The visible and invisible technologies transforming the shops of tomorrow

Today, physical stores are interactive, connected and highly personalised spaces, in which technology plays a major role.

In 2002, Tom Cruise amazed cinema audiences by showing how cameras automatically recognised him by capturing his iris, and when he entered the shopping centre, fully personalised advertisements were directed directly at him. The science fiction film ‘Minority Report’ talked about advances that at the time seemed impossible, disturbing and absolutely invasive of privacy.

In 2025, some things are quite similar to that disturbing and threatening future predicted by the film. There are companies that know exactly where we are and recognise us when we pass by some of their machines. They know to a large extent what we are looking for or want to buy and offer it to us even before we ask for it. We can try on clothes virtually, or pick up the products we need in the shop and take them away without going through the checkout, because they are paid for automatically by our bank. It is true that, at least in theory, citizens have authorised Google, Meta, Amazon, BBVA, Santander and many other companies and brands to have this increasingly accurate control over what they do, want or wish to do at any given moment, although in the vast majority of cases these authorisations have been given in an almost ‘automated’ way…