Moving beyond the transactional

Innovation meets personalization in the new experience economy

The purchase experience is paramount to customers – perhaps more important than the product itself. For businesses, the pressure is on to deliver a more personalized offering, an engaging product or service, and a seamless journey that leads to a memorable event. So how can businesses innovate, adapt, and thrive in this new experience economy?

Enriching the customer journey

Consumer loyalty and the purchases that follow are influenced by experiences throughout the customer journey. Successful companies are those that continuously reinvent these experiences and embed the latest technology and innovation into the process. The result is optimized personalization, increased engagement with consumers, and a seamless process for using and purchasing products. Paired with options for feedback, this allows for an even better experience in the future.

Moment of truth: The nudge

These are the opportunities that successful companies do not miss—ideal moments to offer customers a relevant product along with a simple on-ramp to begin their customer journey.

1

BE AWARE

Personalized marketing

Sensory marketing

Digital nudging

2

INTERACT

Visual product customization

Sensory supplements/ experimental gadgets

Service provider aggregation/ unmanned stores

3

CHOOSE

Database integration for customer profiling and instant data sharing

4

SETTLE

Non-fungible tokens

Smart contract solutions

5

MANAGE

Virtual assistants, chatbots, and conversational AI solutions

6

CONSUME

Biometrics and facial recognition solutions

Smart wearable solutions

7

REVIEW

Customer feedback tools

8

SHARE

Loyalty program gamification tools

9

RETAIN

Customer retention through digital nudges

End of journey

By journey’s end, companies that use the data/feedback gathered to improve their offerings will be well-prepared for the next opportunity to engage the customer.

Moment of truth: The nudge

These are the opportunities that successful companies do not miss—ideal moments to offer customers a relevant product along with a simple on-ramp to begin their customer journey.

Be aware

Personalized marketing
Sensory marketing
Digital nudging

Interact

Visual product customization
Sensory supplements/experimental gadgets
Service provider aggregation/unmanned stores

Choose

Database integration for customer profiling and instant data sharing

Settle

Non-fungible tokens
Smart contract solutions

Manage

Virtual assistants, chatbots, and conversational AI solutions

Consume

Biometrics and facial recognition solutions
Smart wearable solutions

Review

Customer feedback tools

Share

Loyalty program gamification tools

Retain

Customer retention through digital nudges

End of journey

By journey’s end, companies that use the data/feedback gathered to improve their offerings will be well-prepared for the next opportunity to engage the customer.

View sector examples

Brick-and-mortar retail

Food and beverages

Tourism

Entertainment

Brick-and-mortar retail

Facing online competition that is nimble and accessible, brick and mortar retailers must become destinations that dazzle consumers with in-person innovations they can’t experience from the comfort of their home.

1. Unmanned stores

Shoppers stroll the aisles dropping items into bags or carts or pockets, and their selections are automatically tallied before they walk out the door. No lines or cashiers, just a contactless payment—and another item checked off of their to-do list.

2. Customized 3D printing and dematerialized fashion

You print a new coat for yourself and a last-minute gift for a friend, all in the brief time before you head out the door.

3. Augmented reality mirrors

Shoes from one store, jacket from another, pants from a third—trying on clothes virtually ensures that a great look no longer requires stepping into three different dressing rooms.

4. Digital retail spaces in virtual reality (VR)

Jump from store to store in an instant, move through aisles where everything is right at hand, and never stand in line again.

“From store to store in an instant, a wonderland of shops with everything right at hand.”

5. Technology-enabled customization

An AI application analyzes an uploaded selfie, detects hydration levels, and suggests a personalized moisturizer formulated for your skin type—no hard sell, just hard data.

6. Personalized in-store communication

A store greets you by name as you enter, sends coupons to your phone, and points you to the aisle where your favorite product is back in stock.

Food and beverages

Unpronounceable ingredient lists, generic offerings, and fruit from half a world away will shift to locally grown products that are sustainably produced and tuned to local tastes.

1. Data ID stores

A store mines its data to welcome you like an old friend, have your standing order ready, and personalize its offerings to match your tastes.

2. Farm-to-table movement

Digitized agriculture ensures that the freshest apples are available for your pie, close to your home, exactly when you need them.

3. Bio-design foods

Biotech and food manufacturers team up to unearth the micro-ingredients for creating exceptional meals through new flavors and food experiences.

4. Artificial offerings

AI can help ideate and produce novel, healthy, and delicious food combinations—including a juicy steak that was actually made from a plant.

“A store mines its data to welcome you like an old friend and have your order ready”

5. Decarbonized diets

Offer consumers the best-tasting produce, grown nearby, and managed sustainably, and you won’t need to explain why it’s good for them—and the earth.

6. Food as medicine

Some foods just make us feel better when we eat them; producers can make sure the food actually is better for us—reducing fatigue and improving our health.

