In-Store Technology

Alibaba, the operator of China’s largest online sales platform, is reportedly building its own mall as it seeks to enrich the real-world shopping experience with technology and convenience. The five-story shopping center — which the company is calling “More Mall” — is located at Alibaba’s headquarters in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou. The mall was built…

As shoppers increasingly turn to digital marketplaces, brick-and-mortar stores are struggling. Sears announced June 6 that it would be closing 72 stores in addition to the 180 closings it announced previously this year. Since Memorial Day, RadioShack has closed more than 1,000 stores. Even upscale fashion brand Michael Kors plans to shut 125 shops before…

A few months ago, Amazon.com surprised the tech and retail worlds by announcing plans to acquire Whole Foods. For those of us who have been watching Amazon’s increasing dominance, this development is nothing new. In fact, I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner. Traditional brick-and-mortar retail outlets have long been struggling to figure out how to…

2017 has been a whirlwind of a year for retailers to say the least, with most of the conversation surrounding how brands need to think digitally first. However, this morning in a panel discussion at eTail East, Drew Green, CEO of Indochino, a made-to-measure menswear company, ended the session with a telling statement. “I think…

So far, 2017 is setting records for retail bankruptcies. J.C. Penney, Kmart, Sears and Macy's all announced that they're closing stores this year. Based on these dire trends, it might seem like the brick-and-mortar store is an endangered species. However, that’s not actually the case. Brick-and-mortar retail still accounts for more than 90 percent of…

Much has been made of the increasingly prominent role of e-commerce within retail — and rightfully so. A number of big-name retailers have dedicated both time and money attempting to challenge Amazon.com's market dominance. When it comes to keeping their brick-and-mortar locations around despite a flurry of e-commerce growth, retailers need to get creative. Virtual…

Wal-Mart is deploying new Scan & Go technology that allows shoppers to purchase items in-store without waiting in a line or using a register. Shoppers scan the barcodes on items they're purchasing and click a button on their smartphones to pay. When exiting the store, they show a digital receipt to the store greeter. And…

We've all heard it. The retail apocalypse is here — lock the doors, board up the window displays, hunker down in a distribution center and take all your business online. Shoppers don't visit stores anymore. But is that really true? Consumer spending increased 3.8 percent in 2016, a marginal improvement from the 3.5 percent increase…

Hurried shoppers everywhere have complained about the time spent waiting in line to check out. Retailers have tried all sorts of methods and techniques to ease the process, from bulky self-checkout lanes to line-busting to distracting shoppers with impulse purchases. But what if the solution is to just get rid of the queues altogether and…

To better understand what influences consumers’ decisions to choose brick-and-mortar over online shopping, Mood Media conducted a quantitative study, probing over 11,000 consumers across nine different countries. We wanted to understand what consumers like (and dislike) about the in-store experience, and what motivates or influences them within the space. Seventy-two percent of Americans cite the…