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There is an immense advancement in technologies have been registered over the past decades and the development of artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data, among other technologies are on a swing. These breakthroughs in technology have been transforming the retail landscape over the past few years. Additionally, retailers have heavily invested in technologies to facilitate the entire path to customers’ buying behavior, and create a better customer experience and turn them into consumers.

Today, retailers are meeting tech-savvy shoppers with the latest, interactive, and state-of-the-art solutions at the store level. But there is still needs improvement. According to a report, a number of retailers implementing technologies to date intending to communicate with consumers, providing a more agile, smoother, pleasant and entertaining shopping experience.

Interactive technologies are already arrived at stores, including product displays and magic mirrors gathering information on customer movements and emotions that can be employed toward upgrades in personalized experiences and augmented reality technology to demonstrate how a garment looks when tried on.

Enabling Personalization

Retailers like Eloquii have been heading in tech innovation for a while, and brands like Adidas have tested with on-demand, 3D-printed apparel. Conversely, Amazon's recent acquisition of body-scanning firm Body Labs and new funding for scanning technology developers such as Naked labs fueled new exhilaration in the concept of personalization. Besides, companies like OnPoint Manufacturing can now allow the production process enabling buyers to get apparel in fits and size combinations that even wider rack selections don't provide.

Several large retailers now have adopted BOPIS (Buy online, pick up in-store), and have continued to hone their approaches and build new ideas for how stores should be designed and store operation transformed around the concept. For instance, Walmart has placed pick-up towers in stores and discovered how BOPIS can be improved when paired with other breakthroughs in technology, like self-driving vehicles that could bring customers to stores for order pick-up.

As a result of the cross-channel behavior of today’s consumers, shifting from one channel to other and one device to another in the same buying journey, retailers and brands are pouring more of their tech budgets on systems and solutions that enable omnichannel operations.

Enhancing Shopping Experience

As retailers are focusing more on the future of technology, it’s imperative to heed how successful existing shopping technologies are. When looking at some consumers' survey, in spite of the channel, more than three out of five consumers consider retail technologies have enhanced their shopping experiences. Moreover, with 8 out of 10 customers observed particular improvement when shopping online, saying they have had better interactions thanks to retailers’ technology investments.

Some other retail tech like sensors and cameras inside the store are being utilized to collect data about buyers, including how many enter the store, the areas they visit, which products they pick up, whether they carry clothes into the fitting room, and more. The ultimate goal of retail technology is to make shopping more seamless and lead to even more compelling buying experiences.