January 2017 Innovative Retail Technologies
Taken at face value, there’s really nothing special about the word, innovation. Merriam-Webster defines it as the introduction of something new, or a new idea, method, or device. New doesn’t necessarily translate to good or better, and by that definition, technology innovation in retail is something of a commodity. Silicon Valley is brimming with it. It’s bubbling and oozing out of so-called “retail innovation labs” in merchant headquarters from New York to San Francisco. In short order, we’ll see hundreds of innovations under one roof at the NRF BIG Show.
Right now, much of this innovation is costing retailers a lot more than it’s yielding, and we don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. History is full of examples of revolutionary innovations that suffered repeated failure before an “aha!” moment changed the world. Electricity. The light bulb. The airplane.
