In search of the latest retail tech innovations, and the bright lights of New York City, Retail Assist recently attended the NRF 2016 Expo, Retail’s BIG Show. You might have caught up with our experiences on the Show floor this year, by way of our live vlogs.
Our Head of Marketing, Alex Broxson, gave a fantastic insight into some of the technologies the team were impressed by. Click to watch the vlogs from day 1 and day 2. We also wanted to round off our NRF experience in today’s blog.
So - what is likely to “change the face of the retail world” as the next BIG thing for retail technology? Nothing too out of the ordinary. The main trend we witnessed was data, or rather, the ways in which data is being analysed, mined and used to understand the customer and provide a more personalised experience. We have all seen futuristic technologies, but they can often be too gimmicky or cost prohibitive, and we were pleased to see more realistic presentation of what retailers could have in their stores today. The most promising aspect of this year’s NRF Expo was that the attention was focussed on making the store an integral part of the supply chain, by way of in-store customer experience as well as supply chain processes, which will equate to greater profitability for omnichannel retailers.
Here are our Top 5 Technologies:
1) IBM Watson
Watson is a fine example of cognitive computing: a system that learns and builds a high-powered database, enabling it to respond to questions and situations with a learned set of responses.
The example we saw, in collaboration with North Face, is featured below from 1 minute 10 seconds onwards. The customer is going on holiday to Jackson Hole in February, and Watson showcases the most appropriate jackets for the conditions, without having been asked to.
The wealth of information that is immediately accessible to the customer mimics the online experience in the store environment – live reviews, full info, social content - were all previously inaccessible in store, and now can be a part of the buying experience.
5) Changing room tech
Our Portuguese partners, InovRetail, are making headway in this space with smart changing room technology, to make the changing experience much more convenient for the customer. At NRF, we saw similar innovations.
The goal? No more half-dressed embarrassment for the customer. If you want another size, colour or style, you simply press a button on a tablet inside the changing room to send your request to an assistant, who will be notified on tablet/radio.
So if that was the good, what about the bad and the ugly?
...The bad?
Perhaps the most controversial discussion we had was surrounding this guy:
Robotics have featured at NRF Expo for a few years now, but a big leap has been taken in Artificial Intelligence recently. Robots were introduced at NRF as the future of in-store assistants, removing the need for human staff at all. “Think of the cost savings!” But, isn’t there still something slightly creepy about a robot greeting you by name, and recommending items to you based on previous purchases? Wouldn't this be a more comfortable experience, delivered by your usual store assistant?
As you can see from our Twitter discussions, we concluded that the in-store experience needs to provide consumers with a differentiated experience to what they would receive online.
...And the ugly?
Chicken flavoured chocolate. What this was doing at a retail tech show, we’ll never know!
That's a wrap. Until next year! Team #RAnrf16
Next week, we’re holding a “2016 Retail Tech” roundtable discussion, featuring our Chairman, Alan Morris, Client Director, Renato Pastorino, and Head of Marketing, Alex Broxson. If you want to find out more about our predictions for retail tech, check out the published video content next Tuesday 2nd February.
The post Retail Assist at NRF 2016: Top 5 Technologies appeared first on Retail Assist.