Retail Experience Archetypes & Ideation
Designing spatial user experiences in retail that are intuitive and engaging involves leveraging various types of sensing and acting technologies. By categorizing these experiences according to the simplified senses —sight, sound, touch, spatial, and sixth sense—we can brainstorm targeted experiences that appeal to human needs and perceptions, and identify strategies for interaction and service touchpoints.
Below, are examples of how spatial computing could be applied to enhance various themed retail experiences, based on six “Retail Archetypes” by Frog Design. In each of these examples, spatial computing technologies enrich the retail experience by adding layers of interaction, personalization, and engagement. These immersive, innovative services not only enhance customer satisfaction but also drive loyalty and brand differentiation in a competitive retail landscape.
The Showroom: Give customers access to experts by putting “show and tell” front and center.
The Playground: Provide a space for imagination and exploration to take over.
The Clubhouse: Drive loyalty by reimagining the store as a hub for like-minded customers to connect.
The Oasis: Create a refuge from traditional shopping and daily stressors.
The Studio: Unlock the ability of customers to co-create, experiment and customize.
The Garden: Get (and give) stores new life as places to repair, restore and recycle goods in line with brand and customer values.
Future of Retail Experience Principles
The Showroom: Access to Experts through AR Show and Tell
In today’s reimagined retail landscape, augmented reality (AR) and spatial computing transform showrooms into immersive third spaces where storytelling, technology, and human connection converge. By allowing customers to scan products using smartphones or other data sensors that react to motion, sound, or light, retailers can overlay interactive digital content directly onto physical items, turning every object into a portal of discovery. High-resolution cameras and image recognition track customer interest in real-time, triggering responsive displays that surface rich content like reviews, product demos, and visualizations. Staff are trained not just in product knowledge but in digital facilitation—guiding guests through these experiences, storytelling with AR/VR tools, and hosting live expert sessions to deepen engagement. Behind the scenes, speech recognition and ambient sensors adapt soundscapes and interactions based on customer flow, while spatial audio brings product narratives to life. This is not just retail—it’s a multi-sensory system for curiosity, trust, and connection
Creating connected retail environments starts with clear blueprints for experience design, software systems, and responsive service flows. Back-end tech—like CMS, CRM, and sensor data—drives adaptive content and real-time UX. Meanwhile, service design links employee tools, spatial layouts, and customer touchpoints, ensuring staff can deliver informed, seamless interactions. This alignment between content strategy, technology, and team experience builds a responsive ecosystem that enhances engagement across every layer.
Ideation
Sound
Voice-Activated Displays: Implement speech recognition to allow customers to request information about products or see demonstrations simply by speaking. Interactive screens or projectors can respond with detailed visuals and audio descriptions.
Acoustic Guide: Use acoustic sensors to detect the presence of customers and activate speakers that guide them through the showroom, highlighting key products and offers in a storytelling format.
Sight
Virtual Try-Ons and Interactive Displays: Use cameras and AR displays to allow customers to see how products look on them or in their homes without physical interaction. Service design should include user-friendly interfaces and personalized recommendations based on customer interactions.
Dynamic Lighting: Integrate light sensors and programmable lights to automatically adjust the showroom's ambiance based on natural light levels or to highlight specific products, creating an inviting and product-focused environment.
Touch
Interactive Product Displays: Use tactile sensors and buttons on product displays to provide customers with detailed information or comparisons when touched. Heating or cooling actuators could simulate the product's feel in use, like warming up a seat cover.
Haptic Feedback Systems: Integrate vibration units in handles or surfaces to give feedback when customers interact with products or displays, enhancing the tactile experience.
Spatial
Geofenced Offers: Trigger personalized promotions or product information on customers' mobile devices as they enter specific zones within the showroom using geofencing.
Virtual Assistance: Implement IP tracking and occupancy sensors to deploy virtual assistants (via mobile apps or in-store screens) offering detailed product knowledge and help when customers linger in an area, indicating interest.
