New Ways of Technologies Revolutionizing Retail Industry
Sriram is a seasoned business development professional, specializing in enhancing physical retail spaces through intelligent and immersive product discovery experiences. He holds a B.Tech degree from Anna University and an MBA from ICFAI Business School.
The retail sector today, is a dynamic and continuously evolving field focused on selling goods and services to consumers through both online platforms and physical stores. It proactively plays a crucial role in boosting the global economy. It is widely impacting trends related to consumer behaviour, supply chain management, and technology adoption. Recently, digital transformation has significantly altered the retail landscape with substantial growth in e-commerce, Omnichannel strategies, and mobile shopping.
This industry also covers a wide array of industry through different channels and strategies such as e-commerce platforms, online purchasing habits, and emerging retail trends by integrating multiple sales channels (omnichannel), understanding consumer preferences, and implementing advanced technologies within the realm of sustainability-focused approaches as well tailor-made shopping experiences.
New cutting-edge and customer centric approaches include personalization initiatives aimed at meeting increasing demands toward convenient, quick, and customized intelligent systems featuring AI, augmented reality (AR) and it is further enhancing product offerings which keeps making it highly innovative and a challenging sector across borders today.
Technology Enhancing Customer Experience in Retail
Currently, the advancement of tools like Artificial Intelligence has taken the industry by storm. Within artificial intelligence, there are a couple of key pillars which are transforming the retail landscape today. One major aspect is the conversational stack, which has drastically altered how customers engage with brands.
Previously, there was no option of creating human-like conversation with a digital property, but now Artificial Intelligence has introduced several language models which will assist you in making queries about the retail store to a shopping assistant.
Another exciting feature of technology is its attractive visual appearance. In earlier days, there was barrier in creating digital assets at scale in fashion. Today, with advanced technology, you no longer need traditional photoshoots. Products can be showcased in multiple languages, and models can speak your language. If a dress is available in 100 colours, you can generate real-time images or videos of those variations instantly.
New Trends Magnifying Shopping Experience
In business, personalization has evolved beyond simply recommending the right product, as seen with platforms like Netflix and Amazon. Nowadays, direct-to-consumer brands are elevating personalization to new heights by customizing products down to their colours, textures, and form factors. In my view—and representing DBAI—artificial intelligence is transforming retail practices within these three dimensions.
Three pillars of customer satisfaction are conversation, visualization, and personalization. Earlier, the only forums or channels for you to discover products were a physical store and few years later from the new era of technology, there was e-commerce.
Television screens are a primary medium for content consumption, the rising popularity of digital content and real-time live streaming on these platforms has blown the mind of the consumers. Additionally, television technology is advancing to provide more interactive features, enhancing viewer engagement. YouTube and Instagram ads allow you to scan a QR shop, take you directly towards your desired shoppable videos.
Brands must be present across platforms, with content as the main distribution mode, enabling a shopping experience through it— a significant shift from the previous decade. Stores are becoming experience centres more than just a brick mortar store by presenting various options and possibilities. For example, ‘Nike’ provides a classic example where they showcase a set of shoes in an aisle, accompanied by a screen. This screen displays all the products that might be available in the warehouse. This approach responds to shrinking retail spaces in major cities.
In automobile retail, in-store configurators allow customers to customize products, which are then manufactured, picked, or made to order. Digital aisles and screens extend the physical shopping experience virtually.
How to take hold over the market as brand
As a buyer, GenZs expect a brand to have a digital experience where they don't have to necessarily interact with a human and just go through whatever they want to do digitally. Whether you are a marketplace or an individual brand with numerous products, the focus is first on creating a great experience; sales naturally follow as an extension of this.
Now more than 50% of the global audience discover brands with a new concepts like buy online, thus pick up in store is gaining traction and helping the retailers to earn more benefit & profit. As the generative AI coming into picture, technology is progressing at fastest rate and in the next 10 years, your phones or your watches or your spectacles will do a lot more digital collaboration.
Following the fastest improving trends, business models are evolving and the buyers are shifting towards sustainable technologies. So, the brands must keep updating with the cutting-edge technologies and collect continuous feedback to offer the latest desired product to their customers.
Role of Startups in bringing a New Wave in Retail
Startups are transforming the retail sector through cutting-edge technologies and creative business approaches. They enhance e-commerce by providing personalized experiences, adopting omnichannel shopping strategies, and utilizing AR/VR to craft immersive interactions. Startups are procuring disruptive technologies as they have abilities to take risk and they are scaling faster.
These startups also lead in promoting sustainability, utilize AI for superior customer insights, and deploy blockchain technology to ensure transparency. Their nimbleness and novel approaches challenge traditional retail practices, compelling established brands to embrace new solutions while fostering a more dynamic tech-driven sector.
Way Ahead
In the days to come, cutting-edge technologies will shape the retail industry by enhancing customer experiences, streamlining operations, and driving innovation. AI and machine learning are going to create history with highly personalized shopping journeys, deliver predictive analytics for inventory management by offering smart customer support through chatbots.
Additionally, generative AI is helping retailers improve engagement, drive sales, and reduce costs while delivering more relevant and interactive shopping experiences. Startups will actively engage with retailers and gather insights from them. Alongside, they would help the existing brands to implement the cutting-edge technologies to grow more, leading to a substantial success for the entire business ecosystem in India.
