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About The Resource
How will today’s retail brands stay competitive in a world shaped by changing customer expectations, emerging technologies and conscious consumer behaviour?
In the Future Of Retail Challenge Pack, students explore how their favourite retail brand can evolve over the next 20 years to remain relevant, innovative and commercially successful.
Working through a real-world retail innovation challenge, students begin by analysing their favourite retail brand to understand its current strengths, weaknesses, customer experience and market position. They then redesign the brand’s online experience using emerging technologies, develop a future-focused in-store concept that attracts customers back into physical spaces, create a conscious consumption initiative that strengthens social impact and finish by designing a launch campaign to promote their reimagined brand.
To support their thinking, students are introduced to three user personas representing different retail customer types, each with distinct expectations, frustrations and shopping habits. These personas encourage students to consider how retail innovation must balance convenience, affordability, sustainability and customer engagement.
Throughout the pack, students engage with curated case studies from leading global brands, including examples of augmented reality shopping, subscription commerce, smart stores, automated retail systems, ethical brand initiatives and experience-driven marketing campaigns. This helps students understand how the future of retail extends across digital platforms, physical environments and brand purpose.
Designed for innovation programs, business education, and future industries learning, this pack can be completed individually, delivered collaboratively, or used by teachers as the foundation for a larger retail, entrepreneurship, or design thinking unit. Some schools choose to offer one Industry Innovator Challenge Pack to all students, while others purchase multiple packs to allow students to choose an industry challenge aligned to their interests.
Age Group
High School Students
Learning Time
6-8 hours of working time, depending on research depth, concept development, and pitch preparation.
Student Output
Students develop a future retail strategy and present their ideas through a 3–5 minute pitch supported by slides, store concepts, online platform ideas, campaign visuals and customer experience designs.
Delivery Format
1 x 14 page downloadable PDF document. This can be used digitally or printed.
Curriculum Alignment
This resource features strong links with the following curriculum areas:
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What's Included
Upon purchasing this challenge pack you will receive a link to download the 14 page workbook as a digital PDF file. You can either complete the pack digitally, or print it and complete it with pen and paper.
The activities in this challenge pack include:
Challenge Introduction: Overview of future retail trends and industry change
Background Information: Retail innovation examples, customer trends and industry context
Judging Criteria: Clear success criteria for final student solutions
User Personas: Three retail customers with different shopping behaviours and priorities
Challenge 1 – Brand Analysis: Investigating the chosen brand’s offerings, customer experience and competitive advantage
Challenge 2 – Online Experience: Redesigning the digital shopping experience using emerging technologies
Challenge 3 – In-Store Experience: Creating a future concept store focused on customer engagement
Challenge 4 – Conscious Consuming: Designing a social impact or sustainability initiative
Challenge 5 – Launch Campaign: Creating a campaign to promote the reimagined brand
Stimulus Pages: Curated case studies, retail innovations and global examples
Pitch Page: Guidance for preparing a final 3–5 minute presentation
Contact Our Team
If you have any questions about this resource, would like advice on which challenge pack or teaching resource may work best for your students, or need to purchase via invoice, our team would be delighted to assist. Simply complete the form below and a member of the BOP Industries team will be in touch shortly.