Hyper-connected stores are redefining retail, combining operational excellence with immersive experiences that give shoppers compelling reasons to visit, explore and return.
At a Glance
The most successful retailers are transforming stores from transactional spaces into immersive destinations powered by experiences and technology, designed to inspire discovery, deepen engagement and give shoppers a compelling reason to return.
With convenience now an expectation rather than a differentiator, the fight for shopper attention has shifted to the store environment itself. While many Asian retailers are leading the industry in creating immersive and engaging store experiences, retailers in Europe and North America have pioneered many of the operational and omnichannel capabilities that increasingly underpin modern grocery retail.
Elevating retail through immersive store experiences
Rather than focusing solely on efficiency, Asian retailers are investing heavily to create and curate environments that encourage shoppers to slow down, explore and interact with products.
Tops Food Hall in Bangkok exemplifies what an experiential-first store can be. It is designed around a series of 16 themed zones. Wine tastings, cooking demonstrations and supplier-led events transform routine grocery shopping into a highly immersive and interactive experience.
Freshpik by Reliance Retail in India demonstrates how small gestures can make a significant difference. Its complimentary guacamole-making service for shoppers purchasing avocados is relatively simple to implement, but it creates a memorable interaction that could facilitate word-of-mouth recommendations.
GS25 convenience stores in South Korea are another prime example. Rather than hiding automation behind the scenes, the retailer brings it directly into the customer experience through robotic systems that prepare coffee, ice cream and pizza, creating buzz and theatrics that encourage shoppers to linger, thereby reinforcing brand saliency and augmenting basket sizes.
North American and European players focus on operational efficiency
In contrast, retailers in Europe and North America have prioritised making shopping easier.
Carrefour and Lidl, alongside other leading retailers, are accelerating investment in technologies that enhance real-time inventory visibility, reduce waste, optimise logistics and streamline checkouts. Meanwhile, Walmart has become one of the most exemplary retailers globally when it comes to omnichannel retail, as it continues to invest in integrating fulfilment and digital channels into a single ecosystem.
Mercadona’s new Tienda 9 concept represents an extreme shift away from service-led experiences toward operational efficiency, cost control, and waste reduction. Fresh counters and specialist staff are being replaced by a centralised in-store production hub, with ready-to-eat meals prepared behind the scenes and sold through a fully self-service format. The Valencian chain has already opened 26 establishments with its new model and expects to reach 59 stores this year as part of a transformation plan that will extend until 2033. Customers have been critical of the move, with many citing that reformatted stores now feel cold and impersonal. On the other hand, the retailer has reported that average basket sizes at the new concept stores grew 10%. But at what long-term cost?
Create reasons to visit beyond convenience
As connected technologies become standard across retail, retailers will increasingly leverage the data and intelligence generated by those technologies to generate cost savings, speed up decision-making, and to rationalise customer journeys. However, fast checkouts, centralised back-of-house operations, digital payments and omnichannel services no longer give retailers as much of a distinct, competitive edge it once did, given that it is now viewed more as a ‘must have’ rather than a ‘nice to have’. As a result, the experiential layer has become increasingly important in grocery retail, giving customers compelling reasons to visit beyond convenience and functionality.
The future is experiential retail, powered by integrated intelligence
Experiential retail is sometimes dismissed as being difficult to scale or measure. Yet the most successful concepts, as demonstrated in the report must-see stores in 2026, found that concepts that prioritise discovery and engagement drive longer dwell times, increased basket sizes and stronger loyalty.
Hence, experience and efficiency should not be viewed as opposing trade-offs, but rather as complementary pillars. In fact, the retailers setting the pace are creating stores that combine the operational capabilities honed in Europe and North America with the creativity, theatre and customer engagement visible across Asia. Connected technologies, AI and real-time data are enabling retailers to operate more efficiently behind the scenes while simultaneously creating richer, more personalised in-store experiences.
IGD's latest research on the hyper-connected store, highlights that the future of retail will not be defined by experience or operational excellence alone. Success will come from combining these elements to create stores that are immersive, intelligent and responsive. Hence, in a world where almost any product can be ordered online, the most successful retailers will be those that offer something digital channels cannot, an experience that is worth leaving home for.
What this means for suppliers
As grocery retail evolves to combine immersive experiences with greater operational precision, suppliers will need to consider:
Moving beyond products to designing experiences: think less about shelf placement and more about how brands contribute to discovery, theatre and engagement in-store through seasonal activations, sampling programmes and cross-category merchandising.
Designing products for discovery and storytelling: packaging, merchandising and brand storytelling will grow in importance, including online and for in-store retail media.
Building operational agility: as retailers invest in omnichannel fulfilment, real-time inventory visibility and frictionless shopping, suppliers will need to support faster and more responsive supply chains through better data sharing, speeding up innovation cycles and improving forecasting capabilities.
Recalibrating products to fit retail formats that blend foodservice and grocery: consider developing ready-to-cook solutions and products specifically for foodservice-retail hybrid environments.
Measuring success differently: move beyond traditional sales metrics to evaluate how in-store experiences influence brand consideration, repeat purchases and trial rates.