Total Immersion: Walmart’s VR Retail Training
Training is a fundamental part of any retailer’s operations. New associates need to be brought up to speed on best practices as soon as possible. Current employees also need to be trained when retailers adopt new technology or best practices evolve. VR retail training is an innovative way for retailers to accomplish both of these […]
3 (Non-Marketing) Ways to Use Big Data in Retail
One of the factors in the roaring comeback of retail is the increasing use of big data in retail. Despite articles about the impending death of brick-and-mortar at the hands of e-commerce, retail employment continues to rise and sales figures are promising. Now more than ever, retailers are using big data to understand their customers’ […]
Discount Stores: Why We Love Them and What Retailers Can Learn
Despite the competitive pricing of online retailers like Amazon, brick-and-mortar discount stores are asserting market dominance and growing rapidly. According to Barron’s, discounters, which have roughly 31% of the $811 billion grocery segment, garnered 40% of the growth in that sector. Top players responsible for this outsize share growth are Walmart, Costco, Aldi, and Kroger, […]
Retail Social Media: Harvesting Likes, Sales and Impressions
With Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram now occupying a seemingly permanent place in our society, social media has become a force that must be reckoned with at every level of public and private life. In the world of retail, social media has the potential to be a powerful tool for advertising, sales, and increasing brand engagement. […]
The Fall of Sears: A Failure to Adapt to Changing Retail Trends
The most high-profile tragedy in the retail world of the last few years has to be the fall of Sears. Once the single largest retailer in the United States, Sears couldn’t adapt to changing retail trends, first by not anticipating the rise of the superstore, and then later by falling well short of the kind […]
5 Misconceptions About Amazon Go and the Future of Retail
On the heels of Amazon’s announcement that they will expand Amazon Go stores in Seattle and may add as many as 3,000 doors in other major cities, the retail world is abuzz about whether checkout-free, cashier-less stores will become the industry standard. A step beyond self-service checkout, shoppers can use the Amazon Go app to enter the […]
Retail Mobile Apps: The Case for (and Against)
Retail mobile apps are some of the most visible in-store innovations to customers. Many retailers push these apps through point of sale promotions and glossy television or online ads, encouraging shoppers to download and install the app in order to receive a promotional offer in addition to the potential quality of life improvement of having […]
IoT in Retail: Changing the Customer Acquisition Landscape
IoT in retail has the ability to complete revolutionize customer acquisition. In the world of retail, customer acquisition holds great importance. Retailers focus a considerable amount of effort in many channels to acquire new customers. While the cost of customer acquisition continues to rise, and consumers become more fickle, retailers need new tools to attract […]
The AI Assistant Revolution Comes to Retail
No longer the stuff of science fiction, AI has forever changed the way we interact with computers. User interface paradigms have evolved to be easier and more intuitive. First, we had text-based command lines which required extensive knowledge of an esoteric vocabulary of jargon and scripting language to use. After that we moved on to […]
Custom Retail in the World of Sporting Goods
Sporting goods occupy a unique spot in the custom retail market. Whereas many other products are either purchased as is or seeing a resurgence in customization, sports equipment and sportswear have been tinkered with by athletes, coaches, and trainers for the past several decades. This customization can range from simple logos and team colors all […]
