Retail innovation round-up: what does 2019 suggest about the future?

Even in a retail sector that’s witnessed some extreme mutations in recent years, 2019 has been especially rich in innovations and new use cases. And it all points to an exciting future of retail!

I’m not just referring to stores with cashier-less checkouts (yes I’m looking at you, AmazonGo), or hybrid flagships such as Nike’s House of Innovation in NYC. We’re seeing an increasing number of technologies applied to different parts of the value chain, changing not only the way we sell and buy, but how we organize and create.

With the end-of-year shopping season upon us, there’s no time like the, ahem, present, to revisit some meaningful retail innovations seen this year.

- Walmart: robotics and AI changing the face of brick and mortar

It all started with Walmart’s CTO explaining their plan to compete with e-commerce giant Amazon by automating a historical asset: their shops. Thanks to these physical POS-turned-warehouses, Walmart can cut on delivery costs and cover the crucial ‘last mile’. 

That’s not all, these stores are doubling as experimental tech playgrounds. At Walmart’s Intelligent Retail Lab (named among the 70 Best Trend-Driven Innovations of 2019), robots regularly scan the aisles to make sure nothing is missing, and signal the warehouse when needed. Customers meanwhile are now accompanied by automated ‘personal shoppers’ who roam the store offering help via an app. 

- L’Oréal: a corporate incubator that’s boosting innovation

As an intrapreneur I’m a fan of any initiative that encourages innovation within the company. So I was thrilled to read about L’Oréal’s MYT (Make Your Technology). It’s a smart move from the beauty giant for two reasons. For one, the company will now develop its own innovations, in-house, with less or zero external intervention. And two, this will foster a more agile, collective dynamic, which is absolutely necessary in this digital transformation era we’re all experiencing.

L’Oréal has continuously looked to be a step ahead with its product innovation, and with this lab it’s acknowledging the necessity of structural innovation too. 

- Lush: the future of retail resides in solid brand vision

The cruelty-free brand Lush generated excitement this year by announcing it was leaving social media in the UK. Like most people I was intrigued by the move, but could only approve. After all, why divide your efforts and maintain a presence that neither drives much in-store traffic, or accurately reflects who you are? A choice that was totally in line with their vision, and a point that was strongly made. 

But it’s not to say the brand has given up on technology. Au contraire: from a regular high-street brand, Lush is now opening impressive stores that feature the latest retail tech, which not only demonstrate their ‘what’, but their ‘why’.

All this coheres with how we might imagine the future of retail: interactive, complementary, socially responsible and profitable (AT Kearney).

- Vending machines: the other retail experience

Remember when vending machines were just used to sell drinks and snacks at the railway station? Those were the days. Today, ‘automated retail’ is everywhere, with everyone from Adidas, to Snapchat and Alibaba integrating vending machines into their strategies. Incidentally, one sector to really demonstrated the potential is travel retail (which is also a good place to test an idea before roll-out into the real word). 

Talk as much as you want about pop-up stores, immediacy, try-before-you-buy, and buy-as-you-go solutions, but vending machines (almost) have it all. And while these might not replace human vendors, they definitely complement the experience with simplified and fast interactions that cut waiting lines.

- Mango X Vodafone: augmented reality in fitting rooms

Another trend to catch my eye this year has been the growing implementation of virtual and augmented reality in stores. It’s not just kiosks but entire fitting rooms that can now be equipped with ‘smart mirrors’ allowing more personalization of the customer experience. One of my favorite examples is the collaboration between Mango and Vodafone, using IoT to bring the whole shopping experience into your single, private connected space, with real-time customer service. 

- Chilli Beans: when art meets fashion accessories

When I think about innovation, it’s not just technology. In fact, mostly it conjures creativity and the power to bring something new to the world. In the eyewear industry, Chili Beans does it very well, with weekly eyeglass collections that showcase exciting collaborations with the art and entertainment industries. My previous article mentioned the Japanese Owndays, who are also doing this well. The future of branding could lie in conjugating energies, finding the right fit between brands and industries. Together, we’re more powerful. 

- VisionHub: customer experience is everywhere

At the EBG Digital Innovation day in November, VisionHub was awarded a prize for ‘Improvement of User Experience B2B’. It shows that B2B is a great playground for innovation and how we can develop #TechForGood projects when technology, new uses, and corporate vision converge.

How else to conclude but to say how excited I am for 2020, and the innovations it promises to bring to life. The examples I’ve cited above pave the way for a much richer future of retail and Retailtech, whether in BtoC or BtoB. Let’s shake up those old practices! They deserve it and so do we.

What about you? What were your favorite retail innovations this year and which ones do you think will scale up and durably transform the retail industry?