As the line between virtual and physical reality blurs, the digital technologies we mindlessly incorporate into our everyday routines are shaping our trip down the supermarket aisle. Picture this: your favorite cereal is delivered to your door at the touch of a screen; when you do go to the supermarket, you enter an augmented-reality ‘showroom’ where fresh produce comes to life as interactive technologies tell you about its journey from paddock to plate; and your local supermarket knows when you’re about to run out of shampoo before you do.

This future is closer than you may think. Supermarkets around the world are experimenting with technologies that are revolutionizing the supermarket experience and bringing our offline behaviors into the digital realm.

For example, the US market is set to become a testing ground for Amazon’s brick-and-mortar grocery stores. After rolling out Amazon Fresh across the country, Amazon is planning to pilot its grocery stores in 20 locations across Seattle, Las Vegas, New York, Miami and the Bay Area. Amazon is currently considering new technologies like license plate scanning in its drive-through supermarkets to make click-and-collect shopping easier than every. In store, consumers can expect to see touch screen kiosks to help them browse products with ease.

With competition on the rise and supermarkets’ need to work harder to win the favor of shoppers, technology will become a main feature of the way we shop.

The Delicious Power of Prediction

The increasing popularity of online grocery shopping and click-and-collect services is set to change how consumers will do their weekly shop. Incorporating predictive technologies into the online shopping experience will allow consumers to access discounts on their favorite brands or re-order the same essential items each week without having to individually add them to a cart. These features have huge implications for convenience. Imagine this: each week you buy a loaf of Helga’s wholemeal bread, a tub of Chobani Greek yogurt and a bag of red delicious apples through a smartphone app while you’re commuting home. Then, the next time you log on to purchase groceries, you see that your favorite items are already in your cart, ready to check out, along with a reminder: “Did you forget toothpaste?” By using data collected from your previous purchases, retailers can understand what you buy and how often you buy it, and send you friendly reminders when you’re running low. Say goodbye to the days of getting halfway home and realizing you forgot to buy toothpaste.

While data-driven technologies allow consumers to shop with ease, these same practices are also beneficial to supermarkets as they look to manage inventory and reduce food waste. As consumers, we often expect to see an overstocked display of cosmetically attractive produce. To compensate, supermarkets throw out up to 40% of food before it even reaches store shelves. Coupled with the retailer’s pressure on farmers to overproduce, reducing waste proves a real challenge for the supermarket industry. For every dollar worth of food that never makes it to our plates, it is the farmers and our environment paying the real price.

To combat these challenges, retailers of the future will use consumer data to understand how to market and sell ‘unattractive’ or ‘imperfect’ produce. Australia’s Woolworths is already doing this with their ‘Odd Bunch’ initiative, which aims to save ugly fruit and vegetables from the bin by discounting prices.

Data is now a key that can unlock information about consumer willingness to sacrifice cosmetic perfection for price. Supermarkets can balance customer expectations while helping their suppliers to move towards more sustainable practices. This is good for the bigger picture and the bottom line: food wastage globally costs $990 billion per year and places a huge strain on natural resources. A greater understanding of what consumers will buy and why may help the supermarkets of the future to reduce the cost to the environment and promote better stocking practices.

Consumer to Plate Connections Through Design

The roll-out of self-checkouts, drive-through supermarkets and concept stores across the globe highlights how retailers are focusing on design elements and customer experience to build the supermarkets of tomorrow. For example, Bulgarian supermarket chain Fantastiko have worked closely with architects to design a concept store incorporating interior design with tech innovation to create a better experience for customers visiting their stores.

The next step for supermarkets around the globe will be to join leading global innovators looking to incorporate technologies into the chain supermarkets we know and love. Their key to success? Clever design.

Last year’s World Fair ‘Expo Milano’ explored the theme “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life”, challenging supermarkets, producers and tech firms to present the solutions of tomorrow and demonstrate how they can be used to feed the world today. One of the fair’s most popular precincts, ‘The Future Food District’, came from Italian design firm Carlo Ratti Associati and their partnership with Italian supermarket chain Coop, and tech giants Microsoft, Intel, Accenture, and Avanade. This dynamic partnership created a six-month exhibition that offered a glimpse into what the supermarket of the future will be. Ratti’s vision for the supermarket of tomorrow incorporates fresh produce and an interactive digital display to show shoppers the origin of their food, nutritional facts, and an augmented reality experience of the entire journey from the farm to the store.

At the touch of a screen, consumers can browse popular food trends to find the latest gluten-free snack and see what people around the world are saying about making the switch to gluten-free. The Future Food District featured various creative ways supermarkets are developing user-friendly technologies that harness the power of design to let consumers explore where their food comes from.

So, what’s in store for our supermarkets?

Experts predict that the trip to the supermarket of the future will be defined by digital experiences and the empowered voice of the consumer. As brick-and-mortar stores increasingly become fresh produce showcases and interactive displays of where our food comes from, will consumers will be challenged to form deeper connections to locally produced food and local agriculture? Or will the rise of the online supermarket broaden the divide between the producer and consumer?

Predictive technologies, convenient e-commerce solutions, and interactive design will influence the way we shop, eliminate food waste, and empower consumers to forge deeper connections with the agriculture industry. The age of the smart supermarket has arrived, and it’s only just the beginning.