Tourism

When the experience is the product, the anticipation, excitement, and fun must start with the planning and then follow consumers to their destinations and home.

1. VR tours

Sitting atop a mountain or swimming with a school of fish is no longer limited by how high you can climb or how long you can hold your breath—any destination, event, or experience, accessed from the comfort of your couch.

2. Borderless bank accounts

This week it’s Euros, next week it’s Yen—you’ll always have the right currency for the right location.

3. Conscious travel

Visiting far-flung countries can certainly be life-changing, but some travelers are seeking adventure closer to home—and the reduced fuel, emissions, and costs that go with it.

4. Nomad lifestyles

Work this week in one city, next week at the beach, maybe the next in a different country—still connected to your coworkers and still hitting every deadline.

“This week in one city, next week at the beach, maybe the next in a different country.”

5. Immersive and authentic cultural experiences

The most fulfilling travel often involves joining the daily life of locals, lodging with them, sharing authentic local dishes, and working with them to complete a task or reach a common goal.

6. Facial recognition

Breeze through check-in, stroll through passport control, and speed through boarding, all because the airport recognizes you—and the smile on your face.

Entertainment

Entertainment is not merely a product to be consumed but an event that shapes consumer memories through the impact and value of the experience.

1. AR/VR-enabled concerts/sports

Your favorite athlete stands just a few feet away, in-person or virtually, while you check stats on your headset, buy a jersey, and squabble with a friend who roots for the other team.

2. 3D printing in museums

Ancient artifacts, originally crafted to be held and used, emerge from behind the thick glass as near-perfect recreations to be experienced by everyone.

3. Enhanced art and music engagement via blockchain

You donate bitcoin to an artist, enabling that artist to continue sharing their personal and unique vision with the world − now all art is local.

4. Non-fungible tokens

A blockchain entry that confirms that a unique photo, video, song—anything digital really—is unquestionably yours, to hold long term or to trade digitally tomorrow.

“Your smart speaker pumps up the bass, drops the treble, and turns the volume to 11.”

5. Purpose-driven gaming

Forming meaningful connections, sharing values, and learning from others around the world is distinctly possible, even while portraying a wizard in your favorite role-playing game.

6. Interactive TV shows

Taking part in your favorite show, interacting with the characters, and maybe even influencing the plot and ending; it’s the difference between passive viewing and a fully immersive experience.

Education

Healthcare

Urban mobility

Residential real estate

Banking and finance

Education

Rote memorization and overstuffed classrooms will be replaced by personalized and adaptive curriculums, creative experimentation, access to global resources, and exploration of physical spaces.

1. Schools with no classes, classrooms, or curriculum

Untethered from busy work and rigid curriculum, education is tuned to each student’s needs and strengths, focusing on real-world puzzles to be solved, art to be experienced and felt, and exploration outside the four walls of the classroom.

2. 3D-enabled classrooms

Prototyping actual designs and objects in near-real-time means less time spent studying flat renderings and more time holding a dinosaur, a model of Pompei, and even Jupiter in your hands.

3. 360VR-immersive classrooms

Virtually visiting historical locations, populated with the people and culture of the time, offers significantly more context than a photo of broken columns in a textbook.

4. Gamified schools

Game-based learning is still about finding answers, whether it’s solving physics problems or understanding the causes of historical events; it just happens to be fun for students as well.

“Access to the latest shared information resources and greatest minds around the world.”

5. Blockchain digital badges

By offering immutable proof of your education level, skills, and experience—any achievement really—these new forms of credentialing replace traditional transcripts and resumes.

6. Networked learning hubs

Access to the greatest minds and resources around the world—a global educational campus—would not replace but instead augment and enrich the knowledge gained from schools, colleagues, and local culture.

Healthcare

Superior care is more than just the physical presence of a health provider; it comes from a personalized, integrated wellness approach and access to life-changing technology.

1. Telehealth solutions

Whether video chatting with a doctor or sharing data via a personal health tracker, the goal is the same: expert care available on demand and from the comfort of home.

2. Surgical precision and nanotechnology

A surgeon uses AR to operate on a patient a thousand miles away, with vitals up on screen, a hologram of the organ in question, and a pair of robotic hands at the ready.

3. Genome sequencing

An individual’s genetic makeup offers insight into potential disease and its prevention—or existing disease and its eradication.

4. Blockchain and personal health records

A doctor searches a blockchain-based medical record, finds comprehensive patient and family data, and confidently develops a plan to save a life.

“A doctor searches a blockchain-based medical record and finds complete/accurate data.”

5. Organs-on-chips

A micro-scale system for drug testing and disease modeling on simulated organs, leading to personalized treatment and drug solutions.

6. Customized prosthetics

A prosthetist uses a 3D printer to produce a high-quality prosthesis, with a custom fit, all at a price that makes it accessible even to those with minimal insurance plans.