The retail sector today, is a dynamic and continuously evolving field focused on selling goods and services to consumers through both online platforms and physical stores. It proactively plays a crucial role in boosting the global economy. It is widely impacting trends related to consumer behaviour, supply chain management, and technology adoption. Recently, digital transformation has significantly altered the retail landscape with substantial growth in e-commerce, Omnichannel strategies, and mobile shopping.
This industry also covers a wide array of industry through different channels and strategies such as e-commerce platforms, online purchasing habits, and emerging retail trends by integrating multiple sales channels (omnichannel), understanding consumer preferences, and implementing advanced technologies within the realm of sustainability-focused approaches as well tailor-made shopping experiences.
New cutting-edge and customer centric approaches include personalization initiatives aimed at meeting increasing demands toward convenient, quick, and customized intelligent systems featuring AI, augmented reality (AR) and it is further enhancing product offerings which keeps making it highly innovative and a challenging sector across borders today.
Technology Enhancing Customer Experience in Retail
Currently, the advancement of tools like Artificial Intelligence has taken the industry by storm. Within artificial intelligence, there are a couple of key pillars which are transforming the retail landscape today. One major aspect is the conversational stack, which has drastically altered how customers engage with brands.
Previously, there was no option of creating human-like conversation with a digital property, but now Artificial Intelligence has introduced several language models which will assist you in making queries about the retail store to a shopping assistant.
Another exciting feature of technology is its attractive visual appearance. In earlier days, there was barrier in creating digital assets at scale in fashion. Today, with advanced technology, you no longer need traditional photoshoots. Products can be showcased in multiple languages, and models can speak your language. If a dress is available in 100 colours, you can generate real-time images or videos of those variations instantly.
New Trends Magnifying Shopping Experience
In business, personalization has evolved beyond simply recommending the right product, as seen with platforms like Netflix and Amazon. Nowadays, direct-to-consumer brands are elevating personalization to new heights by customizing products down to their colours, textures, and form factors. In my view—and representing DBAI—artificial intelligence is transforming retail practices within these three dimensions.
Three pillars of customer satisfaction are conversation, visualization, and personalization. Earlier, the only forums or channels for you to discover products were a physical store and few years later from the new era of technology, there was e-commerce.
Television screens are a primary medium for content consumption, the rising popularity of digital content and real-time live streaming on these platforms has blown the mind of the consumers. Additionally, television technology is advancing to provide more interactive features, enhancing viewer engagement. YouTube and Instagram ads allow you to scan a QR shop, take you directly towards your desired shoppable videos.
Brands must be present across platforms, with content as the main distribution mode, enabling a shopping experience through it— a significant shift from the previous decade. Stores are becoming experience centres more than just a brick mortar store by presenting various options and possibilities. For example, ‘Nike’ provides a classic example where they showcase a set of shoes in an aisle, accompanied by a screen. This screen displays all the products that might be available in the warehouse. This approach responds to shrinking retail spaces in major cities.
In automobile retail, in-store configurators allow customers to customize products, which are then manufactured, picked, or made to order. Digital aisles and screens extend the physical shopping experience virtually.
How to take hold over the market as brand
As a buyer, GenZs expect a brand to have a digital experience where they don't have to necessarily interact with a human and just go through whatever they want to do digitally. Whether you are a marketplace or an individual brand with numerous products, the focus is first on creating a great experience; sales naturally follow as an extension of this.
Now more than 50% of the global audience discover brands with a new concepts like buy online, thus pick up in store is gaining traction and helping the retailers to earn more benefit & profit. As the generative AI coming into picture, technology is progressing at fastest rate and in the next 10 years, your phones or your watches or your spectacles will do a lot more digital collaboration.
The retail industry is always at the cutting edge of innovation because it focuses on customer experiences, making it a prime area for many technologies to establish their initial foundations
Following the fastest improving trends, business models are evolving and the buyers are shifting towards sustainable technologies. So, the brands must keep updating with the cutting-edge technologies and collect continuous feedback to offer the latest desired product to their customers.
Role of Startups in bringing a New Wave in Retail
Startups are transforming the retail sector through cutting-edge technologies and creative business approaches. They enhance e-commerce by providing personalized experiences, adopting omnichannel shopping strategies, and utilizing AR/VR to craft immersive interactions. Startups are procuring disruptive technologies as they have abilities to take risk and they are scaling faster.
These startups also lead in promoting sustainability, utilize AI for superior customer insights, and deploy blockchain technology to ensure transparency. Their nimbleness and novel approaches challenge traditional retail practices, compelling established brands to embrace new solutions while fostering a more dynamic tech-driven sector.
Way Ahead
In the days to come, cutting-edge technologies will shape the retail industry by enhancing customer experiences, streamlining operations, and driving innovation. AI and machine learning are going to create history with highly personalized shopping journeys, deliver predictive analytics for inventory management by offering smart customer support through chatbots.
Additionally, generative AI is helping retailers improve engagement, drive sales, and reduce costs while delivering more relevant and interactive shopping experiences. Startups will actively engage with retailers and gather insights from them. Alongside, they would help the existing brands to implement the cutting-edge technologies to grow more, leading to a substantial success for the entire business ecosystem in India.
