Virtual Reality

The writing has been on the wall for a long time. Product photos are eating up an inordinate amount of marketing budget, and that’s when the shoot goes right. When a shoot goes wrong, the costs go up. A change? Up. Variations? Up. Prototypes? Up. Factor in shipping costs for big-ticket items like motorcycles and furniture,…

Retailers that once tried to compete with e-commerce giants have long since shifted to become giants in their own right. Today, retail is shifting again, weaving digital into every aspect of operations, largely driven by brands need to anticipate individual customers’ evolving desires. Additionally, over a decade of transformation has sparked a shift in consumer habits and…

A new generation of visual tools is now available to bring the physical environment into the shopping process, allowing consumers to locate, evaluate and share products in new ways. Thanks to the near ubiquity of smartphones, consumers are viewing — and creating — more visual content than ever. This has made image-centric social media networks among…

Walmart has hired Scott Eckert to run its investment arm and startup incubator, Store No. 8, according to an internal memo from Marc Lore, the retailer's head of e-commerce on Monday, and obtained by Reuters. Eckert is a former executive of Bain Capital Ventures, where he evaluated potential new investments and advised CEOs about existing…

Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) have become common terms among retail giants such as Amazon.com, Wayfair, Ikea and more as they discuss their futures. However, the question remains: Have consumers bought into this future-of-retail vision, which relies on a mix of virtual realities woven into shopping experiences? The answer might surprise you. A…

Artec 3D, a world-renowned developer and manufacturer of professional 3-D scanners and software, has new research analyzing consumers’ views on the use of augmented reality (VR) and virtual reality (AR) technologies for retail applications. The survey analyzed responses from more than 1,000 U.S. consumers who have purchased an online good within the last year and are familiar with the terms “virtual reality” and “augmented reality.”

Here are four emerging FashTech trends that merchants are betting on that consumers might not yet be ready for.

Whether it’s the way they shop, what they buy or how they pay, fashion consumers expect retail technology to be focused on enhancing their experience. Merchants looking to gain a foothold in lucrative apparel markets, secure a larger slice of the online channel, reduce churn and boost customer loyalty are increasingly turning to technology to […]

Scott Emmons, head of the digital innovation lab at Neiman Marcus, delivered a keynote presentation at Total Retail Tech in September. In this clip from Emmons’ presentation, he discusses the tech trends that the upscale department store is investing in, from augmented and virtual reality (e.g., makeup try-on tool available in-store) to personalization, which he…

Walmart has applied for two patents that detail a “virtual show room” and fulfillment system that would connect shoppers clad in virtual reality (VR) headsets and sensor-packed gloves to a three-dimensional representation of a Walmart store. Customers could wander digital aisles from home and “grab” items, which would be immediately picked and shipped from a…