Urban mobility

Accessibility is often the difference between a memorable experience and no experience at all. And sometimes that journey is an experience all its own.

1. Autonomous mobility and delivery

An autonomous vehicle delivers dinner from your favorite restaurant while your heli-taxi soars over traffic to get you home while it’s still warm.

2. On-demand and mobility-as-a-service (MAAS)

Whether you need a plane, train, or rental car to get to your destination, an integrated app finds you the best mobility solution, lets you book it, and provides payment options.

3. Interior futuristic designs

Easily swap out your vehicle’s “office” interior for the “family trip” module, kitted out with a gaming system, swivel seats, bunks, and a snack bar where the passenger seat used to be.

4. Micro-mobility

Lines of cars, no place to park, and endless traffic give way to bikes and scooters, ordered via app, available everywhere and dropped off anywhere.

“Bikes and scooters, ordered via app, available everywhere and dropped off anywhere.”

5. AI-optimized parking

The Internet of Things helps identify the closest parking lot, locates a space, and lets you pay for it—no more driving around in circles.

6. Hyperloop

Climb into a pod, sit back, and cruise at hundreds of miles per hour to your destination; catching up on work is optional.

Residential real estate

Traditional real estate industry roles have been upended by tech-savvy consumers armed with live data and the expectation that only innovation and clearly defined benefits will close the sale.

1. Property viewings via robotic assistants

It’s a last-minute property viewing and the buyer has seemingly endless questions, but the robot guide patiently glides along, accurately and calmly answering them all—some of them twice.

2. Contract digitization and transparency

Loan approvals, title transfers, and a dozen other critical transactions are freed from their cardboard boxes and collected indelibly and transparently in a blockchain.

3. AR/VR-enabled property search

AR and VR make it possible to get away for the weekend without missing the opportunity to “walk through” and learn every detail about a perfect house that just came on the market.

4. Robotic facilities management

The robotic building manager answers a tenant call in one ring, schedules a repair, reviews security footage, monitors utility usage, manages inventory, and sends 50 customized rent reminders—those five minutes just flew by.

“The house you envisioned, built where you want it, in a creative but standardized way.”

5. Use of synthetic biology

Adhesives inspired by geckos, self-repairing buildings that can highlight and repair cracks; the most effective technology is not always silicon-based.

6. 3D printing for residential real estate

The house you envisioned, built where you want it, in a creative but standardized way, without the mystery of where all the time and money went.

Banking and finance

Managing cash, a mortgage, or investments can be a chore. It takes mobile-first strategies, investing driven by AI/machine learning, and highly personalized offerings to make it an experience.

1. Digital banking experiences

Automated banking creates personalized investment plans that leave room for maneuvering, debt consolidating that leaves room for fun, and a secure profile on a blockchain, resulting in about a thousand fewer pieces of paper.

2. Smart bank branches

The bank branch is the hub for in-person or holographic meetings, the interface for accessing specialized offers, and a personalized environment designed to promote your financial well-being.

3. Enhanced personalization

Your bank uses AI and machine learning to study the business and family aspects of your financial profile and offer personalized products to satisfy the needs of both.

4. Cashless society

You pay for lunch with your watch, transfer bitcoin from a digital wallet to purchase stocks, and try to remember the last time you held paper money in your hand.

“You pay for lunch with your watch and try to remember the last time you held paper money.”

5. Robo-advisors

You have a mortgage, kids headed to college, and a new business; the robo-advisor queues up all the ways it can help you pay your bills, from lines of credit to automated payments.

6. Enhanced trading strategies

Social media mentions, news coverage, and a series of market highs and lows converge in a mashup of data that only an AI can channel into a coherent trading strategy.

Impact of the experience economy

Adopting the experience economy is a win-win-win situation, positively impacting consumers, the companies that offer the experience, and the environment overall. Most consumers agree: 83%¹ care how brands treat them, 86%² note that personalization plays a key role in purchasing decisions, and 42%³ will happily pay more for a friendly experience.

Benefits to employers

Benefits to consumers

Benefits to environment

¹ Forbes, "Consumers Are Hungry For An Experience-Based Connection With Your Brand"

² Infosys study, "Rethinking Retail"

³ PwC, "Experience is everything. Get it right."

Where the journey leads

Soaring expectations by consumers—and the technology required to meet them—are shaping the future of product development and revolutionizing the customer journey experience. Those sectors and companies that innovate and adapt their products and services to match can grow their market share, achieve economies of scale, and build a product line that is sustainable for the long term.

Badr Al-Olama

Head of the GMIS Organizing Committee
Executive Director, UAE Clusters, Mubadala

Moving beyond the transactional

Benefits to employers

Benefits to consumers

Benefits to environment

Contact us