Placeless Store or Ubiquitous Stores? New Technological Frontiers in Retailing

Retailing is subject to a continuous innovation triggered by the constant progresses in technology. The new technologies are dramatically changing the way for searching, comparing, choosing and buying products, by providing new exciting and more effective shopping experience. Among the available technology-based innovations for retailing, especially advancements in networking systems and ubiquitous computing provide a totally new scenario where competing. In particular, these ones develop new shopping environment not limited to the traditional physical points of sale, by becoming a promising area for research. This paper aims at investigating the new competitive scenario, by emphasizing the shift from e-to m-to u-store, and outlining possible future directions in a placeless shopping scenario.