General Manager of Accra Mall, Denise Asare, has opined that despite the high rise in e-commerce, digital, though a necessity at this point, will never be able to offer the human element of commerce.
According to Denise, digital will never be able to replace the experience of one going to a restaurant to have a nice meal with the whole family, neither will it be able to replace walking into a perfume store and trying out a fragrance and smelling it before buying it.
“They can create new technologies to add an enhanced version of what we experience but the truth of the matter is that on this earth, we’re dealing with human beings and human beings will constantly crave that human touch”, she said.
She voiced this opinion during the Global Media Alliance Webinar Series dubbed ‘The New Normal: Unlocking Digital Transformation in the Retail Industry’. Denise stated that she does not believe shopping malls will die due to the rise in e-commerce, however, the future will offer a hybrid of both offline and online businesses.
“Hybrid is definitely the future and it is creating an opportunity for concept stores meaning when you go into a shop, it is not just about the regular transaction of picking something off the shelf, going to the till and paying for it. It will now have to be about an experience that you had in the shop”.
This is to say that running businesses online will only be able to space a few challenges, nevertheless, it will also enhance physical retail and people will begin to appreciate the time that they spend in shopping centers more than they used to.
By: Maureen Dedei Quaye