Sixth
Personalized Product Displays: Use facial and mood tracking to adjust digital displays, showcasing products that match the customer's current mood or interests.
Enhanced Customer Service: Implement body and skeletal tracking to identify when a customer appears confused or needs assistance, prompting staff or virtual assistants to offer help
The Playground: Imagination and Exploration through VR Experiences
Empowering staff through creativity and empathy is key to designing engaging, tech-enabled spaces. Hosting innovation workshops to help employees explore spatial computing’s potential, while training them to guide diverse customers in playful, immersive interactions. Set up clear feedback loops so team insights continuously shape the experience. Interactive sound stations and a curated audio library add layers of exploration—using voice, sensors, and ambient sound to activate themed zones and spark curiosity across all ages.
Ideation
Sound
Sound-Based Interactive Games: Install floor pads or wall panels that emit sounds or music when touched, encouraging exploration. Games can teach product facts or brand history in an entertaining way.
Augmented Reality Audio: Through AR headphones or the customer's smartphone, overlay the physical playground with a soundscape that changes based on location, encouraging discovery and interaction with products.
Sight
Interactive Floors and Walls: Employ motion sensors and projectors to create interactive surfaces that respond to customer movement with games or educational content related to the products. This encourages exploration and learning in a fun way.
Augmented Reality Games: Use AR displays to overlay digital experiences on the physical space, turning the playground into an immersive game zone that educates and entertains.
Touch
Tactile Exploration Zones: Design areas with different textures, temperatures, and movements, using materials activated by touch sensors and linear actuators. This could include walls that change texture or floors that gently vibrate to guide movement.
Interactive Installations: Employ buttons and levers to control interactive art or play installations, where actions have direct physical feedback, like triggering water misters or fans, enhancing the exploratory experience.
Spatial
Interactive Product Journeys: Use RFID tags and GPS to create an interactive journey through the store, where customers can learn about products through games or scavenger hunts, enhancing the playful experience.
Motion-based Interactive Displays: Accelerometers and gyroscopes in mobile devices or store-provided tablets can control interactive displays, changing content as customers move and interact with products.
Sixth
Interactive Learning Experiences: Leverage gesture and object recognition for interactive displays where customers can learn about products through fun, hands-on activities.
Gamified Engagement: Use marker and image tracking for augmented reality (AR) games that encourage exploration of the store, with rewards that can be used towards purchases.
The Clubhouse: Connecting Like-Minded Customers via Mixed Reality
Clubhouse memberships—like those at Equinox or destination wellness brands—thrive on a blend of consistency, community, and continuous renewal. To support this, ensure all experiences are accessible and inclusive, with adaptable interaction methods and thoughtful spatial design. Keep digital and interactive content fresh with regular updates that inspire return visits and deepen engagement. Simple feedback tools let members shape their environment, creating a dynamic, member-driven experience across multiple locations.
Ideation
Sound:
Spatial Audio Installations: Create an immersive sound environment using directional speakers that play ambient sounds, music, or narratives generated by the community, enhancing the sense of immersion without overwhelming the space.
Community Podcast Booth: Set up a sound-proof booth where members can record podcasts, interviews, or stories related to the community's focus, which can be shared within the clubhouse or online as a form of engagement and content creation.
Sight:
Curated Art Exhibitions: Use dynamic digital displays to showcase art, photography, or videos that resonate with the community's interests, changing exhibits periodically to keep the space fresh and engaging.
Augmented Reality (AR) Storytelling: Implement AR experiences that visitors can access through their smartphones or provided devices, overlaying the physical space with digital content that tells the story of the community, its values, or the products featured in the clubhouse.
Touch
Interactive Product Displays: Design displays where products can be touched, felt, and interacted with, using haptic feedback to enhance the experience. For example, wearables that vibrate to indicate features or smart fabrics that change texture.
