affect how this plays out over the next six months to a year.”

See also: Holiday 2021: Pent-Up Consumer Demand, Test of In-Store Experience for Retailers

A Smaller Format 

In order to focus more on the in-store experience, and potentially open shop in more consumer-accessible locations, Target and others have begun investing in small-format stores that are more curated than the typical big box or department store. Target said it plans to open 30 to 40 small-format stores annually, placing many of them in urban centers and college campuses.

Macy’s in July said that subsidiary Bloomingdale’s would begin opening small-format stores, called Bloomie’s, with the first set for Fairfax, Virginia. Tony Spring, CEO of Bloomingdale’s, said the goal of the 20,000-square-foot store is to provide customers with “a highly edited, convenient” Bloomingdale’s experience. Macy’s also has small-format stores of its own, called Market by Macy’s.

Related news: Bloomingdale’s Small-Store Concept Leans Into Consumer Experience

These stores can also act as an upgrade to retailers’ fulfillment capabilities, especially when it comes to buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS). According to PYMNTS’ “Bring-It-to-Me Economy” research, conducted in collaboration with Carat from Fiserv, nearly 44% of consumers would be more likely to shop at a physical store if BOPIS was offered, including over half of those who said they shop online more often now than prior to the pandemic.

See also: New Study: Bring-It-to-Me Economy Ascends as Consumers Embrace Home-Centric Lifestyles

Macy’s CEO Jeff Gennette told investors and analysts in May that the company plans to continue building out its ecosystem of full-price, off-price and small-store concepts to see how they work in different areas over the long term. “Together with our existing off-mall formats, these stores will allow us to test and iterate on new strategies to drive omni sales and convenience for our customers, while attracting new shoppers,” he said.

Flying Cars Can Wait: CES Shows Future Is Robots That Cool Your Soup, Pick Up Socks

AI Me gadget from CES 2025

What do the movies “Blade Runner,” “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “Back to the Future Part II” and Spike Jonze’s “Her” all have in common?

These science fiction movies, each depicting various versions of a future full of fantastic technologies, all take place in the year 2025 or earlier.

Though some of the high-tech gadgets and futuristic innovations seen in these films, such as hoverboards and flying cars, haven’t quite materialized in everyday life, they have sparked imagination and set the stage for the very real innovations. As the dozens of groundbreaking products and wacky gadgets that debuted at the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this week reveal, the future is certainly now.

CES, after all, rarely disappoints when it comes to providing a first-look at some truly strange gadgets that might just represent the ultimate showcase of tomorrow’s technology.

From artificial intelligence (AI) being embedded into everything and smarter than ever home devices, to autonomous robotic companions and wearable tech that both bends and blends reality, many of the inventions that once seemed out of reach in Hollywood films are now being unveiled on the convention floor.

See also: The Five Not-So-Obvious Things That Will Change the Digital Economy in 2025

Could Smart Home Robots Revolutionize Daily Life?

It’s becoming clear that today’s technological advancements are increasingly bridging the gap between what was once imagined and what’s now becoming real.

For example, smart home robots are no longer a futuristic fantasy — they are being positioned as potentially indispensable components of modern households.

CES 2025 saw the debut of the Roborock Saros Z70, a robot vacuum with a telescopic, five-axis arm. Rosey the Robot from “The Jetsons” has nothing on this little gadget, which its maker describes as “a mechanical arm that sees and thinks,” and is able to pick up and put away items like socks, shoes, tissues and more.

For more serious household tasks, the SwitchBot Multitasking Household Robot K20+ Pro was also unveiled at CES 2025. “Whether it’s delivering objects, vacuuming, monitoring pets, purifying the air, providing home security, or even mobilizing smart tablets, the K20+ Pro juggles household management with ease … from delivering food and drinks to carrying small packages,” said a company release.

Read more: Training Robots Using Video Games Could Democratize Warehouse Automation

The K20+ Pro’s core is designed for customization and flexibility, serving as a modular foundation that allows users to create, adapt, and personalize the robot for a wide variety of innovative applications, and can connect with third-party smart devices like Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri, ensuring integration into any smart home ecosystem.

Elsewhere, TCL premiered its “AI Me” (Amy) concept companion robot, complete with animated eyes, autonomous movement and an AI-powered camera on its head; while Dreame showcased its X50 Ultra robot vacuum that has legs to avoid obstacles.

As smart home technology continues to evolve, the integration of robots designed to assist in daily activities could significantly alter how we interact with our homes, manage tasks and even shape the future of work.

TomBot, for example, debuted an emotional robotic lap dog, Jennie, an AI robot therapy dog designed to keep seniors company. On the more playful side of things, Tokyo robotics startup Yukai Engineering introduced the Nékojita FuFu, a portable cat-shaped robot that can blow air to cool hot food or drinks.

It wasn’t solely robotics for use at home being showcased at CES. John Deere used the Las Vegas event to reveal its own autonomous agricultural products. The fully autonomous machines were on display from Jan. 7 to 10, and were a bit bigger in size, if equivalently less cute, than the TomBot puppies.

Read more: Google Reportedly Bringing Gemini AI to TV Sets

The Future Is Calling and Consumers Can Answer Anywhere

Behind the strangely futuristic convenience of a robot picking up your laundry and taking out the trash while it vacuums and interfaces with the rest of your household appliances lies a much larger story: the rise of the smart economy.

As CES 2025 showed, augmented reality (AR) glasses are the eye candy of the smart economy. A host of futuristic specs were unveiled, capable of a range of tasks that turn the wearer into a high-tech superhero.

Halliday showcased “the world’s first proactive AI glasses with invisible display,” while freshly debuted Loomos.AI glasses offer a ChatGPT-4o integrated AI assistant.

But other appendages remain up for grabs, and innovative products from smart rings to apps like WowMouse, which allows smartwatch wearers to control devices using just their gestures and fingers, are vying for market share in ways that aim to make daily life more convenient, efficient and secure.