Technology

As it watched its biggest competitor file for bankruptcy and cease operating, Barnes & Noble knew that a change to its business model was necessary for its survival. Specifically, that change meant shifting its focus to becoming a digital book seller. In his keynote address at the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition in Chicago yesterday, William Lynch, CEO of Barnes & Noble, detailed how the bookstore chain has used the web to redefine and grow its business.

Clear your throat, put down your mouse, take your fingers off the touchscreen; retail is primed to be the next industry to use the spoken word as the interface between consumers and technology. Driving this innovation in large part is the prevalence of smartphones today and, in turn, the growth of mobile commerce.

Despite all the buzz around social media over the past several years, the concept of "real" social commerce — when consumers can actually buy merchandise directly from whichever social network they're visiting and wherever they happen to be — has eluded the industry.

The overlaying of digital data on the real world is here, and it's a valuable tool for merchants. Here are three reasons why augmented reality is important for retailers’ commerce efforts:

Neiman Marcus is equipping all of its 4,000 associates at its full-line stores with smartphones in an effort to better serve customers, company executives said on the retailer’s recent conference call with analysts. Neiman’s executives also said the company plans to remodel it stores on Michigan Avenue in Chicago and in Bal Harbour Shops, Bal Harbour, Fla.

Toys"R"Us has added QR codes in-store to promote more than 20 of its larger outdoor play products and to give consumers information on items that are too large to stock in stores. This past holiday season, the toy retailer first experimented with QR codes in its The Great Big Toys"R"Us Book holiday catalog. Last year, Toys"R"Us also featured a virtual store that let consumers scan QR codes featured on billboards across the country to virtually shop the retailer's "Hot Toy List." 

Nordstrom will spend $140 million, or 30 percent of its total capital expenditure budget, on information technology infrastructure improvements. As Forbes reported, the IT expenditures will be used to intensify Nordstrom's internet presence, such as its new Salt Lake City store that has 150 mobile point-of-sale-devices, which makes shopping faster.

NetSuite, a provider of cloud-based business management software suites, introduced its "Commerce as a Service" (CaaS) platform during the SuiteWorld 2012 conference in San Francisco on Tuesday.

Visualitee has launched the first website dedicated solely to selling augmented reality (AR)-enabled apparel and merchandise. The new e-commerce site, Visualitee.com, is headed by a seasoned group of augmented reality professionals and will offer the most comprehensive collection of AR-enabled merchandise. In addition to carrying a wide variety of AR merchandise, the site will also facilitate independent artists and labels to venture into the quickly growing AR segment. AR enables inanimate objects such as T-shirts to "come to life" with a simple 1-2-3 process. 

eBay is opening a New York City office that will focus on advanced technical development. Chris Dixon, co-founder of Hunch, which eBay acquired in late 2011, will head the eBay Technology Center of Excellence. The New York office will feature a large public event area and dedicated space for startup and entrepreneur incubation. The office will also include a permanent installation called the PayPal Shopping Showcase that will "offer a look at the not-too-distant-future, when how we shop will have changed dramatically from our experience today."