Retail 2017: Some Trends Emerged at New York NRF

Just a month after having taken part at New York NRF, USA show dedicated to the Retail world, the event is already on everyone’s lips about:

• Customer Experience (CX) at the point of sale, for omnichannel support
• Artificial Intelligence, above all, client behavioural predictive models, aimed at attracting customers towards the store, stimulating e-commerce and increasing loyalty
• Internet of Things (IOT), technologies for engaging consumers at the point of sale: RFID NFC, Wi-Fi and videocameras visualize and report data on customer movement, sex and age range (child or adult), time spent in the shop, transit speed and other. Incredible as it might seem, we have found no trace of objects such as “magic mirrors” or beacon, so much talked about lately

What we will witness in the next years, which is something big international retailers are already implementing, is greater interaction and fusion between these two channels, counterposed to the present day: physical store (brick&mortar) and virtual store (e-commerce).

At this point, getting to know their own consumers better becomes crucial for Retail Distribution Groups, that is, not only shopping habits, but also tastes, hobbies, bidirectional communication with customers and the creation of a unique shopping experience are imperative.

For this reason several clients are involving us in projects that start from B2B, integrate applications inside the store and allow offering B2C solutions and services like, for example, click&collect.