A shop window on the retail future

Aug 26 2008 by jez Davison, Evening Gazette

Hang on to your hats. The Big Bang is about to happen all over again... in cyberspace. JEZ DAVISON puts on his visionary 3D specs and imagines the commercial fruits from a virtual garden of Eden taking root on Teesside

THE digital revolution is about to make its most gigantic leap yet into the unknown.

After the advent of the PC and the internet - and more recently the iPod and Blackberry - “third world” technology is set to change the face of global business forever. It aims to create a web-based economy that saves companies from forking out millions on costly trials that ultimately never get to market.

And with the global online shopping community of 875m consumers increasing by 40% in the last two years, the University of Teesside is ready to make this retail Utopia into a commercial reality.

Research experts at the university’s Institute of Digital Innovation are at the forefront in developing next-generation software that allows firms to test consumer reaction to products in a virtual world before committing a single penny to production.

Modelled around the popular social networking phenomenon, Second Life, and sharing some of its platforms, the technology can be applied to projects as diverse as the revamp of a fashion store, reconstruction of an airport or creation of an entire business community.

The next challenge is to convince industry to buy into the concept of trading in the space that exists between the real world and one in which consumer “doppelgangers” select, buy and use products that don’t yet exist.

Confused? Brian Wilson, director of dlab - a team of designers, researchers and digital specialists at the university - believes it can be done.

“The commercial potential of this is extraordinary,” he says. “We will be able to grow existing North-east businesses and create an economy in which new enterprises can flourish.

“We are at a point where the internet and reality are coming closer together. Someone in Teesside could meet with their aunt in New Zealand and be shopping in Middlesbrough 10 minutes later.”

It’s not as far-fetched as you think. The university is already in talks with international retailers over the use of the software, which it believes will complement, not replace, the retail therapy we enjoy in the real world.

Internet retailing is already proving to be a massive pull in the UK, with online shopping sales up by 54% to £46.6bn in 2007. £13bn was spent online in the first three months of this year alone.

In other countries, the pace of revolution is faster still.

US internet sales are expected to reach £102bn in 2008 and with China ploughing more money into 3D web technology than the rest of the world put together, Teesside is keen not to get left behind.

The major sell behind the university’s cutting-edge software is its ability to “de-risk” projects and revolutionise new product development.

Brian says: “It can test consumer demand before companies commit to buying or producing goods. I can create a new shop window in this third world and if consumers don’t like it, I can change it almost instantly.”

The technology has several commercial applications but the university’s immediate focus is in retail - what Brian Wilson describes as the “hot ticket” to a sophisticated 3D internet economy.

There are, however, a few problems in this creationist theory.

In the highly anarchical “third world” environment, unsophisticated corporate governance may prohibit companies from trading efficiently and without fear.

Brian says: “The third world needs to grow its civic controls. You wouldn’t set up a business in a town where people are getting robbed every five minutes and the police don’t govern crime.”

But when you’re dealing with a whole new universe a few rebel avatars holding your customers to ransom is just a teething problem; Brian’s confident that business will come knocking at the door of this brave pseudo existence - igniting the local economy, attracting inward investment and boosting Teesside’s position as a global digital leader.

The foundations, albeit only virtual, are in place, but the hard work has only just begun.