Reconsidering education in retail design: Today’s challenges and objectives

Abstract

Technology and digital developments are important drivers for new challenges and opportunities in retail, but also cause change in customers’ shopping behaviour. Assuming these changes also affect the discipline of retail design and retail designers, the presented paper explores retail design as it is considered today from the perspective of practitioners and academics in the field. In this context, we propose two emerging challenges in coping with the prevailing developments which influence the discipline of retail design. We determined a lack of understanding the impact of ongoing phenomena on the retail designer and on their future requirements. Furthermore, we recognized a lack of specialized retail design courses which prepare future designers for this challenging field. The authors conclude with elucidating the context of ongoing research, which aims at overcoming current challenges.