Which Physical Stores will Remain Relevant?

I recently visited some night markets while traveling, and they turned out to be pretty empty. It’s a similar situation where I’m from - many physical stores which used to be filled with loads of people are now vacant.

When I think of the stores that have no customers - bags, luggage, etc. - I realize they have one thing in common: the senses used to “try” those items can be digitized. Sight is the easiest to digitize - web images and videos give an accurate depiction of how an object looks like. Coupled with additional measurement info (KG, dimensions), we have a complete picture of what the product is. Why spend time physically visiting stores, when you can just buy them at the comfort of your home, delivered right to your doorstep?

The other sense: hearing. We don’t see many CD stores or movie stores anymore. People buy music and movies online. The exceptions are specialized music stores - like vinyl stores which have physical equipment whose quality can’t be replicated via web transmissions, where music aficionados would like to test them in person.

But what about the other three senses: taste, touch, smell? Those are still harder to digitize. Which is why food fares are still crowded, physical clothing stores still have customers (for people who want to feel for the material of the clothing), and perfume stores are still relevant. These senses can certainly be described with words - e.g. describing a food as “spicy”, a piece of clothing as “airy,” or a scent as “woody and spicy.” But how many of us can accurately translate that text into the actual sense? Take perfumes for example - I may know a scent as being “sweet smelling with a touch of spice,” but how exactly will those smell when they’re combined together, in that specific composition? Without expertise or training, it’s hard to “reenact” those senses via text.

So, the question about which stores will remain relevant is a matter of which senses can or cannot be digitized. Some companies like Amazon offer “Try Before You Buy” services - they send you trial products (e.g. clothing) to your doorstep, you see which sizes & clothes you want, and you return those you don’t want. But those are just tackling the symptoms, not the actual root cause - that this sense of touch can’t be digitized.

But the field is also developing. Haptic fabrics can reproduce some touch cues like pressure, vibration, heat. Olfactory displays can mix and release scents, though unable to replicate the exact smell of arbitrary objects yet. Electrical taste systems can stimulate the tongue and nearby sensory pathways. They cannot yet faithfully reproduce arbitrary smells, touches, or tastes, but they demonstrate that parts of sensory experiences can be digitally controlled.

We can think of the human body as a collection of biological sensors. Our eyes turn incoming light into neural signals that the brain interprets. Our nose and tongue detect chemical compounds, some of which can be measured and recreated using digital systems. As these systems become more accurate and portable, selected sensory experiences can become available in homes, offices, and other everyday settings.

How this might affect humanity is harder to say. What happens if all our senses can be accurately digitized? What becomes of physical stores and window shopping? Shopping is not only functional, but also social. It gets people out of the house, encourage them to walk around, and interact with other people and places. When everything can be tested and purchased from the comfort of ones home, we may lose just as much as we gain.