WGSN Forecasts AI, Sensory Reset, and Climate Resilience as Key Retail Strategies for 2028
According to the world's leading consumer trend forecaster, WGSN, artificial intelligence becoming an ordinary part of everyday life, a sensorial reset, and adapting to a climate-impacted world are among the crucial strategies that will enable brands to master the retail landscape in 2028. These insights highlight a shift toward more human-centric and resilient business models in the coming years.
AI Ordinary: Enhancing Human Strengths
On the trend dubbed AI Ordinary, WGSN emphasizes that the real intelligence lies in using AI to enhance human strengths and experiences distinctly rather than replace them. The forecaster advises retailers to embed AI into their workflows while continuing to value human intelligence.
Lead with the human premium by making people your ultimate unique selling point, WGSN stated in a blog post. It recommends scaling efficiency with AI while letting human strengths, including creativity, care, and connection, define brand identity and customer experience. This approach aims to balance technological advancement with the irreplaceable qualities of human interaction.
Reawakening the Senses in a Digital World
WGSN identifies reawakening the senses as a crucial business strategy, predicting that tangibility will become a new market of value. In an overstimulated, wired world, the biggest disruptors could be things that reconnect consumers to what they can see, smell, hear, taste, and touch.
The trend forecaster notes that digital fatigue often gives way to emotional apathy, making sensory engagement more vital. Enhance brand recall and premium positioning by harnessing the senses to differentiate products and services, it added. Retailers are encouraged to offer repair, resale, and participation models as proofs of value that deepen customer engagement and extend product lifespans, fostering a more sustainable and interactive retail environment.
Climate Resilience as a Business Imperative
Resilience will be a baseline business imperative in 2028, as a climate-impacted world changes every aspect of daily life. WGSN asserts that the era of distant pledges is over, with consumers now demanding immediate, frictionless adaptation to climate challenges.
To meet this demand, retailers should deliver continuity by offering products that keep working during heatwaves, systems that guarantee delivery during disruptions, and communications that guide people calmly through crises. Resilience will be most appealing when it's invisible to customers, WGSN explained. It advises developing cross-sector partnerships to scale climate transition, such as collaborations between finance and tech or public and private sectors, and using simple, relatable language to clearly communicate innovations.
These strategies underscore a broader move toward integrating technology, human touch, and environmental responsibility in the retail sector, positioning brands for success in a rapidly evolving market landscape.
