The holiday season is officially upon us. For retailers and consumers alike, this is the busiest time of year. Over the past two years, retailers have continuously been changing and updating their in-store experience to be safer, more convenient and more innovative for customers. Now, with supply chain issues affecting online holiday shopping, experts expect an increased turnout to bricks-and-mortar stores that are ready to showcase new technologies that will make for a better shopping experience for everyone. NRF 2022: Retail’s Big Show, starting January 16, 2022, is just around the corner and more than 50 visionary tech startups across the retail industry (in areas like sustainability, ecommerce and more) will be showcased at the Innovation Lab — and many of them are transforming the in-store experience.
If you’re ready to shop again in person this holiday season, here are seven companies making the in-person experience more immersive, personalized, convenient and affordable:
NOBAL Technologies is changing the way consumers interact in-store with their favorite brands. Their interactive mirror solution, iMirror, provides intelligent mirror display solutions to retailers that are designed to eliminate the traditional purchase barriers that often interfere with a shopper’s ability to search, view, try on, select and buy from a complete range of inventory and promotions. The Canadian-based technology firm founded in 2012 is focused on driving retail innovation that has resulted in an increase in consumer basket sizes and a reduction in shrinkage and basket abandonment. Working with retailers like Asda, Puma and Tommy Hilfiger, Nobal’s systems allow consumers to experience a virtual try-on, view a virtual catalogue, interact with the brand’s social media feeds, take selfies, shop recommended looks (through its partner Stylitics), get in touch with an associate or find out about the brand’s upcoming events or shows — all through one mirror.
Take a look at what's in store for other upcoming NRF retail events.
Zliide is a Danish tech startup leading retail into the digital age. Its mission is to elevate the in-store experience by introducing self-checkout anywhere in the store enabled through the Zliide Tag while also offering three-hour delivery and data insights for fashion retailers. Zliide works with retailers in Denmark like BESTSELLER, WEEKDAY (part of H&M group), SELECTED (part of BESTSELLER), Moss Copenhagen, Les Deux and Rezet sneaker stores. In 2022, Zliide is looking to implement stores in the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, the UK, and the United States — so keep an eye out for Zliide as it ushers fashion into a new era of retail.
Tokinomo is a shelf advertising robot that puts products into the spotlight and enables a totally different type of brand communication at the point of sale. Utilized for in-store experiential marketing campaigns using a unique combination of technologies, sensors, motion, light and sound, Tokinomo brings products to life on the shelf by allowing them to interact with shoppers in a memorable way. CPG brands from around the world use Tokinomo robots to create immersive brand activations in supermarkets and other bricks-and-mortar stores. Its patented, certified and award-winning device provides real-time campaign analytics and is easily managed remotely. On top of providing an innovative, interactive experience for shoppers, Tokinomo manages to boost sales with an average of 200 percent.
Endear is changing the way over 800 stores around the globe are clienteling with customers. With a fully integrated solution like Endear, brands can access numerous key customer data points to see a holistic view of their customers and connect accordingly. For example, Endear works with a store owner’s Shopify data, which is then passed along to the sales team for high-touch clienteling, enabling better service — all while being affordable for the merchant. Additionally, Endear's CRM and customer segmentation capabilities for email and text lets salespeople offer an individualized clienteling experience in-store or online. Endear is on a mission to create true cohesiveness between online shopping and bricks-and-mortar — ultimately making a more positive shopping experience for everyone.
Mashgin is a touchless checkout system that provides an instant checkout with no barcodes, no cash,and no wait. Used in more than 500 locations all over the world, Mashgin has powered 20 million transactions and counting. Mashgin’s technology is the world’s fastest self-checkout powered by artificial intelligence, boasting 10x faster item identification and enabling customers to ring up a sale in less than one second. In fact, Mashgin’s technology is as much as 400 percent faster than cashiers and 800 percent faster than traditional self-checkout systems. Using cameras matched with computer vision algorithms, you can place your item any which way at checkout, saving customers time while improving the overall experience.
Ultraleap is the world-leading hand-tracking system, using unrivalled mid-air haptic technologies that allow customers to engage with the digital world naturally — without touching surfaces. What that means for customers is that touchscreens, controllers and keypads could be a thing of the past through Ultraleap’s fully immersive 3D experiences. With a mission to remove boundaries between the physical and digital worlds, Ultraleap is currently partnered with companies like PepsiCo and Lego to do just that. It is also the first to offer a full vertical software and hardware stack to enable spatial computing for the XR, out-of-home (OOH) and kiosks.
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