Virtual Reality
August 21, 2018 at 12:59 pm
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…
July 26, 2018 at 9:55 am
Sameer Hassan is the senior vice president of enterprise product strategy and user experience at Williams-Sonoma Inc., where he heads up product management, UX and product analytics for the WSI brands. We caught up over lunch recently to learn more about WSI’s culture of innovation. Holly Vander Wall: At WSI, you’re working with cutting-edge technology such as virtual…
July 11, 2018 at 10:57 am
I was asked to write about how virtual reality (VR) applies to retail about a month ago and really didn’t have much to say on the subject. Now that time has gone by, I’ve seen some exciting new things that can be used in retail. I recently connected with a company that offers credit card…
April 5, 2018 at 3:40 pm
On a busy retail floor during peak sales season, it’s difficult (if not impossible!) to pull a veteran employee away from critical duties in order to train a new recruit. Thankfully, human resources has a new technology at their disposal to scale trainers: virtual reality (VR). Not only is VR effective in scaling training programs,…
March 20, 2018 at 1:00 pm
The retail industry is in the throes of a major transformation as the traditional retail model gives way to new modes of “experiential retail.” A key element of experiential retail is the innovative use of technology to provide richer shopping experiences that are more informative, frictionless, immersive and satisfying. To create richer experiences both online…
March 6, 2018 at 9:57 am
How could retail ignore an opportunity of having infinite space within a 10x10-foot room? With virtual reality (VR), it’s possible to design, enter and test live realistic retail simulations. Gone are the days when we needed to create mock stores to arrange category management or merchandise real solutions. Professionals may enter the same virtual environment remotely. Within a retail…
February 7, 2018 at 9:33 pm
Walmart has acquired virtual reality (VR) company Spatialand, which will act as the centerpiece of the retail giant's VR efforts. Spatialand makes software tools that let creators transform content into immersive VR experiences. The startup worked with Walmart’s technology incubator, Store No. 8, on a project last year, and has now been acquired by that group,…
February 7, 2018 at 5:47 pm
The way we shop and sell goods has significantly changed over the past several years. Everything has become more digital, and last year’s Black Friday sales made that clear. And while more consumers are embracing online shopping, many still enjoy the experience of going to traditional brick-and-mortar stores to purchase goods. In physical shops, we…
January 18, 2018 at 11:07 am
The retail industry is undergoing a major transformation as e-commerce disrupts traditional brick-and-mortar store models and gives rise to new modes of “experiential retail.” The experiential retail trend is being driven by a number of factors, including the increasing popularity of e-commerce, the decline in traditional department store traffic, and the proliferation of mobile devices.…
January 3, 2018 at 11:19 am
Amazon.com is upping its virtual reality game. CNBC reports Amazon has patented a blended-reality mirror that lets you try on clothes virtually while placing you into a virtual location. The imagined mirror works by scanning the environment to generate a virtual model, and then identifies the face and eyes of the user to determine which objects…
