In this month’s Retail Insight article, Ariel Haroush, CEO of Outform and Founder of Future Stores & Outform, speaks to RLI about why experience is retail’s survival code.

Let’s be clear: most retailers are still stuck in legacy mode. They’re running on outdated logic – static showrooms, transactional layouts and KPIs that measure movement, not meaning. They’re designing for footfall in a world driven by emotional connection. Deloitte’s 2025 Global Gen Z and Millennial Survey reveals that Gen Z increasingly prioritises experiences that offer purpose, emotional resonance and personal meaning over traditional material rewards. In today’s experience-first economy, that’s not just inefficient – it’s a slow fade into irrelevance.

We’re not in the experience economy anymore. We’ve entered something more urgent, more unforgiving: the experience-first economy. In this new reality, experience isn’t a marketing layer – it’s the product. Retail isn’t a channel – it’s a creative operating system. And brands that fail to upgrade risk becoming culturally obsolete.

The Experience OS: Inputs, Outputs and Debugging in Real Time

Think of retail as a system. The inputs are customer behaviours – scrolling, swiping, sharing, reacting in milliseconds. The outputs are shareable moments – experiences that spark emotion, drive engagement and live beyond the four walls. And the debugging? That’s experimentation, rapid iteration and real-time learning.

At Future Stores, we don’t build stores. We build retail ecosystems, spaces that behave like media channels, cultural hubs and brand accelerators. Our environments are designed to be responsive, immersive and emotionally resonant – because that’s what today’s shopper demands.

From Static to Sensational: How Retail is Reinventing itself

Let’s be real: many retailers are still designing for yesterday’s shopper. But the good news? The blueprint for transformation is already here – and it’s working.

At Future Stores and Outform, we’ve seen how retail spaces can evolve from passive showrooms into active cultural platforms. The H&M Social Fitting Room activation in Barcelona is a prime example. By turning a traditional fitting room into a shareable, interactive experience – with smart mirrors and social media integration – it drove a 3x increase in dwell time and 27 per cent uplift in conversion. It wasn’t just a place to try on clothes – it was a place to connect.

Gen Z doesn’t just want to buy – they want to belong. They seek immediacy, authenticity and emotional resonance. And when retail delivers experiences worth filming, sharing and talking about, it doesn’t fade – it flourishes.

Retail’s new role isn’t to house products, it’s to perform. The store is now a stage. A place where brands express themselves, provoke emotion and invite participation. From Seoul to São Paulo, retail spaces are evolving into cultural playgrounds – immersive environments where brands connect through emotion, technology and storytelling.

The New Metrics: Engagement, Emotion, Relevance

Forget footfall as your north star. Footfall tells you if people arrived. Cultural relevance tells you if they cared.

We measure success in a new triad:

  • Engagement – Are people interacting, filming, sharing?
  • Emotion – Are they smiling, staying, returning?
  • Relevance – Is the space experience part of the cultural conversation?

These aren’t vanity metrics – they’re survival metrics. They reflect not just performance, but resonance. And they’re what build brand equity in an attention-starved world.

Built for Speed, Flexibility and Cultural Impact

Retail needs to move faster. Be more flexible. Respond to culture in real time. That’s why Future Stores is built as a platform, not a fixed format.

And at Outform, the environments we create are modular by design. They’re built to test, learn and evolve. Whether it’s a flagship concept, a pop-up, or a hybrid space, we help brands create retail experiences that behave like content – fast to deploy, easy to measure and impossible to ignore.

Retail OS Upgrade Checklist: How Brands can stay Relevant

Treat retail as a living system – design environments that respond to culture and evolve with every interaction. 

  • Design with emotion – Use lighting, layout and content to evoke meaningful feelings.
  • Embrace experimentation – Build feedback loops, iterate quickly and treat failure as fuel for innovation.
  • Think like creators – Make stores worth filming, sharing and talking about.
  • Add global resonance – Ensure your retail experience speaks to diverse audiences across regions.

The Stakes are Higher than ever

This isn’t just about good design – it’s about business survival. Gen Z is rewriting the rules. AI is reshaping how we discover and decide. Attention spans are collapsing. The brands that win will be those that adapt – not just with tech, but with creativity, empathy and relevance.

Retail is no longer a static space – it’s a dynamic medium. A place where brands can express identity, spark emotion and create culture. The question isn’t whether your store can sell, it’s whether it can connect.

Final Word: Is your Store Ready for what’s next?

In the experience-first economy, relevance is earned through creativity, agility and emotional intelligence. The brands leading this shift aren’t just adapting, they’re inventing new rules.

At Outform and Future Stores, we’re helping shape that future. Not with templates, but with transformation. Because when retail is done right, it doesn’t just move product… it moves people.