In-Store Technology

A surge of new online shoppers, artificial intelligence and omnichannel retailing have upended retail in only a few years. As the industry continues to evolve, the demand for innovative technologies grows with it, and one tool that’s become increasingly popular is electronic shelf labels (ESLs) — especially in the grocery sector, where the need for…

Sam's Club, the Walmart-owned membership club, is testing its first all-digital store. Inside the club, which will open in mid-October in the Dallas area, customers will have to use a smartphone app called Scan & Go to ring up their purchases as they walk through the aisles. In the area typically reserved for cash registers,…

Retail execution, from “mom-and-pop shops” to mass retailers, has operated with a simple goal in mind: keep products on the shelf and customers satisfied. However, the methods to achieve this goal have undergone a dramatic transformation. What used to be manual processes — literally pen to paper — have evolved into sophisticated systems that leverage…

Consumers accustomed to the autonomy of online shopping are often disappointed when they walk into physical stores, only to find that a retailer hasn’t updated its store experience to match new digital-inspired shopping habits. Online, these shoppers are used to being able to find what they want — in any variation they want it —…

A seamless and streamlined customer experience (CX) is everything in retail. Modern consumers want to find, peruse, and buy products easily and conveniently, in-store or online. However, maintaining an enjoyable CX for shoppers can become unfeasible during network outages. Prolonged incidences can jeopardize more than CX; they can impede retailers’ ability to process payments, track…

Paper shelf price labels are going away at thousands of Walmart stores. The company announced late last week an expanded rollout of digital shelf labels that will allow it to update prices on over 120,000 items within minutes. Weekly updates to paper shelf labels typically took a store worker about two days. With digital labels,…

Walmart-owned Sam’s Club says it’s turning to artificial intelligence to speed up its own exit technology. Instead of requiring store staff to check members’ purchases against their receipts when leaving the store, Sam’s Club customers who pay either at a register or through the Scan & Go mobile app can now walk out of the…

With 2024 in full swing, the results are in from the 2023 retail peak season, and one thing is clear: digital is embedding itself as the channel of choice for shoppers. According to analysis by Mastercard, in-store sales during Black Friday increased just over 1 percent compared to 2022 figures, whereas digital sales shot up…

Amazon.com is removing “Just Walk Out” technology from its Amazon Fresh stores as part of an effort to revamp the grocery chain. The company’s well-known technology lets customers pay for items without standing in line and sends them receipts afterwards. Amazon says Just Walk Out will now be replaced by smart carts that allow customers…

The modern retail business owner knows these facts: their customers expect an experience that's efficient, effortless, and caters to their preferred way of buying. As consumer shopping habits continue to evolve — expedited in part due to the global pandemic that forever changed how we buy — retail operators must remain at the forefront of…