Category Archives: Scoop.it

News from the retail automation sector

The automated retail industry is one of the two core technology showplaces today (financial Services being #2).

    • Emerging technologies such as robotics, lockers, digital signage, vending and automated vending lead the way.   Amazon and Google revolutionize physical delivery. OuterWall has another great idea (or not).
    • More mature retail technology includes interactive displays, next-generation POS,  mobile interplay, multi-touch, kiosks for self-service, video services, and customer service technology.
    • Companion technologies include ATMs, kiosks, Advanced ATMS,  NFC and thin client.
    • Standards – here we have more regulatory guidelines in play along with more standards than any other industry. PCI, OPOS, JPOS, MPOS,  HIPAA, ADA, UL, CE just to name a few.

Private equity bosses took $200m out of Toys R Us and crashed the company, lifetime employees got $0 in severance /

Private equity bosses took $200m out of Toys R Us and crashed the company, lifetime employees got $0 in severance

Source: boingboing.net

Comments:  They deserve it. Toys r Us and toys.com lowballed the US toy market to sub-zero margins. I was doing contract work at the time with M.W. Kasch, the largest toy wholesaler in the USA, and these guys were selling below cost to capture market share. They lowered margins to zero, then died.

————————————————————————

Typical behavior of "category killers" in the pre-Amazon days. They assumed they could corner the market on select categories, not realizing more-efficient online operations would displace them, especially if they operated warehouse-sized stores and were heavily leveraged.

Why Nordstrom Is Betting on High-Touch Tech

No department-store chain has embraced technology more aggressively. But will tech help Nordstrom avoid the slump in higher-end retail?

Source: fortune.com

the 47,000-square-foot emporium is also a sophisticated shopping-tech laboratory—one of several where Nordstrom is urgently experimenting with ways to make upscale, high-touch retail more competitive in an e-commerce-driven era. The mazelike layout, spread over three floors, showcases subtle but important technological enhancements. Some are super-practical—such as self-service bins where shoppers can drop off returns (including online purchases) and get credit almost immediately. Others have a wow factor: In the suits section, customers can see how bespoke jackets would look on life-size avatars of themselves, projected on screens, a digital take on the adage, “Measure twice, cut once.” And yet others pamper you: If you’ve “reserved” a product online to try on before you buy, there’ll be a fitting room waiting for you—with your name on the door.

Walmart drops mobile Scan & Go checkout

Walmart is finding it harder than it may have originally anticipated to convince customers to adopt new tech and engage with the retailer through digital and mobile platforms. While consumers are drawn to convenient shopping experiences, many didn’t see the value of doing more work while browsing when they could easily hand off tasks like bagging and scanning to trained cashiers at checkout.

Source: www.retaildive.com

Walmart is finding it harder than it may have originally anticipated to convince customers to adopt new tech and engage with the retailer through digital and mobile platforms. While consumers are drawn to convenient shopping experiences, many didn’t see the value of doing more work while browsing when they could easily hand off tasks like bagging and scanning to trained cashiers at checkout.

Power Through The Retail Slump With This Brand New Benchmarking Tool

The table below shows five mass market fashion retailers in UK. It also plots the number of items with stripes per retailer according to price point.

 

This comparison shows that Zalando UK sells the greatest number of items with stripes, ranging from £0 to £799.99. Also, the £10 to £49.99 price point is the most popular for Zalando UK, ASOS and Debenhams. We can easily see the most popular price points for striped apparel among these five retailers is £10 to £49.99, followed by £50 to £99.99.

 

Similarly, you can can benefit from Relationship Charts when making decisions on your own assortment and pricing strategies.

Source: www.intelligencenode.com

The rise of the machine: Stores and restaurants turn to self-service kiosks –

Self-service kiosks at McDonalds restaurants are part of a national trend toward automation at stores and restaurants driven by tech-savvy consumers and the ri…

Source: buffalonews.com

Net increase in jobs. US-built machines with US-steel and US-supported. Biggest error is McD likely didnt upgrade kitchen capacity first (or train the workers on new tech). Too many orders too fast equals longer wait time.  This actually increases “human touch” with employees in concierge-mode much like assistants at grocery self-checkout.

Amazon and Best Buy go in on smart Fire TV deal

Best Buy will begin selling more than ten 4K and HD Fire TV Edition televisions models from Insignia, Best Buy’s in-house brand, and Toshiba.

Source: www.usatoday.com

A physical store is more important for new or complex technology that requires an explanation for consumers to really “get” enough to buy. The Fire TV edition TVs lend themselves to exactly what Best Buy offers – a trained staff that can run devices through their paces, giving would-be buyers the kinds of hands-on demonstrations that sell the items. 

 

“Amazon gets all this credit and buzz about how innovative and disruptive it is, but the fact is that until its acquisition of Whole Foods, it was a single channel operator. True scale is no longer achieved in a single channel,” said Carol Spieckerman, a retail analyst with Spieckerman Retail.

 

That’s especially important for Fire TV because it’s an Amazon product that hasn’t always found its way. 

 

“If you go on Amazon.com and you look at reviews of Fire-TV, there are often over 1,000 questions that people ask about connectivity, about compatability. The Best Buy staff can help smooth those friction points and generate sales,” said Spieckerman.