Tactile Navigation Paths: Incorporate textured flooring that guides visitors through the space using subtle changes in materials, aiding navigation and discovery without the need for visual cues.
Spatial
Proximity-Based Content Delivery: Use geofencing or Bluetooth beacons to send personalized messages or content to members' smartphones as they move through different areas of the clubhouse, providing information, stories, or promotions relevant to their location.
Motion-Activated Experiences: Install motion sensors to trigger interactive experiences or ambient changes in the environment as people move through the space, such as lighting that follows movement or exhibits that activate upon approach.
Sixth
Adaptive Environmental Controls: Integrate environmental sensors to adjust the interior climate based on external weather conditions, ensuring the space remains comfortable and inviting regardless of the outside climate.
Time-Based Ambient Changes: Use the clubhouse's lighting and sound systems to reflect the time of day or season, creating a cozy atmosphere in the evening with warm lights and soft music, or a vibrant, energetic environment during the day with brighter lighting and upbeat tunes.
The Oasis: A Refuge with Ambient Intelligence
To elevate the customer experience, integrate ambient intelligence systems that respond to presence and behavior—adjusting lighting, sound, scent, and temperature to create a personalized oasis. Offer private relaxation pods where guests can unwind with immersive visuals and soundscapes they control. Complement this with empathy-based staff training grounded in the HEARD method, fostering emotional intelligence and responsive service. There is also an opportunity to partner with cultural organizations for grants and workforce training programs that build a hospitality-driven, community-first culture.
Ideation
Sound
Ambient Soundscapes: Create a tranquil environment using speakers to play natural sounds like running water, forest ambience, or soft music, adjustable via speech recognition to suit customer preferences.
Mood Detection: Employ mood tracking through voice recognition to personalize the ambient sound, playing soothing tones for relaxation or uplifting music to energize the space.
Sight
Ambient Environments: Implement light sensors and projectors to create changing landscapes or serene visuals that transform the space into a tranquil escape. Service design should prioritize simplicity and relaxation, with content that promotes well-being.
Mood-Based Lighting: Utilize motion detection and programmable lights to adjust the lighting based on the number of people in the area or the time of day, enhancing the oasis-like atmosphere with warm or cool lighting as needed.
Touch
Climate-Controlled Environments: Utilize temperature and humidity sensors coupled with heating and cooling actuators to create micro-climates within the oasis, such as a warm, humid tropical zone or a cool, misty forest area.
Relaxation Pods: Offer individual relaxation pods with controlled temperature settings, vibration massage seats, and humidity-controlled environments to provide a tactile escape from the outside world.
Spatial
Relaxation Paths: Implement geofencing and persistence tracking to guide customers on a relaxation path through the store, where ambient lighting and soundscapes change to create a peaceful shopping experience.
Occupancy-based Service Customization: Use occupancy sensors to adjust service levels and ambient elements (like scent diffusers or calming visuals) based on the number of people in the oasis, ensuring a serene environment.
Sixth
Mood-Based Environments: Utilize mood and face tracking to tailor the atmosphere of the oasis, changing lighting, music, and scents based on the collective mood of customers present.
Seasonal Wellness Tips: Implement time and season tracking to provide customers with wellness tips or product recommendations that are relevant to the current time of year or weather conditions
The Studio: Co-Creation and Customization through AR Tools
In flagship-style makespace stores—like Apple, Samsung, or Dyson—empowering customers to co-create is part of the experience. Design thinking methodologies help staff deeply understand customer needs, while technical training ensures smooth support across tools and platforms. Integrated microphones and speakers enable intuitive, voice-led design choices, with auditory feedback and tips guiding the process. A strong content strategy, delivered through seamless audio tutorials, keeps the creative flow uninterrupted and user-friendly. For example, in a furniture store, customers could change the color, material, or design elements of a piece and immediately see how it looks in a virtual space
Ideation
Sound
Collaborative Audio Workshops: Facilitate workshops where customers can use their voices to interact with digital interfaces, customizing products or creating designs that are influenced by the pitch, tone, and rhythm of their speech.
