5G AND RETAIL

The way consumers buy products is changing.

5G and the Internet of Things (IoT) is set to transform retail over the coming years. In fact, research by Barclays Corporate Banking predicts that it could ‘supercharge the UK’ by up to £15.7 billion per year by 2025. We’re already seeing positive trends in consumer behaviour. For instance, 74% of consumers research online before purchasing in a store, and 54% of consumers already use click and connect. 5G adoption will only further drive retailers towards an increasingly omnichannel approach to customer journeys where consumers can browse, purchase, deliver, collect and return goods via any combination of channels.

It’s not just m-commerce that will be impacted. 5G could also open the door to other innovations such as ‘smart shelves’ for faster restocking, AR and VR for personalised retail signage, dressing rooms with ‘magic mirrors’, and a host of other interactive features within shopping malls and retail stores.

5G AND FINANCE

The shift towards online banking continues.

According to a Which? report, there were 3,303 bank branch closures between 2015 and 2019, equating to 34% loss of physical branches. At the same time, the majority of over 16s (73%) now bank online in the UK with 64% using their smartphones. Therefore, it’s no surprise that mobile payments are a growing area worldwide. According to Statistica, 35.2% of consumers in China have now adopted mobile wallets, followed by a 29.5% adoption rate in India. Beyond smartphones, wearables such as smartwatches are also increasingly being used to make payments, potentially allowing consumers to interact with their bank using voice commands.

We’re also seeing other benefits to 5G in the financial sector. For instance, higher bandwidth and less lag can help to reduce the number of wrongly declined transactions and protect customers from fraud. The introduction of 5G will also create opportunities for companies to attract better customers with more efficiency.

5G AND MEDIA

Unimaginable possibilities for music, media and gaming.

Just as Netflix disrupted traditional broadcasters, 5G will disrupt how and where we consume content. Since 5G-enabled speeds are faster than most home broadband services, watching content on a mobile phone or tablet will become the norm. Rather than being restricted to the type of content they can provide, media companies will be able to supply 4K ultra-high definition and instant-response gaming to customers. According to one report, this could lead to the average monthly traffic per 5G user growing from 11.7GB to 84.4GB per month by 2028, at which point video will account for 90% of all 5G traffic.

The days of broadcast entertainment are long gone. Sports fans will be able to view every inch of a football pitch, gamers will be able to enjoy premium cross-platform games with increased sophistication on mobile, and music fans will be able to experience live festival performances via AR equipped stages. Although this gives us a flavour of what’s possible, the ultra-low latency combined with high bandwidth will inevitably disrupt the media and entertainment industries in ways we can’t yet comprehend.

5G AND EDUCATION

Designing our learning environments for tomorrow.

5G could be the breakthrough schools are waiting for, allowing students to download videos and course materials in seconds rather than minutes. But the benefits stretch far beyond quicker download speeds. 5G’s increased bandwidth will enrich lessons through AR and VR, allowing students to virtually immerse themselves in learning materials, visiting remote locations on earth, travelling back in time to discover past civilisations, or even setting foot on other planets. The use of AR could also be broader than we think – one company has recently developed AR clothing that pairs with an app to explore the anatomy of the human body.

AI and the IoT are expected to play a major role in transforming the classroom. The next generation can expect everything ranging from robot teaching assistants and AI-based learning programs that tailor homework to the individual, to smart classrooms that gather feedback in class and systems that automatically take the register as students enter the room. In many ways, the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated some of these changes, pushing us closer to 5G learning environments.

5G AND GOVERNMENTS

5G could turn the dream of smart cities into reality.

5G could deliver the smart cities we’ve always imagined. By 2050, the United Nations predicts that about 64% of the developing world and 86% of the developed world will be urbanised. Smart cities will play an important role in this transition and could enable governments to communicate more effectively with communities through public-service videos and real-time interactive engagement. 5G is a vital part of this infrastructure because it can support massive IoT networks by connecting to IOT sensors with extended battery lives. This network could even offer the possibility of developing machine to machine communications necessary for autonomous vehicles, remote healthcare, efficient refuse collection, electric grid management and traffic safety control.

Few areas of our society will remain untouched – from school safety, managing the homeless, voting registration and census taking. To see what the future could hold, take a look at some of South Korea’s 5G smart cities such as Sejong and Busan, which are amongst the first in the world and provide an exciting glimpse into our 5G future.

How 5G will transform business.

predicted boost that 5G will
bring to the UK retail sector
by 2025.

of transactions will be m-commerce
(such as mobile and wearables) by 2022.

of 5G all traffic will come from video streaming by the year 2028.

market size of EdTech by 2021 compared with
just £45bn in 2015.

committed spending into UK 5G trials
announced in February 2020.

To understand how 5G fits into the broader picture of digital transformation that’s happening around the world, read Adobe’s
Digital Transformation Trends 2021 report.

Prepare for the 5G revolution.

Download Adobe’s 5G and the Future of Customer Experience white paper.