Ralph Lauren, Restoration Hardware and even Microsoft are dialling up their flagship stores. This month, Microsoft throws its hat into the flagship ring with a 22,000+ square foot store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan — a Windows counterpoint to the Apple Store glass cube, one of
Retail innovation is often credited to the little guys—quirky companies and specialised startups that invent technologies to disrupt an industry. However, several larger brands that have adopted a forward-thinking strategy are leveraging new technologies to enhance the shopper experience and establish a new paradigm in
While new technologies have certainly impacted the customer experience—digital and otherwise—they haven’t completely overtaken the physical retail experience for today’s shoppers. From price comparison and ‘best near me’ apps to digital try-on services, most customers are doing their due diligence and research prior to navigating through
With its clunky headsets and project names like Oculus and Morpheus, virtual reality has so far been the realm of hard-core gamers and other early adopters of cutting-edge tech. Now, retailers are jumping for a piece of VR’s promise to immerse its users in virtual 3-D
Mona, a new app from former Amazon.com employees launching now, wants to put a personal shopper on your phone. While many mobile shopping apps today work to provide users with recommendations on new products or highlight popular trends, Mona takes things a step further with a feature it calls
In today’s landscape, where the blur between online and offline is the new normal for consumers, building a successful brick-and-mortar experience requires retailers to rethink how to make digital a core aspect of their physical stores. Mobile is the go-to technology to help bridge that gap.
Shazam is the most successful discovery app in the tech world with over 100 million active global users. Currently it offers a highly innovative service where it tracks music and most recently TV shows via the audio recognition functionality, allowing users to directly link out to
An innovative start up is launching a try-before-you-buy service for online clothes shopping that allows customers to order from multiple retailers at once and try items on in a luxury customer lounge. Wilderooms, set to launch in September, will pay for the goods chosen by customers
Topshop is partnering with Twitter to identify live trends during London Fashion Week, which kicks off on Friday. Topshop will analyse real time data on Twitter to identify trends as they happen during the five day event and display them in near real time on digital
Etailer Very.co.uk has launched a new-look iPhone app featuring a search function that uses image recognition technology. Very owner Shop Direct said it has rolled out the app in a bid to give its customers an “easier” and “more engaging” user experience. The app includes image recognition technology that
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