Feedback Loops: Implement microphones and speech recognition to allow customers to leave verbal feedback on their creations or the workshop experience, using this input to refine and improve the service
Sight
Creative Collaboration Tools: Offer AR/VR displays and screens for customers to design or visualize custom creations in real-time, supported by cameras for capturing textures or colors they wish to incorporate. The service design should facilitate an easy-to-use creation process with staff on hand to assist.
Digital Fabrication Previews: Use projectors to show how designs will look in real life, including on products or within spaces, allowing for adjustments before the final creation process begins.
Touch
Material Exploration Stations: Set up stations where customers can use buttons and levers to manipulate and experiment with materials and textures, powered by motors and linear actuators to demonstrate different uses or effects.
Customization Tools: Provide tools with tactile feedback for customers creating or customizing products, such as vibration feedback pens for drawing or designing, giving a more intuitive sense of interaction.
Spatial
Customization Workshops: Leverage RFID and GPS to offer workshops or customization stations where customers' locations trigger specific content on nearby screens, showing customization options or tutorials related to the products they're viewing.
Design Collaboration: Use IP tracking and accelerometers for collaborative design sessions, where movements and choices in the physical space influence a shared digital project, enhancing the co-creation experience.
Sixth
Collaborative Design Tools: Use gesture recognition and body tracking to enable intuitive interactions with digital design tools, allowing customers to manipulate and customize products in a natural way.
Real-Time Customization Feedback: Employ mood and face tracking to gauge customer reactions to different customization options, offering suggestions or adjustments to improve satisfaction.
The Garden: Repair, Restore, Recycle with AR Guides and Workshops
Support a zero-waste culture by integrating sustainability into the customer journey. Use AR to provide step-by-step guides for repairing or upcycling products—customers can simply scan an item to access tailored instructions, tips, and animations. Designate in-store collection and sanitation centers for recycling, repairs, and material swaps, reinforcing circular economy practices. This hands-on, tech-enabled approach turns sustainability into a shared, creative experience that empowers both customers and staff.
Ideation
Sound
Educational Tours with Audio: Use speech recognition to offer guided tours where customers can learn about plants, sustainability practices, or the brand's environmental efforts through storytelling and ambient sounds, triggered by their movement through the garden.
Interactive Sound Installations: Place sound-emitting devices throughout the garden that react to customer proximity or touch, providing facts about sustainability or the origins of plants, encouraging learning through exploration.
Sight
Educational Pathways: Employ motion detectors and screens to present information about sustainability, recycling, and gardening as visitors move through different sections of the garden. Content should be designed to inform and inspire sustainable practices.
Virtual Plant Care Guides: Integrate cameras and AR displays to recognize plants and provide care instructions, pest management tips, and water needs directly overlaid onto the physical space, enhancing the educational aspect of the garden.
Touch
Interactive Educational Displays: Use tactile sensors in the garden to teach visitors about different plants and ecosystems through touch, with areas designed to mimic the textures and temperatures of various environmental conditions.
Sustainable Practice Demonstrations: Implement levers and buttons that activate demonstrations of sustainable practices, such as compost turning or water collection, allowing visitors to physically engage with and learn about sustainability.
Spatial
Sustainability Trails: Employ geofencing and RFID to create educational trails that highlight sustainability features and practices, engaging customers with interactive signs or augmented reality content that pops up on their devices as they move.
Resource-saving Tips: Utilize occupancy sensors and GPS to provide tips on saving resources or recycling, triggered by customer movement through different areas dedicated to sustainable living practices.
Sixth
Sustainable Practices Education: Incorporate object tracking to recognize when customers interact with specific products or displays, triggering educational content about sustainability practices related to the item.
Personalized Gardening Advice: Use time and season tracking to provide customers with personalized gardening tips or product suggestions that are optimal for the current season or weather conditions.