Retail & New Technologies

In this post, we will analyze two new trends in the Retail industry, both largely related with new technologies:

Trend 5: Promoting the use of technology in retailing
Trend 6: Information (Big Data) being more accessible and powerful

TREND 5: PROMOTING THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY IN RETAILING
Technology is becoming increasingly more important in the world of Retail, and technological innovations, more specifically, are responsible for increasing the improvement in the shopping experience. This technology development is one of the leading trends in this field and is located in several areas:

POS Technology
The Point of Sale (POS) terminals will tend to disappear in the way we know them and will reach those who are connected to the cloud, thus improving POS benefits (performance, features, images). The speed of receiving and sending data will improve the management and decision making at the POS.

Beacons at POS’s
Beacons will be implemented in POS’s where shopper traffic warrants it. Technology will provide data analysis and marketing solutions for physical retail. The beacons will enhance knowledge on consumers and influence buying decisions through consumer identification, by immediately crossing their data with offers and promotions to create this proactive approach towards the customer.

Usable Elements (Wearables)
About 7% of consumers now have an usable “gadget”, such as a smartwatch, fitness monitor, or apps on their smartphone. This figure will double in this year alone. It can be an opportunity for some retailers to act on this buying behavior through these devices.
Retailers will take some time to see consumers with usable elements this year, but this is a trend that is exponentially growing in the near future.

Augmented Reality
Efforts and initiatives have been developed on augmented reality and its application on retail, from virtual testing rooms to interactive screens for the purpose of enhancing the experience.

3D Printing
3D printing will gradually progress in the retail world. Some retails, such as jewelry companies, are starting to use 3D printing to create test pieces and determine the best suited size, shape, and shine for each customer.

Some of Overlap’s solutions that impact this trend are:

Elimination of individual POS systems and software access for store management to be interconnected through tablets and PCs.
Innovation and just-in-time response using Big Data: instantaneous pricing, stock and inventory management, and just-in-time replenishment orders.
Beacon implementation on POS “hot spots”, individually or coordinated with a provider to influence in buying decisions.

TREND 6: INFORMATION (BIG DATA) BEING MORE ACCESSIBLE AND POWERFUL
A growth in the use and exploitation of Big Data on retail brands is strongly expected in the future. The use of Big Data will be key to know customers and provide a better shopping experience. Today there are economic solutions to perform data analysis on retailers of any size. These solutions include the ability to analyze the consumers’ steps at the POS, make decisions based on spending habits, and customize rewards and offers. Retailers will continue to develop and refine these solutions so that they use and generate information in an accurate, fast and convenient way.

Some of Overlap’s solutions that impact this trend are:

Predicting optimal prices and maintaining a leadership position through an analysis of price and demand elasticity.
Choosing the optimal range for each channel based on insights from social media, market reports, internal sales data and consumer buying habits.
Optimizing inventory across multiple channels using quantitative KPIs and qualitative consumer studies to anticipate future demand.

Next week we will share two new trends. Remember that you can view the last shared trends in these following links: