About the Author

As a retail design, merchandising and brand consultant, David Kepron draws on 25 years of work as an architect, artist and educator. His multidisciplinary approach to the design of shopping places focuses on understanding consumer behavior and the creation of relevant shopping experiences at the intersection of sociology, neuroscience and emerging digital technologies.

From high-end fashion luxury brands to off-price mass merchants, David's portfolio includes a diverse spectrum of retail clients: ILORI, Perry Ellis, Toys'R Us, Lacoste, Polo Jeans Company, Godiva Chocolatier, Levi's, Calvin Klein, Nautica, Ralph Lauren, Lane Bryant, Capital One Bank, Darden Restaurants, Aramark, L'Occitane, and Kohl's.

Kepron has held roles as a professor of architecture and design for the MS Interior Design Program at Drexel University in Pennsylvania and the Laboratory Institute of Merchandising (L.I.M.) in New York, and he served as the director of the Visual Merchandising Department at LaSalle International Fashion School (L.I.F.S.) in Singapore. He presently teaches a retail design studio at New York's Fashion Institute of Technology.

Listed in Display and Design Ideas Magazine's "40 Under 40" and "30 of the Industry's Most Influential People," David currently brings his creativity and retailing insight to an international audience as a member of VM+SD magazine's Editorial Advisory Board and the Association for Retail Environments (A.R.E.) Dream Team. David also serves as an Emeritus Member of the Board of Directors of The Planning and Visual Education Partnership - P.A.V.E.

David earned his Bachelors of Science in Architecture and Bachelors of Architecture degrees from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec Canada. He is a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), The Retail Design Institute (RDI) and is a LEED Accredited Professional (LEED® BD+C).

overview
Retail (r)Evolution is a one-of-a kind book for retailers, designers, sales associates, store managers and anyone else for whom shopping is part of their everyday life. This thoughtful look at the relevance of shopping, and the places created to do it, crosses centuries and continents, wireless networks as well as the human brain's intricate landscape.
chapter 1
More Than Getting Stuff - Shopping as a Social Paradigm Boyhood and Believing
Trade routes, the Agora and Malling of America
Ideas and Commerce – A Convenient Connection
3P's – Product, Price, Place, and People
The Social Contract
chapter 2
'Place' vs. 'Space' - Experience Making Great Un-Expectations
Closets vs. Kitchens
chapter 3
Rituals - I Shop Therefore I am The Rites of Purchase
Shopping is an Embodied Experience
Participation is Key
The Media and The Message
Sacred Ground
Ritual Objects
Open for Business – Crucial Times
Cast Members – Animators – Mirroring Receptivity
chapter 4
Bedtime Books and The Water Cooler The Hero Shopper
Departure – Something Missing
Initiation – Adventures in Shopping
Return – Bringin' Back The Goods
Stories and Mental Models
Single Words
Simulations – As If
Emotional Stories
Telling Stories In-Store
Visual Stories as a Strategy
Stories vs. Data Dumps
chapter 5
Playtime! "Homo Ludens – Man the Player"
Shopping and Play
The Essential Features of Play and Shopping
chapter 6
This Is Your Brain On Shopping The Decade After the Decade After the "Decade of the Brain"
The Emotional Brain
Just Who's 'Minding the Store' Anyway?
Super-highways, Country Roads and Cow Paths
Getting to Know You
chapter 7
Three Pounds of Tofu "Brainametrics" – Brain Facts 101
Evolution and The Developing Brain (or The 100, 000 Year Old Brain)
How Brain Cells Communicate
Fire Together Wire Together
From Synapse to Stores
Growing up Digital
Your Brain on Google
Are College Students are Less Empathic Than Their Predecessors?
chapter 8
The Shopping Brain - It's All a State of Mind Consciousness in the Shopping Aisle
The Shapeable Shopping Brain
The Brain is a Complex System
Retailing is a Complex System Too
The Shopping Mind
chapter 9
Please Me The "Pleasure Chemical" – Dopamine
Places, Patterns and Perceptions
Learning…It's All a Big Mistake
The Pleasure Rush of Getting a Good Deal
chapter 10
Shopping: The Agony and the Ecstasy Why Credit Cards Hurt So Good
Using the Card Even When You Know It's Not Good For You
Mirror-Mirror
Reading Faces and Feeling Emotions
This, That or The Other Thing – Why Choice is Highly Over-Rated
chapter 11
Left Brain - Right Brain Life Before Written Language: Communicating in Pictures, Emotions and Gestures
The Rise of Rationality – Plato and Domination By Reason Alone
The Split Brain
Left and Right Hemispheres – What Side Does What
The Language of Texts, Emoticons and Communicating Ideas
chapter 12
Your Shopping Brain in an Omni-Channel Digital World Continuous Partial Attention and The Re-wiring of Your Brain
10 Screens
Faces vs. Facts and Figures
chapter 13
Shopping a-Go-Go Shopping in An Age of Distraction
Smartphone Adoption – who's got 'em?
Keeping Up With the Jones'
Apps and Traps
Smartphone Adoption – What Are They Doin' with 'Em?
Shopping on the Go – On the Mobile Device
Mobile Enabled Customers In The Store
chapter 14
Mysterious Millenninals Who, What, Where, When and Why?
Self Expression
Techsters
Loyalty, Trust and Value
Push-Me Pull-you
TMI OMG ;)! – Information Sharing and The Relationship
The (anti)Social Network - 140 Characters, Emoticons
Chatter that Matters - Communicating with a Millennial
Millennials Like Going to The Store
chapter 15
The Shopper's Mind Extended Connected World - Connected Brains
"Technempathy"
Augmented Cognition and Adaptive Interfaces
The Shopper Ecology and The "Buyosphere"
chapter 16
What's the Big Deal with Big Data? Digital Life-stream
Predictive Analytics and The Predictive Power of Dopamine
Sensors Everywhere – The Sentient Shopping World
chapter 17
Blurring Boundaries - Digitally Driven Sensory Experiences Kiosks, Video Walls, QR Codes and The "Holodeck"
QR Codes, Augmented Reality and Avatars
Wearing Our Tech
Feeling Through the Screen – Haptic Technology
chapter 18
Creating Right-Brained Shopping Experiences in a Digitally Driven World 'Making' is intrinsic to Us All - Engaging Our Need to Create
Creative–Collaborative-Consumerism
The Market Segment and Brand of 'Me'
The Brand Performance Place
Retailing on the Right Side of the Brain
The Store Will Never Go Away
Speaking Engagements
Mar 25-26
NGCX
Indian Wells, Ca
Apr 4-7
BOND FIVE Star
Venice, Italy
April 10-11
Digital Travel Summit
Indian Wells, Ca
May 15-17
World Retail Congress
Amsterdam, NL
Aug 19-21
BXP Live
Jersey City, NY
Sept 5-8
BOND Five Star
Miami, FL
Sep 30-Oct 2
IRDC
Boston, MA
Oct 2-4
Digital Travel Connect
San Diego
Oct 8th
Hospitality Day
Rimini, Italy
Oct 16-17
CCOI - Chief Customer and Influencers
New York, NY
Contact
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AIA P.A.V.E. RDI VM+SD