An assessment of the answers that visitors were invited to give in the interactive special area Future Urban Lab during the retail trade fair EuroShop 2023, reveals the most popular appeal factors and reasons to visit city centres of the future.
The Future Urban Lab focused on five key areas: quality of stay, customer journey, digitalisation, mobility and sustainability. EuroShop visitors from throughout the world were given the opportunity at the trade fair to assess 15 innovative trends. The assessment was done by assigning coloured Lego bricks. This allowed the views of the various age groups on various trends to be visualised.
The survey results evaluated now clearly show that sustainability is of pivotal importance to people. Worth emphasising, in particular, is the trend “Renaturing of Concrete Deserts”, which occupied first place with 1,350 votes. Other top trends were the vision of “City Centres as Extended Living Rooms” and the “Sponge City Principle” to promote a natural urban water cycle. The runners-up to these top trends included “Free Local Public Transport” in 4th place (997 votes) and “Customer Proximity through Product Experience and Personalisation” in 5th place (891 votes).
Summing up Nina Bauer, CEO of VITAIL GmbH, says: “Sustainability and a high quality of stay are key themes for the population. Cities that transform the concrete deserts into green habitats with better quality of life and quality of stay, and which qualify as homes away from homes, have very good future prospects.”
“A good retail landscape no longer suffices for vital city centres with high footfall. Shoppers are looking for wellness oases that extend an invitation to meet and while away their time with like-minded people. Considering the versatile opinions and suggestions we received, the Future Urban Lab at EuroShop 2023 perfectly complemented the topics at our trade fair,” explains Elke Moebius, Director EuroShop der Messe Düsseldorf.
Over the five days of the trade fair a total of 10,055 Lego bricks were placed by 2,011 participants at the Future Urban Lab. Most participants were aged 30 to 49 years. Preferences did not vary widely between young and old. As expected, the trends related to the customer journey played a bigger part for the younger participants. Seasonal events, on the contrary, are preferred by the older age groups.
The cooperation between Vitail GmbH and EuroShop is also to be continued for EuroShop 2026. Interested parties can find the full results of the Future Urban Lab and a detailed overview of the 15 trends here: https://vitail.de/events/futureurbanlab.
About EuroShop
EuroShop in Düsseldorf has underpinned its global leadership as the biggest trade fair for retailers’ investment needs: over 1,830 exhibitors and more than 81,000 trade visitors from 141 countries met for an in-depth exchange of ideas from 22 to 26 February 2023. Important buzzwords such as Sustainability, Smart Shopping, Connected Retail and Seamless Shopping were omnipresent and reflected the dynamic transformation of retail which EuroShop documents in terms of both content and conceptions. The next EuroShop will be held from 22 to 26 February 2026.
About VITAIL GmbH
VITAIL GmbH has set itself the task of revitalising city centres and retail locations in the digital age with new ways and products and products to vitalise city centres and retail locations in the digital age. In doing so, it is important to and for local authorities to develop creative, individual and custom-fit strategies. To this end, Vitail’s interdisciplinary team combines a wide range of expertise from the following areas: urban marketing, urban planning, inner city development, retail research and innovation in retail. retail. It thus has many years of experience in the implementation of national and international projects.
Further information at: www.vitail.de
