Online shopping is clearly a fast-growing trend but brick and mortar stores are far from dead and we have a collection of retail technology providers helping to keep the doors open. In fact, many online retailers have recently opened physical stores as they understand the importance of connecting with the customer in the real world, for example, Amazon.
New technologies are being adopted by leading retailers to streamline their physical store operations and to enhance the customer experience and drive sales growth. These technologies often bridge the gap between the physical and online world for the customer and lead to ‘frictionless’ purchasing for the customer. Check out the following selection of exciting technologies to kick-start your retail business and compete in today’s fast-changing retail market.
 1. Soundtrack Your Brand
Founded in 2013 by Andreas Liffgarden and Ola Sars, Soundtrack Your Brand partnered up with Spotify to give retailers full control over the music in their stores from one central system. When you walk into a store you are more likely to browse for longer and possibly buy more than you were planning to when the ambiance is set to match the brand. Well, this is true as studies show that ‘background music that fits the brand can boost store sales by over 30%’.
          
Key features:
- Schedule your music to suit different times of the day
- Control your music across all locations
- Fine tune with the remote
- Play from your existing device
2. Oak Labs
Oak Labs is changing the in-store shopping experience for customers completely by introducing the ‘Oak mirror’. Have you ever walked into a changing room and wished the lighting was different? or really liked the outfit you were trying on so you wanted to buy more like it? well, Oak Labs allows you to do just that.
          
Key features:
- Interactive, touchscreen mirror that lets shoppers request new items
- Adjust fitting room lighting, and see outfit recommendations
- Using RFID technology it senses which products the shopper brought into the room, and then presents related products
3. Salesfloor
Salesfloor connects online customers with sales associates in their local stores. These associates can then personalize the customer’s shopping experience as they are product experts and trusted advisors. They also manage any requests that customers may have.
           
Key features:
- Customers shop online directly with local associate
- Each store has their own personalized version of the retailer’s e-commerce site
- Better online experience through chat, personal shopping, and other collaboration tools
- Instantly engage with customers across all channels: email, social media & mobile
4. Â Lightspeed
Lightspeed is an electronic point of sale system that helps to manage every aspect of your business, for example, inventory management, employee management, sales processing and data analytics. It is cloud-based so can be used for multiple location retail stores and allows you to take your store with you wherever you are by using an iPad.
           
Key Features:
- Product importing
- Inventory tracking
- Flexibility of movement
- Payment and serve options
- Integrate customer loyalty programs
- Multi-store reporting
5. EDITED
EDITED is a London based retail technology company that sources real-time retail data to help the world’s best brands and retailers to have the right product at the right price, at the right time. It allows industry experts to know more about their markets than ever before and to get insights on the most commercially viable products and trends worldwide.
Key features:
- Always be ready with the right product
- Sell more, discount less
- Time product launches and promotions perfectly
- Track trends to get in at the right time
- Strategic market insights from retail experts
6. Tulip Retail
Key features:
- Inspires customers beyond the store with their Look Building Module
- Streamlines data from every corner of the business
- Multi-task from anywhere in the store
- Share files anywhere, anytime
- Connect store associate to the enterprise
7. Zenreach
In today’s technology-crazed world everyone loves to be able to connect to WiFi wherever they go in order to stay connected with the online world as they have the fear of missing out, also known as ‘Fomo’. Zenreach offers free in-store WiFi for retailers so that they can connect with their customers in real-time and build lasting relationships. This creates a win-win situation for both the customer and retailer. They work with the top retailers in every city across the US and beyond to seamlessly build their customer lists, run segmented automated marketing campaigns, and provide real insight into whether customers return after receiving a message – calculating what we call, a walk-through rate.
Key features:
- Connect with your guests
- Understand your business
- Automate your marketing
8. Simbe
Simbe Robotics develops automation systems for the retail industry. They have created the world’s first robotic shelf auditing and analytics solution known as Tally. Tally performs the repetitive and laborious tasks of auditing shelves for out-of-stock items, low stock items, misplaced items, and pricing errors.  Tally operates safely during normal store hours alongside shoppers and employees.
Key features:
- Real-time insights into shelf status
- Empowers staff to focus on customer service
- Safe & reliable in-store environment
- Quick and routine full store audits
- Ensures products are always stocked & available for customers
9. Augment
When buying a product in a store or online it can be very difficult for customers to visualize how it will look in their own home. This is where Augment came up with the idea to create an application where you can visualize 3D models in the real world so that customers can experience the products at home before buying.
Key features:
- Increase sales by allowing customers to try before buying
- Reduce returns by removing guesswork
- Create an engaging omnichannel retail experience
- Add more value to your mobile application and drive downloads
10. Bizimply
We have kept the best until last! Bizimply is an employee management solution that completely changes the way retailers manage and engage with their employees. We combine all the day-to-day management requirements of these businesses (scheduling, HR, clock-in stations, shift reporting etc.) into one easy-to-use cloud-based system.
Key features:
- Quick Scheduling
- Simple Attendance
- Connected Payroll
- Fast reporting
- Multi-Location
- Save Time & Control Costs
Interested in seeing how Bizimply could work for your business? Why not schedule a call with a member of our amazing team?
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