In the run up to Christmas 2018, ESM is proud to present a recap of some of our biggest articles of the year, exclusively for Premium website subscribers. In Issue 1, ESM met with author Wijnand Jongen to discuss how technology is redefining retail. This article first appeared in ESM Issue 1 2018.

Retail may be one of the oldest professions on the planet, but even the longest-standing structures occasionally have to put up with a few earthquakes.

The growth of online players such as Amazon, Alibaba and countless others, combined with the emergence of a generation of consumers for whom a smartphone is simply an extension of their self, means that embracing the digital age is no longer simply a ‘nice to have’ for traditional retail.