Augmented Reality

Any retail expert worth their salt knows that personalization is the one true key to profitability. This is only becoming more important as the market grows saturated and customer expectations keep getting more demanding. But how will artificial intelligence technology change the ever-evolving retail landscape? Personalization is all about providing engaging customer experiences, which is…

Apparel brand Ralph Lauren and digital game world Fortnite are collaborating to create a digital and physical fashion collection that will live in the online game platform owned by Epic Games and be available for purchase in the real world. The digital collection includes outfits containing "sport graphics and bold designs" with "eye-catching color palettes,"…

Over the past couple decades, e-commerce has been crowned the biggest development in retailing and is considered the latest transformative milestone. What most retailers don’t know is there are two more enhancements on the rise: augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). These two are expected to take over the retail chain and enhance the…

Ulta Beauty has become the latest retailer to launch a venture capital arm after announcing a new digital innovation fund Wednesday. The fund, called Prisma Ventures, earmarks $20 million for digital innovation in beauty, according to a company press release. The fund will invest in emerging technology startups that "seek to shape future online and in-store…

The past few years have been challenging for retail brands, which are adapting to external market forces like the pandemic and evolving in response to shifting customer expectations. It’s also an exciting time, and many brand marketers are experimenting with new ways to meet people where they are — increasingly in the metaverse and other…

According to recent research from Snap, 92 percent of Gen Z consumers want to use augmented reality (AR) tools for e-commerce. But with new options vying for consumer mindshare and adoption (e.g., virtual storefronts, NFTs, and wearables to name a few), retailers are challenged when it comes to prioritizing where and how much to invest.…

In episode 353 of Total Retail Talks, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Keenan Davis, senior director of marketing at SVS, a leading manufacturer of high-performance speakers, subwoofers, wireless audio, and accessories. Davis provides an overview of the SVS business (0:56), his professional background (1:54), and why the company decided to invest in 3D and augmented reality (AR)…

Within a decade, we will see tremendous shifts to the way in which consumers perceive and interact with the world around us. The imminent upsurge in the extended reality (XR) market is upon us, and what our day-to-day realities will look like by 2030 is up to the collective ability of our imaginations. Yet the…

A little over a year ago, McKinsey announced that COVID-19 crammed 10 years worth of expected growth in e-commerce into just 90 days (a claim I think is open for debate). While the world focused on e-commerce, spectacular growth was actually occurring in another part of the market: Web 3.0. It’s fair to say that…

Have you ever bought a piece of furniture online only to return it not long after it arrives? What you had imagined the item to look like in your living room turned out to not meet your expectations — the colors weren’t right, it didn’t mesh well with the rest of the room, or despite…