Original 2021 statement: We’ll never go back to the world of in-person retail shopping like it was before Covid
What Jim has written about this
From “Article: “Futurist Sees an Already Fast Industry Getting Faster” - My Upcoming Keynote on the Future of Retail” (October 2020)
I was originally scheduled to do this in-person in Chicago in May, and obviously, that changed! But I was interviewed last week on the issues that now surround the event. This puts in context the key theme that clients are booking me - “how has Covid changed my industry?”
Covid-19 has changed everything, and there is not industry going back to where it was - there is now only the issue of, ‘where is it going?’ I will help to get you there.
His presentation, “The Future of Engagement in the Era of Post-Pandemic Disruption,” will cover changing retail trends like reduced consumer attention spans and elevated shopper expectations. He will also highlight the new habits retailers and consumers have adopted out of necessity, and identify which ones are likely to remain in place for the long term. The typical rate of five to 10 years for behavioral change to occur was compressed into three months .”
From “The Future of Retail? A Keynote for A Global Brand Leader in London!” (February 2017)
Case in point - yesterday, I was a keynote speaker for a global leadership meeting of Pladis held in London, UK. This is the newly merged entity of three iconic global brands — Godiva Chocolate, McVitie’s biscuits from the UK, and Ulker from Turkey. I was asked to provide my insight to 300 executives from around the world in a morning keynote, and then followed this up in an intimate discussion with members of the board and the senior management team.
Here’s the thing - we are going to see more change in the world of retail in the next 5 year than we have seen in the last 100. Savvy brands, retailers, shopping mall and retail infrastructure companies are working to understand these trends, and what they need to do from an innovation perspective to turn them from challenge to opportunity.
From “The Trends Scorecard: Retail & Consumer - What I Predicted, and What Actually Happened” (July 2026)
This is the Trends Scorecard series, where I go back into my own archive, dig up what I actually predicted years ago, and grade it honestly against the world of 2026. No cherry-picking, no quiet edits. This time the industry is Retail and Consumer. Here’s the scorecard.
I have been keynoting the world of retail for a long time — for The Gap, the Walt Disney Company, Loblaw, and a long list of others. And for most of that time, my core message has been the same: retail is not a slow, deliberate, end-cap-and-store-layout business anymore. It is a high-velocity business in which the back end — logistics, fulfilment, data, mobile — eats the front end. Way back in 2012, I put it about as bluntly as I could: “The next five years will bring more change to retail than the last 100 years.” That was a quote I borrowed at the time from the CEO of a location-based shopping app. I certainly believe that to be true. I also believe that there are quite a few retailers who aren’t quite ready for the scope, speed and breadth of the change that is underway.
In my “20 Trends into 2030” piece, I wrote a single dense paragraph about what retail looks like at the end of the decade. It packs several of my long-running calls into one place. While we used to go to stores to get the stuff that we need, we now find that the majority of stuff comes to us via a wide variety of automated, intelligent last mile delivery technologies - delivery bots, automated drones and more. Most homes now have drone pads on their driveways and robotic storage lockers that safeguard the product after delivery. When you actually do go out to get things, your car takes care of much of the process - it has become a shopping cart with credit card payment technology built in. Malls? They’ve become museums if not just entertainment hubs - the entire focus for commercial retail real-estate has evolved to logistics hubs, shipment warehouses, drone-ports and more.
Read the full pieces on jimcarroll.com:
Article: “Futurist Sees an Already Fast Industry Getting Faster” - My Upcoming Keynote on the Future of Retail
The Future of Retail? A Keynote for A Global Brand Leader in London!
The Trends Scorecard: Retail & Consumer - What I Predicted, and What Actually Happened