Canadian Retailer - Fall 2016 - 23

RETAIL TECHNOLOGY TRENDS

Google's latest app, Primer, free to download, educates small
businesses on various aspects of digital marketing: branding,
advertising, marketing strategy, search engine optimization,
and programmatic ad buying. Based on reviews, the app delivers smart, clear lessons in how to reach customers online.
International delivery

Lots of options exist for shipping internationally. For retailers
who want to join a niche community, they can look at a social
network like Grabr. Grabr says it connects travellers and buyers.
Shoppers find what they want to buy (the grab) and travellers bid
on delivering the grab to the shopper. The shopper and traveller
meet up in the shopper's hometown and exchange the grab for
payment. Grabr appeals to travellers hoping to finance their journeys and customers looking for rare products in faraway places.
Subscription and automatic retailing

Subscription retail is not a technology, but it's driven by technology. Like book of the month clubs of old, subscriptions deliver
predictable revenues to retailers and convenience to customers.
Subscriptions are particularly suitable to regular sales, like razor
blades, a product that Dollar Shave Club has expertly automated
for the club members. Lux Beauty Boutique's quarterly subscription service delivers club members a range of
products suitable for each season. Subscription
retail is big business-one report pegs sales at
$5-billion USD in 2014.

ters, American Eagle, and others, have deployed
beacons in their stores. As beaconing takes root
in Canada, retailers here will be able to collect
customer data, personalize offers, develop loyalty programs, and offer in-store support and navigation to the growing number of customers who
are ready to use this not-so-new technology.
Wearables

Beaconing and wearables go together. When
we have widespread use of one (wearables), retailers will find it easier to have the other (beacons). When it launched, Apple Watch didn't
make the splash proponents of wearables had
hoped. Same with Google Glass. While still in
a fledgling state, the technology is improving
(Apple released Watch 2 recently) and becoming more widespread. Even more important:
technologists haven't given up on wearables. In
September, the Financial Times reported that
Snapchat has plans to release its own version of
Google Glass. That way tweens can take photos
and videos without using a phone.

Automated warehouses

The robot revolution has begun. But will
the robots take over? Retailers and innovative
suppliers like LCBO and Think Logistics have
made news for how they're using robots in the
warehouse. Think Logistic's warehouse looks
like science fiction. When an order is received,
robots drive entire shelves of product across the
warehouse to the picker. A laser pointer identifies the product for the picker. Once the product is selected, the machines return the shelf to Wearables could influence retailer-customer engagement.
its spot in the warehouse. Sobey's and Safeway
plan to go automatic, and LCBO has won awards for how it's auto- Self-service technologies
mated the warehouse-its robots reduce labour and wasted space.
A confluence of technologies and social shifts
Expect more retailers to capitalize on these technological advan- have made self-service retail a reality for many
ces-including order picking machinery and automated replen- retailers. To take a few: more customers use plasishment systems-as robotics become widely available.
tic and mobile wallets than ever before, eliminating cash transactions; younger Canadians
Beacons
have grown up with a self-service mentality, and
When beaconing appeared on the retail scene, critics said, "It's they're happy to help themselves; and self-service
creepy. It's annoying. Who wants to have a store ping you every POS systems have become more widespread, in
time you walk by?" Times change, technology develops, shoppers more stores, training all of us in a new way to
acquire new habits, and beaconing isn't as strange or obtrusive as interact with the store. One benefit to retailers?
it once seemed. Beacons are coming into wider practice because Staff are free to engage more with customers,
they let retailers personalize messages to consumers in real time. enhancing the service quotient in a store-what
Outside of Canada, shops like Woolworths, Macy's, Urban Outfit- everybody says they want in retail.

www.retailcouncil.org/cdnretailer

FALL 2016 | CANADIAN RETAILER

| 23

http://www.retailcouncil.org/cdnretailer

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Canadian Retailer - Fall 2016