{"id":82480,"date":"2021-07-21T11:51:51","date_gmt":"2021-07-21T11:51:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interac1.wpengine.com\/?post_type=content&#038;p=82480"},"modified":"2025-05-30T16:14:01","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T20:14:01","slug":"the-future-of-retail-three-solutions-to-support-a-digital-local-economy","status":"publish","type":"content","link":"https:\/\/stage.interac.ca\/en\/content\/business\/the-future-of-retail-three-solutions-to-support-a-digital-local-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"The future of retail: Three solutions to support a digital local economy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Picture yourself walking down your local shopping strip. You feel the smartphone in your pocket start to vibrate. It\u2019s a notification from one of your favourite local stores; it\u2019s offering you a deal on something you happen to need. So you change your plans and head over \u2026&nbsp;<br><br>Local retail is about to change. It has to. The pandemic has accelerated the convergence of the physical and digital economies, which means businesses face more competition than ever for the local dollar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/stage.interac.ca\/content\/business\/survey-canadians-want-to-spend-locally-after-the-pandemic\/\">Canadians have told Interac they want to shop local<\/a>, but it\u2019s imperative for businesses to offer convenient digital payments options: At the recent Future of Retail summit, Communitech CEO Chris Albinson noted a recent Interac study that said<a href=\"https:\/\/newsroom.interac.ca\/infographic-five-trends-in-canadian-consumer-spending-during-covid-19\/?utm_source=meplan&amp;utm_medium=sponcon&amp;utm_campaign=data\"> <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/newsroom.interac.ca\/infographic-five-trends-in-canadian-consumer-spending-during-covid-19\/?utm_source=meplan&amp;utm_medium=sponcon&amp;utm_campaign=data\">72% of Canadians aged 25-34 plan to only use digital payment methods going forward<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the same time, digital technologies and social values-based retail experiences could encourage consumer behaviour at the local level \u2014&nbsp;giving Canadians more reasons to shop in their own neighbourhoods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whatever challenges and opportunities the future may hold for retailers, they\u2019re going to need fresh and innovative ideas to meet evolving customer needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s an ongoing process to engage different players in the ecosystem so we can identify innovations to help retailers to evolve in the changing digital economy.&nbsp; So, to inspire solutions for future-proofing the local retail sector \u2014 and give new ideas a push toward becoming a reality on Canada\u2019s Main Streets \u2014 Interac led Communitech\u2019s Future of Retail Collaborative.<br><br>Through the Future of Retail Collaborative, Interac engaged with industry leaders, main street businesses and startups to find ways to incentivize Canadian consumers to support local businesses. Our challenge statement? How can we incentivize Canadian consumers to shop local through charities and social values-based retail experiences? How can we leverage current or emerging technologies to drive unique online and in-store experiences in a new way?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After completing a challenge and solution discovery process alongside Collaborative partners and local retailers, Interac identified three startups to showcase their solutions at the Future of Retail Summit. In front of an audience that included fellow innovators and potential investors, the startups shared their ideas to help Canada\u2019s Main Street businesses succeed in the changing retail landscape. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Company name: ShopLocal2Win<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The concept: \u201c<\/strong>A simple yet sophisticated turnkey promotional solution that encourages people to shop locally and submit their receipts for a weekly chance to win a large cash prize.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To take part in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shoplocal2win.com\/\">ShopLocal2Win<\/a> campaign, shoppers are encouraged to spend a minimum of $25 at any business within the participating business improvement area\u2019s (BIA) boundaries during a contest period for a chance to win. Founders Mary Pattison and Kim Lesperance say this incentivizes community members to spend tens of thousands more in a local area over six weeks (the length of one of their contests),&nbsp;and the BIAs use some of the proceeds to support charities. Despite the fact that its base is Toronto-only for now, ShopLocal2Win has already had 2,800 businesses participate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>In their own words: <\/strong>\u201cOur clients are the BIAs, and our program is designed to address their unique pain points. What they value most, in addition to the ease of execution, is the hard data and transparency that we provide about its effectiveness.\u201d \u2014&nbsp;Co-founder Mary Pattison<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Why they stood out: <\/strong>\u201cThe team at ShopLocal2Win developed a program that focuses not only on boosting local retail today, but changing consumer behaviour to make shopping local a prevailing choice in the future,\u201d \u2013 Dinaro Ly, Director, Innovation Partnerships and Community Engagement<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Company name: Artie<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The concept: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.artieworld.com\/\">Artie<\/a> uses augmented reality (AR) to boost foot traffic \u2014&nbsp;by enticing local customers with instant promotions delivered as an experience that blends real life with gamification in an app. The way it works is comparable to location-based video games. If a user is looking to find a new place to eat, for example, they can explore the area using their phone\u2019s camera. Here, the shopper can find and engage with AR tokens \u2014&nbsp;say, a floating cup of coffee or an ice cream cone on their screen, which they can \u201cpop\u201d to find an offer from a local restaurant. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>In their own words:<\/strong> \u201cSo this is how you can create an AR experience. And I&#8217;m really proud to say you can do this in about five minutes.\u201d \u2014&nbsp;CEO Abhishek Prasad<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Why they stood out:<\/strong> \u201cArtie makes AR accessible. It helps small businesses implement an AR solution to create social and interactive shopping experiences,\u201d \u2013 Edwin Lam, International Product Development Director at Interac<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Company name: Soundpays<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The concept:<\/strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/soundpays.com\/wp\/\">Soundpays<\/a> uses ultrasonic (that is, not audible to the human ear) sound waves to connect devices, leveraging a smart phone\u2019s existing speaker to enable digital and contactless transactions. CEO Steve Doswell said local business improvement areas can use it to beam opportunities for engagement right into customers\u2019 hands: product advertisements, coupons, shopper surveys and more. And when it comes time to pay, ultrasonic waves can connect a store\u2019s point-of-sale to customers\u2019 own devices (and there\u2019s potential to connect a digital debit account to the app, too). Doswell said the information gleaned through customers\u2019 interactions with the app could help build profiles of users \u2014 giving businesses insights into their customer base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>In their own words: \u201c<\/strong>It&#8217;s all about getting to potential consumers in the power of the moment.\u201d \u2014&nbsp;CEO Steve Doswell<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Why they stood out:<\/strong> \u201cSoundpays is an example of how emerging technologies, such as ultrasonic sound waves, can support the ways consumers want to explore, shop and pay in the future,\u201d \u2013 Dinaro Ly, Director, Innovation Partnerships and Community Engagement<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/stage.interac.ca\/content\/ideas\/collaborating-with-interac-get-to-know-the-innovation-partnerships-team\/\">Learn more about working with the Innovation Partnerships team at Interac.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Picture yourself walking down your local shopping strip. You feel the smartphone in your pocket start to vibrate. It\u2019s a notification from one of your favourite local stores; it\u2019s offering you a deal on something you happen to need. So you change your plans and head over \u2026&nbsp; Local retail is about to change. It&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":82514,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"content-tags":[283,300,294],"content-category":[189],"spokespeople":[],"in_the_know_post_format":[169],"class_list":["post-82480","content","type-content","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","content-tags-payments","content-tags-small-business","content-tags-trends","content-category-business","in_the_know_post_format-article"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.2 (Yoast SEO v27.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The future of retail: 3 solutions to support the digital local economy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"To inspire solutions to incentivize consumer behaviour and future-proof the local retail sector, Interac created the Future of Retail industry challenge.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/stage.interac.ca\/en\/content\/business\/the-future-of-retail-three-solutions-to-support-a-digital-local-economy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The future of retail: Three solutions to support a digital local economy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Picture yourself walking down your local shopping strip. 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