My comments are only for apparel part of retail.

I am one of those people who is averse to shopping especially in US. As someone who grew up in India, getting a dress tailored was affordable and easy. When I came to US I realized that this was a luxury that I could not afford. My experience also differed when I went to a retail store. Back home, there were store associates who were able to guide and help me choose a style/color that I wanted. Here, such an experience is only available at a high end store. When I go to a store here, a dress that looks good on the shelf might not suit me based on my body structure and so I would spend cycle trying to find something that suits me. I think the designers here create dress for certain generic body types so an individual experience is not possible.

I have seen videos of the future where a customer can come in and choose to overlay different clothing and see how that looks but I think that it works for people who look good in anything. I would like a similar experience but with a more realistic approach that is catered towards me. One of the options that I would like to have is the store is a device that captures my body image in 3D as non-intrusively as possible. Based on that, it will show me a more realistic image of what I will look in a particular sized clothing. For ex, the clothing that looked fabulous on the shelf would not look good on me since it is too tight around my waist. Or the size x by a particular brand might not compare to the same size of another brand. It could analyze the body image and along with automated good design principles can guide me to cloths that will accentuate my positives and hide my flaws. It could also suggest accessories that would go well with the clothing. Also the data from these will help designers provide clothing that cater to different body types. With the advances in automation this can also finally help me to get me a personalized cloth that is affordable.

I think the main hurdles are non-intrusive rendering of body image (ex: True&Co), privacy and data security. I do not want to be a product (whatsapp Vs Facebook). The analytics part of it can be done relatively easily if we have the data. If these issues are removed it will be a win-win situation for the retailer and the consumer.