Technology

No industry has been more transfigured in the past year than retail. Stores now behave like websites, tracking consumers as they browse. American malls have pretty much died (but may be on their way back to life). And in some parts of the country you can have your milk and eggs delivered to your home, along with your new iPod, on the same day. Those who lead the field strike the right balance between physical and digital, experience and affordability, and convenience and quality. 

Amazon.com's app for iPhone this week added "Flow," an image recognition tool designed to allow consumers to add a product to their shopping cart by merely pointing their phone's camera at it. Flow, as its name suggests, aims to make it as seamless as possible to shop. MarketWatch carried out its own "showrooming" with the app. Scanning a three-bottle package of the hair growth serum Rogaine, Flow immediately found the item on Amazon for $43.85, 30 percent cheaper than the $62.99 price in a Duane Reade store.

The first computer I ever bought was a Tandy TRS-80 I got at RadioShack in the mid-1980s. There was no floppy drive, no operating system, no internet connection and no hard drive. I used a tape recorder to save data, but I still felt pretty cutting edge, even if it was largely an expensive paperweight, since I had no programming skills and used it like a big calculator. While those were also the halcyon days of RadioShack, the electronics retailer would like 2014 to be the start of a new golden age.

When store labor is heavy, payroll expenses go up and operations run hot. When store labor is light, conversions go down and operations run cold. However, when store labor is perfectly aligned with defined plans, then operations run just right. And when operations run just right, consumers receive the right amount of help from store associates, conversions go up, important tasks are completed on time, margins improve and everyone wins.

Losing the cat-and-mouse game with hackers, retailers are facing increased regulations and potentially significant costs in the name of protecting customers’ personal data. In a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Target and Neiman Marcus executives said even their strongest measures weren't enough to prevent the data breaches that took place during the holiday season. Target CFO Jon Mulligan told the committee that the breach at his company continued for three days after the retailer thought the malware had been handled, The Wall Street Journal reported. It seems this is a watershed moment for security in the retail industry.

With Forrester predicting online shopping will reach $370 billion by 2017, retailers are fighting to get consumers to visit stores — and provide a quality experience when they get there. The trick is matching the convenience, speed and depth of information in-store that the online world easily provides. Also taking priority: time-saving techniques like virtual try-on; faster, more secure checkout; and protecting customers’ information. Consumers "expect the in-store experience to match the convenience of online," said Chris Donnelly, global managing director of Accenture Retail. Evidence the growth of mobile payments, which Accenture said will quadruple to $630 billion by 2014.

This past January, as I've done for the past five years or so, I trekked into New York City's Jacob Javits Convention Center for the National Retail Federation's (NRF) Big Show. I was met, as I was in past years as well, by retailers from around the world. I spent time at this year's conference attending presentations and press conferences; meeting and interviewing retail industry execs in the press room; and walking the vast exhibit hall floors trying to find the "next big things" in retail technology. Here are a few of my takeaways

As senior managers, we're tasked with overseeing initiatives that drive innovation and growth, defining and setting the direction of the company, hiring the right people to execute the overall vision, and being champions for the company's products and services. Together, our actions and decisions are designed to influence product development, sales, operations, competitive positioning, company reputation and, if publicly traded, stock performance. If a particular business unit or function isn't performing as expected, or their actions have an adverse effect on operations, ultimately, the responsibility falls on senior management.

Modell's Sporting Goods has deployed cutting-edge technology in its Times Square flagship to welcome Super Bowl XLVIII fans. The sporting goods retailer has installed a virtual image of CEO Mitchell Modell to personally greet shoppers. The image is provided via Tensator's Virtual Assistant digital signage solution, which creates the illusion of a real person. The virtual Modell provides suggestions on Super Bowl gear, shares information on apparel, footwear, sporting goods and licensed team products, informs shoppers about the store's loyalty program, how to sign up and even gives directions on where to find certain items. 

Revenue growth may have slowed last year at Apple's retail stores, but the division remains one of the world's strongest and a key strategic focus of the tech giant's future. With revenue exceeding $20 billion for the fiscal year ended Sept. 28, Apple's brick-and-mortar unit exceeded the total annual revenue at big-name retailers such as Nordstrom, Gap and AutoNation. The stores are practically hallowed ground for entrepreneurs who supply accoutrements for Apple's "iOSphere." They say the cache and cash flow at Apple's retail outlets combine to make it a unique and unrivaled platform for introducing their products.