Retailers are adopting a range of new technologies to help make the shopping experience more fun and interactive. But will this be enough to slow the High Street's demise and Amazon's remorseless advance? It developed a way of inserting lookalike digital versions of customers into a virtual environment called Reactland. Customers run on a treadmill wearing the firm's new React shoe while watching themselves in the game. Launched in Shanghai, China, last year, Nike has rolled out the experience in stores globally, with more installations planned for this year, including in Taiwan, Berlin and Dubai. The key element, from a consumer perspective, was to create deep personalisation by building game avatars that look just like the player. his is what's known as "experiential" marketing - making shopping more interactive and entertaining. "At the heart of retail's ongoing transformation is a shift in focus from the point of sale to the point of experience," says Scott Clarke, chief digital officer at tech consultancy Cognisant. "Immersive retail experiences are still one of the few realities that retailers can perform better than Amazon."
