New tech touchpoints aren’t killing retail. They’re bringing it back to its personal roots.

“Alexa, order a dress that Pernille Teisbaek wore on June 19 that I saw on her Instagram.”

Voice interface does for 21st-century shopping what the department store did for the 20th and family shops did for the 19th: It summarizes the consumer desire in tangible form. It shows us where decision-making lies and honors the organizing mode of retail.

In the 1…