Note Design Studio and Klarna Imagine the Future of Shopping.

Online shopping is changing our lifestyles. How will it change our cities? As the world shifts deeper into digital, once-essential everyday objects fall out of daily use, steadily becoming relics of a bygone age. The mailbox is a case in point. Ubiquitous, but increasingly underused, it has been superseded by the advent of online communication. With our messaging shifting further into exclusively digital channels, there is a risk that the humble mailbox may become entirely redundant.

At the same time, online shopping is growing exponentially, creating an ever-increasing number of parcels on their way to our homes. Meanwhile, people look for more personalised experiences, and new ways to live more sustainably.

What if we could save the mailbox? What if we could reimagine it to serve the needs of the digital age as well as it did those of the analogue? This was the challenge that online-shopping giant Klarna posed to Note Design Studio and as part of its newly launched Future Shopping Lab initiative.

Working with a panel of experts, the Note team have designed the mailbox of the future – not only a tool for receiving the things we buy online, but also a platform to enable new transactions and make life easier, both for individuals and the wider neighbourhood.

The Modular Mailbox features four core modules – the In- and Outbox; the Recycling Box; the 3D-printer Box and Sharing Box.

Module #1: The In- and Outbox features space that can hold ingoing deliveries of different types, such as packages or food. It also features space for outgoing parcels, such as returns or things sold on eBay. In this space, returns are made instantly shoppable for others, allowing neighbours to act on micro-local shopping opportunities. As a result, neighbourhoods become shoppable.

Module #2: The Recycling Box features space for recyclable waste from household and e-commerce. Like a paper-shredder, the mouth of the module grinds and atomizes materials compressing them into a high-density block of recyclable substances. These blocks can easily be placed on top of each other, like LEGO, which makes it easy for logistics service providers to utilize empty space in their delivery vehicles. They collect the recycling and create a circular loop at the same time as they deliver parcels to the Modular Mailbox.

Module #3: The 3D-printer Box features a multi-material 3D-printer that enables users to print small products and spare parts, to cut down on shipments and increase reparability of existing products. The module space is flexible depending on the size and characteristics of the object to be printed. The module is connected to e-commerce platforms that allows users to buy printable products or 3D-plans. The printer can also be made available for others to use in the community.

Module #4: The Sharing Box has a storage room for products that the owner wants to share with its neighbourhood. It supports community sharing and growth of local sharing economies, and helps people look for available solutions close by before they buy new products.

Besides the four core modules, the Modular Mailbox provides endless opportunities for additional modules. Third parties can develop niche modules that users can apply to their Modular Mailboxes. Such modules could for example be variations in module size and capacity, a drone-pad module to support drone deliveries, or brand-specific delivery modules, designed to enhance brand perception and users’ unboxing experience.

For more information, visit klarna.com/future-shopping-lab.

Related: Note Design Studio Launches Their Latest Product And A Disruptive Direct Sales Platform.

[Images courtesy of Note Design Studio.]