Top retail technology trends from the not so distant future
We see a lot of technological advancements every day, and sometimes it is hard to keep up. Customers are not heavily affected by technology change in the retail industry since they only need to adapt to certain shopping behaviours.
However, businesses need to anticipate technology changes and invest in them in order to stay competitive in the retail industry. Things are drastically changing in every industry by creating more efficient processes, ways to save money, or providing better customer services.
In today’s article, we will highlight some of the biggest retail technology change that we need to anticipate in the future.
Extended reality
We live in times where virtual and augmented reality is trending technologies. It is one of the best technologies that will help you enhance the customer experience. Some businesses started to adopt this technology, and they already have fully capable stores with extended reality.
Extender reality is the best way to improve the overall shopping experience. People can try new clothes, all by turning on their smartphone camera or look at the mirror at the store. This technology uses real life enhanced with animation (product option).
In a not so distant future, all retail stores will be fully VR and AR capable.
Predictive analytics
You’ve probably already heard about artificial intelligence. Well, the machine is backed up by an enormous amount of data, making it capable of predicting certain outcomes in the future. Data is becoming more and more valuable for every business; in fact, the value of data surpassed the value of oil, making it the most expensive resource on the planet.
Big Data is so powerful it can predict the outcome of sports matches and give the best odds for websites to regulate their business. For example, check out College Football Betting Lines by BetAmerica.com to see how data works concerning that specific sport.
Predictive analytics will use Big Data to analyse and come up with a solution to problems. Now retailers will have the option to analyse customer behaviour or trends from the past and predict future behaviour. It is a very powerful and useful technology that we will see in every retail business.
Smart recommendation engines
We are all familiar with the process of online ads. Basically, it is a very smart algorithm that can predict what you want at a certain time. This is a tool that will show you recommendations of products that you might be interested in.
Sometimes you will talk about something, and you will be amazed to see an ad about the same thing. You are probably thinking that someone is recording your conversation, but the truth is, the algorithm has a vast amount of data, and it is capable of predicting future behaviour.
Order fulfilment automation
Since the e-commerce market is growing bigger every day, businesses have trouble maintaining a steady flow of fulfilled orders. The best way to control the order fulfilment process is by deploying robots to take care of every process.
Experts predict that by 2025, there will be more than 500 million autonomous mobile robots in warehouses to fulfil customer’s orders. This will increase the speed and flexibility of operations if you run a business on Amazon’s FBA program.
Face recognition
Retailers have started using face recognition technologies to battle shoplifting and retail crime. This means that shoplifters will be stored in a database, and every time they enter, employees will receive a notification.
Additionally, face recognition can be used for personalising the overall online shopping experience. It also adds another level of security, so you don’t have to worry about putting your credit card information since you can only checkout with face recognition.
Final words
These are some of the new retail technologies that we will see in every store in a not so distant future. It is a nice advancement over today’s technology, and we cannot wait to see what the future will bring to the retail business.