Technology

Staples has announced a partnership with 3D Systems to provide 3-D printing services at two of its retail locations. Customers can bring their 3-D print-ready files to have them printed at Staples’ stores on 5th Avenue in Manhattan and Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. "We believe that literally millions of small businesses and customers could benefit from the technology," said Damien Leigh, senior vice president of business services for Staples. "We wanted to educate businesses so they can get involved with 3-D printing at a fraction of the cost because right now they don't understand it."

For all the talk about showrooming and Jeff Bezos mercilessly pursuing world domination, e-commerce remains a fraction of the size of the good ole' brick-and-mortar industry. But times are changing. Physical retail in the U.S. deals in trillions of dollars, while e-commerce dabbles in mere hundreds of billions. Americans are expected to spend $304.1 billion and $4.1 trillion on e-commerce and physical retail, respectively, in 2014. By 2017, those figures are expected to increase to $440.4 billion and nearly $4.9 trillion, according to eMarketer.

Customer relationship management (CRM) technology may be booming in terms of sales and its "shiny" new capabilities, but its business impact is less definitive. According to a late 2013 report by Econsultancy, only 28 percent of companies are satisfied with their conversion rates. What can we glean from this? For one thing, before organizations set their sights on second-wave CRM developments such as using data from mobile and social channels to improve their customer view, they first must master the CRM basics. If companies are still finding their balance with existing CRM functionality, they may struggle to realize the full benefits of new data streams and technology.

Gap's new iPad advertising campaign shows retailers how to set up a commerce-enabled ad that emphasizes content to score conversions. The specialty apparel retailer is running a content-heavy advertising campaign within the WeatherBug iPad application to drum up sales from edited products. Mobile advertising is nothing new for Gap, but the brand's approach to simultaneously building up awareness about its blogging and social community is interesting with this campaign. "Styld.by is a global community of fashion bloggers and shoppers who style Gap clothes with everything else in their wardrobes," said Kari Shellhorn, spokeswoman at Gap.

Google has teamed up with Ray-Ban maker Luxottica in a bid to turn its internet-connected Glass spectacles into a widely available, stylish consumer product. In a statement on Monday, Luxottica, the world's biggest eyewear maker, said it had agreed to design, develop and distribute Glass eyewear, which so far has only been available as an expensive prototype in the U.S. Google Glass is a small stamp-sized screen attached to a pair of spectacle frames. It can record video, access email and retrieve information from the web by connecting wirelessly to a user's cell phone.

Despite excitement from the business world, consumers aren't keen on the latest innovations in retail advertising. A whole new category of technology has sprung up to serve "omnichannel" retailers, who combine online analytics with brick-and-mortar sales. They do that by connecting to a consumer's smartphone while they're in-store. And consumers are wary. According to a survey of 1,042 consumers conducted by consumer feedback company OpinionLab, 77 percent of respondents find in-store tracking unacceptable, and 81 percent said they don't trust retailers to keep data private and secure. Blame Target for that one.

This webinar discusses the trends that are impacting the world of omnichannel eCommerce and how you can deal with them.

The buzz and hype surrounding 3-D printing can make it hard to separate fact from fiction, but one thing is for sure: 3-D printing has the potential to transform shopper expectations and retail supply chains. Begin with the premise that in a world where 3-D printers and their amazing capabilities are commonplace, do consumers even need a retailer such as Amazon.com in certain categories? It's not as crazy as it sounds considering 3-D printers are quickly giving potential Amazon customers the ability to make products for one-third the price while also experiencing the pride of creating something.

With digital commerce attracting a lot of attention, it's sometimes easy to forget just how valuable physical retail remains. While tech gurus like Silicon Valley entrepreneur and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen may predict the impending doom of offline stores, there's no evidence that, in the highly tactile fashion industry, sales at physical retail stores won't continue to dominate as a proportion of total sales volume. 

The retail battle is on: To help shoppers sort through the noise of the web, discover new products and receive an individualized or special shopping experience like that found in a high-end store, online retailers have pulled out all the stops. In addition to adopting product recommendation technologies aimed at providing an Amazonian shopping experience, some retailers are focusing efforts on the product mix.