Why the retail sector doesn’t need more screens, but rather interconnected systems.
The boundaries between physical space and digital technology are becoming increasingly blurred, and the high street retail sector is facing a fundamental transformation. At EuroShop 2026 in Düsseldorf, our Managing Director Stephan Nabbefeld presented the ‘Hybrid Spatial’ concept in his keynote speech: a new category in which space, media technology and digital interaction merge into a unified system. In our interview, we talk to him about what this concept means for the retail sector, for the AV industry and, ultimately, for the people moving through these spaces.
Retail isn’t losing out to digital – retail is losing out to relevance.
Alex.: Stephan, for anyone who doesn’t know you yet – would you mind introducing yourself briefly?
Stephan: Sure. I’m Stephan Nabbefeld, Managing Director at SIGMA System Audio-Visuell in Düsseldorf. Since last year, I’ve been running the company together with Marco Vorderstemann – he’s in charge of the strategic side, whilst I oversee operations and technology. I come from a media technology background, have a bachelor’s degree in this field and a master’s in Digital Business Management. And in my spare time I play the drums – rhythm and timing certainly don’t go amiss in the AV industry.
Alex.: At EuroShop 2026, you coined the term ‘Hybrid Spatial’. Before we delve deeper: what prompted you to think about this topic?
Stephan: For years, we’ve been installing more and more screens, more and more touchpoints, more and more interactive surfaces in retail. And yet I still feel that the experiences in many stores remain fragmented. Information lives on screens, advice is given at the counter, and the digital customer journey ends at the shop door. Everything works – but nothing connects. So I asked myself: what actually comes after the screen on the wall? What happens when the physical and digital cease to be two separate systems and start to function as one?
Alex.: And the answer is Hybrid Spatial?
Stephan: Exactly. Hybrid Spatial describes the seamless integration of the physical environment, media technology and digital interaction – as a unified system. It’s not about parallel systems, not about a screen here and an app there. The space itself connects all the technology – lighting, content, navigation and sensors do not operate side by side, but as a coherent system.
Alex.: You said in your talk: Retail isn’t losing out to digital. Retail is losing out to relevance. Can you explain that in more detail?
Stephan: Customers no longer come into the shop to get information. They get that beforehand, online. What they’re looking for in the store is something else: guidance, reassurance, clarity in a complex world. They want to feel confident in their purchasing decision. A good retail space gives me, as a customer, exactly that – it guides me without pressuring me. It lets me discover things, rather than overwhelming me. And it responds to me in real time, not via buttons, but through human and spatial interaction. Clarity is the new luxury, if you like.
Alex.: In your keynote, you compared two stores, Store A and Store B. What’s the difference?
Stephan: Store A is what we often see today: screens everywhere, static content, an app that works outside but not inside, staff who are disconnected from the digital systems. Everything works on its own, but there’s no connection. And then there’s Store B: you walk into the shop, the lighting changes, the content adapts to the time of day, the navigation responds to footfall, products trigger storytelling, and the staff’s tablets recognise your previous interactions. You don’t see the technology; you feel the connections. That’s Hybrid Spatial.
Alex.: That sounds like a huge undertaking. Is it economically viable?
Stephan: Absolutely, and this is important to me: Hybrid Spatial isn’t just an aesthetic gimmick. When the space reduces friction, the purchase rate goes up. The return rate goes down. Revenue per visit increases, and so does the average basket value. Not because of spectacle, but because the customer experiences a coherent journey – from entering to making a purchase. And we all know that immersive environments increase dwell time. Longer dwell time improves recall, recall strengthens preference, and preference drives the purchase. Hybrid Spatial works because it harmonises the emotional flow with the spatial design and respects how people actually make decisions.
Alex.: What does this mean for the AV industry? What needs to change?
Stephan: Basically everything. We’re moving away from installing hardware towards designing behaviour-based systems. That’s a fundamental shift. Until now, our job was: screens, players, cabling. Now we’re talking about networked media systems, sensor-controlled environments, real-time control and lifecycle service models. It’s no longer just a screen on the wall – it’s a four-layer architecture: physical AV infrastructure, media and control systems, sensors and contextual data, and on top of that a control and intelligence layer. And all four layers depend on the quality of integration.
Alex.: Where does the core competence of AV integration lie in this new model?
Stephan: In the media and control sector. That is the heart of it: reliably distributing content and keeping it synchronised, updating systems remotely, mitigating failures before they become noticeable, and monitoring ongoing operations. If the foundation isn’t solid, everything collapses. Latency destroys immersion, desynchronisation destroys trust, and downtime kills the ROI. The infrastructure determines success or failure; there is no room for compromise.
Alex.: You talk a lot about technology, but also about responsibility. What do you mean by that?
Stephan: Hybrid Spatial must be carefully designed. We need privacy by design, we need offline capability, we need accessibility as standard, and a conscious reduction in cognitive load. If we overwhelm people, we lose them. If we respect them, we win them over. The goal isn’t complexity – the goal is invisible intelligence.
Alex.: You said in your keynote: ‘This isn’t innovation – this is normality.’ That’s quite a bold claim.
Stephan: Yes, but I stand by it. The current generation doesn’t reward effort; it rewards systems that work. A space that doesn’t respond to the people within it won’t win them over either. And if the technology fails, the entire experience collapses. This isn’t a futuristic scenario; it’s the standard that already exists today. The question is no longer whether retail will become hybrid and spatial, but whether we design it consciously.
Alex.: When you look to the future, what will the most successful retail space look like in five years’ time?
Stephan: It won’t look like a technology showroom. People will experience natural, responsive and meaningful environments where the boundaries blur between product and story, between physical and digital, between brand and customer. Hybrid Spatial Retail isn’t a trend. It is a structural response to how people live, move and make decisions today.
Alex.: Finally, when you’re not on the EuroShop stage: where do you most like to be?
Stephan: Behind the drums. It’s all about timing, dynamics and bringing different elements together into a coherent whole. Not that far removed from what we do at SIGMA, actually.
