Technology

If developments like Apple's iBeacon or the rise of online marketplaces are any indication, the retail industry is in the midst of a significant digital evolution. These leaps in technical innovation present major opportunities for retailers willing to embrace change and equally significant threats to those that stubbornly hold on to status quo.

Amazon.com's Fire Phone can now be had for less than a buck. The e-commerce giant said Monday it's now offering the 32-gigabyte version of its first smartphone, which went on sale just two months ago, for 99 cents with a two-year contract, down from $200. One year of Amazon's Prime service is still included as a short-term promotion. A year of Prime, which offers free two-day shipping and streaming music and video libraries, usually costs $99. Amazon also slashed the price of its 64-gigabyte Fire Phone to $100 with a two-year contract, down from $300.

New York City's iconic Duane Reade drugstore nameplate looks like it's getting downgraded. At a new store on Seventh Avenue just north of 34th Street, the sign in front reads, "Duane Reade by Walgreens." It's the first time the brand has been forced to share billing with its corporate parent. Walgreen Co. bought the 54-year-old Duane Reade for $1.08 billion in 2010.

In the short history of fashion e-commerce, Modcloth is something of a dinosaur. Launched in 2002 in Pittsburgh, the site quickly endeared itself to a hip young clientele with a range of affordable, vintage-inspired clothing swinging toward tween. For context, Net-a-Porter left mouths agape when it took a gamble on selling luxury online in 2000. Like we said: a dinosaur. But ModCloth has taken pains to stay nimble, and its tech team has been cooking up a storm lately, regularly rolling out new features to add a little something extra to its e-commerce experience.

Zappos and training app MapMyFitness are teaming up to ensure runners are never logging miles on worn-out shoes. The two companies announced last week a new feature called Gear Tracker in the MapMyFitness app for Apple iOS users. The feature lets users estimate when their shoes are too worn to run in and then gives them the option of buying a new pair of shoes directly from the fitness tracking app. The companies expect to bring the same feature to Google's Android before the end of the year.

To help retailers make the migration to a new e-commerce platform as seamless (and painless) as possible, a panel of retail technology experts — Jason Allerding, information systems manager for Parts Express; Pinny Gniswich, executive vice president of business development at Delmar Jewelry; and Vivek Saxena, chief marketing officer and senior vice president of e-commerce, VISAX — offered their tips in a session this week at the eTail East conference in Philadelphia.

Omnichannel commerce has turned the controlled linear retail supply chain upside down and inside out, shining a spotlight on retailers’ strengths and weaknesses and exposing the limitations of today's supply chain. The need for inventory visibility is critical. RFID (radio frequency identification) isn't a new concept, but omnichannel retailing has given RFID adoption a new sense of urgency. From the consumer's perspective, they're expecting an "always open, always on" shopping experience, and RFID is the critical enabler that allows 24/7 networkwide inventory accuracy.

Beacon marketing firm Shelfbucks announced that it's finalized an agreement with GameStop to deploy its beacon-based solution in the company's retail locations. The company said the agreement represents one of the retail industry's largest beacon platform solution deployments. Under the agreement, Shelfbucks will roll out its platform to GameStop stores in test markets, including Austin and College Station, Texas, beginning in August. "As part of GameStop's plan to enrich its in-store customer experience, our focus is on enhancing consumer interaction through the use of innovative technologies and business solutions," said Charlie Larkin, senior director of the GameStop Technology Institute.

The merging of retail and technology has led to the two sides poaching each other's talent. This commonly leads to companies gobbling up entire startups, as was demonstrated yesterday by Wal-Mart's tech team, @WalmartLabs, acquiring Luvocracy, a three-year-old firm and an online community of half-a-million members that allows consumers to discover and buy products recommended by other people, from their own friends and family to bloggers and other influencers. Sixteen Luvocracy employees are slated to join @WalmartLabs as part of the acquisition. Company spokesman Bao Nguyen told MarketWatch that Wal-Mart doesn't plan to integrate Luvocracy's technology into Walmart.com.

Amazon.com has launched a new store for 3-D-printed goods, which include items that can be customized to change their size, color, material and even aspects of their design. The store covers a range of types of products, including jewelry, electronics, toys and games, home decor, and kitchen supplies, and items are supplied by a number of partners including Mixee, Scupteo and 3DLT. Amazon is touting this as the debut of a new way for the e-commerce giant to offer even more specialized inventory that can better cater to specific customer tastes.