According to figures from First Data, retail e-commerce transactions grew by 12 percent in the 2016 holiday shopping season. Additionally, more than one-fifth (21.3 percent) of all holiday spending was conducted online, a substantial increase from 15.4 percent in 2015.
Faced with having to constantly battle on price and the prospect that their stores could be reduced to little more than showrooms for eventual online purchases, brick-and-mortar retailers are experimenting with technology to keep in-store shopping relevant.
As outlined in an article by the AP’s Anne D’Innocenzio (“Here come ‘smart stores’ with robots, interactive shelves”) here are five technologies and their current applications.
Smart shelves. While Web retailers can track which items shoppers have looked at and not purchased or have removed from their shopping carts (and try to interest them later in following through with a purchase), physical retailers don’t have that ability. Enter smart shelves. Perch Interactive, a startup that is working with chains like Sunglass Hut and fragrance maker Jo Malone, uses laser and motion sensors to detect when a product is picked up. Perch monitors the interactions and lets retailers know what people pick up but don’t buy. It also offers recommendations: When a shopper picks up a Jo Malone product, an interactive display pops up to show a complementary fragrance.
D’Innocenzio cites the example of a Kroger store in Cold Spring, Ohio, where shelves currently show digitized price tags and information about the products. The next step is to tie that to individual shoppers so that, for example, for a shopper who prefers gluten-free products, the price tags could illuminate in the aisle where all the gluten-free options are. (The company says this will all be done with the customer’s permission.)
Robots. Home improvement retailer Lowe’s is testing robots in one of its San Jose, Calif., store, and plans to roll them out to 10 more stores in the state in coming months. The robots can scan shelves for inventory and guide customers to specific products in both English and Spanish. Japanese joint venture SoftBank Robotics is testing a 4-foot humanoid robot called Pepper at two Westfield Malls in California. The robots can greet shoppers and have the potential to send messages geared to the customer’s age and gender through facial recognition. SoftBank Robotics says it’s working with clothing retailers to help suggest outfits to shoppers.
Interactive mirrors. High-end clothing stores are testing interactive mirrors in dressing areas. For example, interactive mirrors outside fitting rooms at 20 Neiman Marcus stores offer shoppers a 360-degree view of what an outfit looks like. Shoppers can make side-by-side comparisons without having to try everything on and share video with friends for feedback. Variations include capturing a customer’s session at the beauty counter and e-mailing a video to help the person recreate the look at home, D’Innocenzio notes.
Virtual and augmented reality. Home improvement retailers are using virtual reality and augmented reality to help shoppers with their decorating plans. Shoppers don a headset to see how something might look in 3-D, in some cases overlaid on top of their real kitchen or living room. Home Depot’s augmented reality app lets customers upload a picture of the room on their phone and choose from paint and stain colors until they find the right one.
Self-checkout. Despite stumbles by Wal-Mart and other stores with various kinds of self-service checkout options, plenty of stores believe they can avoid the pitfalls, D’Innocenzio says, including, of all companies, Amazon, which is testing a checkout-less store, dubbed Amazon Go, in Seattle.
Amazon paving the way for brick-and-mortar stores – now wouldn’t that be the irony of all ironies?