Artificial Intelligence

Online apparel-rental company Rent the Runway continues its brick-and-mortar expansion with the opening of its biggest store to date, a tech-savvy, 4,000-sq.-ft. flagship in Manhattan.

The stylish space merges the retailer’s digital assets with physical elements to create a very personalized customer experience, one based on each customer’s unique needs and past interactions with the brand.

A new year is upon us, with new challenges and new opportunities. At the same time, retailers continue to struggle with how to embrace the digital disruptors that are redefining the retail customer and retail experience. Because one thing is clear: They are here to stay.

Indeed, these agents of change continue to pop up on a daily basis, each one designed to transform the trajectory of retail — and brands with an eye on the future should want in. After all, what retailer doesn’t want to reinvent their enterprise, drive agility and foster customer engagement in a new way?

Nike SoHo introduces immersive product trial experiences, 54-ft. footwear wall

Nike has seen the future of retail — and it’s immersive and digitally connected.

The athletic giant has opened a five-level, multi-sport category outpost in New York City’s SoHo neighborhood that pushes the envelope of sports retailing.

Amazon’s new service is helping Prime members to get dinner on the table faster.   By integrating Alexa into Amazon Restaurants, the retail giant now enables Prime members to voice-order their next meal through their Alexa-enabled devices, including the Amazon Echo and Echo Dot. Customers can place orders from any restaurant available on the service in more than 20 cities by saying, “Alexa, order from Amazon Restaurants.” Any meal they’ve ordered before will delivered to their door for free in an hour or less.

Target Corp. its updating its experimental concept store in San Francisco, Target Open House, which opened in summer 2015 as a showcase for smart, “connected” home technology.    In a blog on its website, Target said Open House has closed for a significant remodel project. It will reopen to the public on Friday, Feb. 10.  

BCBG Max Azria Group leveraged analytics when it realized its static “one-size-fits-all” e-commerce site didn’t optimize the overall shopping experience, or allow it to engage with specific omnichannel shoppers.

With a goal of personalizing the digital experience, and integrating its omnichannel journey as a whole, the women’s fashion brand added an analytics tool from Qubit. By embedding the platform’s JavaScript tags within its web pages, the technology transparently records all customer online interactions, pulling information into the cloud for reporting.

LED options now exist for nearly every lighting application

When it comes to retail operating costs, energy is one of the top three expenses. Lighting is, of course, a component of this, accounting for 50% of energy costs for non-food retailers. The typical retail store spends roughly 71 cents per square foot per year — a cost that quickly adds up at the store and chain level.

Innovation is today’s buzzword. And it was all the talk at Chain Store Age’s X/SPECS 2016, as key executives from some of the nation’s leading retail and restaurant chains zeroed in on real-world strategies designed to innovate stores and elevate customer experiences.