In-Store Technology

Digital technology is being put to use in brick-and-mortar stores to create a more seamless experience for customers and improve a company’s ability to effectively market to them.

The verdict is in: 2016 is the year of the store reinvented. We’ve all seen the headlines and stories of how retailers of all sizes around the world are giving their brick-and-mortar shelves a makeover by melding the offline and online worlds. Target recently announced it will completely revamp its stores to attract more millennial…

At the start of 2016, Wal-Mart, the world’s largest company by revenue, announced that it would close 269 locations around the world. Macy’s also plans to close 40 stores this year. In part, industry analysts blame closures like these on what they see as a larger retail shift toward online shopping. And with the growing…

To find True Religion Brand Jeans’ next tech innovation, look no further than its brick-and-mortar stores. The denim brand’s initiative, called Band by True Religion, is scheduled to be rolled out in its stores in Los Angeles’ Beverly Center mall and New York City’s SoHo neighborhood in April. Some sales staff will be equipped with…

The bourgeoning partnership between Whole Foods Market and Instacart is expanding. The upscale grocery chain and the unicorn delivery startup have been working together since 2014 to create a network of store locations enabling online ordering and same-day delivery. Today, the companies officially announced plans to expand their partnership and increase the number of Whole Foods…

Technology can be an enormous benefit to retailers once consumers are in their stores. A couple of retailers that are being progressive with in-store technology are Macy’s, with its tracking beacons and smart dressing room features, and UGG Australia, with RFID tags and “magic” mirrors to show off customization. These technologies are a value add…

During the 2015 holiday season, retailers collected massive amounts of data from their customers. It can be easy to forget about this information during the hectic holidays, but as the New Year gets rolling retailers have a tremendous opportunity to score a competitive advantage in 2016. Many lessons can be gleaned from analyzing data collected…

Barneys New York is opening a flagship store in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood. The location, which will take up almost an entire city block on 7th Avenue, is a homecoming: it’s where the luxury department store, then a menswear brand, was originally founded in 1923. The return to its downtown roots comes about 20 years after the…

Walking the National Retail Federation's (NRF) BIG Show last week, attendees would have to remind themselves they were attending a show hosted by the largest and longest standing trade association for the brick-and-mortar retail industry. The buzzwords at the show were predominately from a digital lexicon, as were many of the most compelling displays and…

Total Retail Executive Editor Joe Keenan interviews Kate Kibler, vice president, direct to consumer, Timberland, on how the outdoor lifestyle brand is working to bridge the gap between online and offline shopping. The conversation took place this week at the National Retail Federation's Big Show in New York City.