WGSN Retail Outlook
WGSN Asia retail report image
There’s a very real shift happening in retail right now, and Asia is already ahead of it. Just got off a WGSN call and a few things stood out.
Key point: retail is moving from storytelling → storyliving
Not watching or scrolling, but actually participating.
→ In Singapore, FairPrice’s GenAI-powered grocery store lets you scan and pay as you shop.
There’s no checkout moment and no friction.
The Result: +80% increase in purchases!
→ In Tokyo, Hermès turned retail into an immersive mystery experience
Customers became detectives, staff acted as characters.
The store wasn’t a store anymore, it was a world you stepped into.
The other piece that really stuck with me during the "Look to Asia for the Future of Retail: 2026 Shopper Priorities" call? The rise of the solo consumer.
Single households spending 2x more on luxury than non-single households!
This isn’t about convenience, it’s about emotional value.
Designing for:
• solo indulgence
• private, personal experiences
• products that feel like a reward, not a compromise
What we’re sitting with now is how to best translate this to the western consumer. Not in a gimmicky way. But in a way that actually shifts how products and experiences are built.
It’s about less friction and more feeling, and retail that people don’t just use, but step into.
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