Emotional resonance: Art of shopkeeping in digital age

As the World Retail Congress (WRC) 2026 unfolds against the backdrop of ‘Retail’s Roadmap to 2030’, a high-level panel of industry veterans today asserted that the survival of physical retail depends not on matching the efficiency of algorithms, but on mastering the ‘art’ of the human connection.

Leaders from KaDeWe and Coach as wel as the former president of Calvin Klein Europe argued that while AI and data are essential for operational health, the future of ‘winning customers’ lies in the sensory and emotional theatre of the physical store.

Beyond prediction: Power of discovery

The session opened with a provocative critique of the current industry obsession with predictive analytics. Melanie Gallop, former president of Calvin Klein Europe, recounted an anecdote involving ultra-high-net-worth individuals struggling with AI-curated wardrobes.

"True desire does not live in prediction. It needs to be ignited. The greatest retail experiences were never about giving the customer what they came in for; they were the stores that showed us what we didn’t know we desired," Gallop noted.

This sentiment challenges the prevailing European retail strategy of hyper-personalisation. For executives, the insight is clear: over-optimising for what a customer has bought previously risks eliminating the ‘thrill of the find’—a key driver for footfall in luxury hubs like Berlin’s Kurfürstendamm or London’s Bond Street.

Transforming associates into cultural navigators

The role of the shopfloor colleague is undergoing a fundamental shift from transactional support to emotional engagement. Richard Butler, vice president of North America Stores at Coach, highlighted that 70 percent of Gen Z consumers shop in real life weekly, seeking experiences that ‘brand armor’ cannot provide.

To meet this demand, Coach is pivoting towards ‘co-navigation.’ This involves sales associates assisting with ‘unboxing’ moments for social media and providing ‘cultural fluency’ that transcends product knowledge.

"The sales associate needs to move at the speed of the customer. It takes emotional intelligence... knowing what is trending online and what is blowing up on TikTok, but also what is going on in the larger market," Butler explained.

Third place: Retail as urban sanctuary

For Timo Weber, CEO of KaDeWe, the department store must evolve into a ‘third place’ - a social anchor between home and work. In Berlin, this has manifested in radical experiments, such as surrendering all ten iconic display windows to artists without featuring any product.

Weber emphasised that for large-format European retailers, the goal is to make the customer ‘leave the store happier than they arrived,’ with the transaction being a secondary result of a successful emotional interaction. KaDeWe is doubling down on this hospitality-led model, incorporating yoga studios and expanded bar concepts on every floor to encourage dwell time.

Balancing leadership and cultural consistency

The panel concluded with a focus on the internal cultures required to sustain these elevated retail experiences. Gallop defined the primary leadership challenge as the courage to protect what is ‘meaningful’ over what is merely ‘measurable’. She argued that while relevance can be purchased through short-term campaigns, resonance is an earned asset built through consistency and a refusal to pivot under quarterly pressure.

Timo Weber, CEO of KaDeWe, underscored that this culture must extend to the workforce through modernised communication. By replacing 100-year-old briefing methods with a dedicated staff app, KaDeWe aims to provide associates with the same level of information and connectivity they experience in their private lives. According to Weber, addressing staff uncertainty is a prerequisite for authentic service; only a secure and informed team can effectively perform the ‘art’ of hospitality and make the customer laugh.

This article was written using artificial intelligence.