Mid-January, just following the madness of the Holiday shopping, retailers from around the world gather in New-York for the National Retail Federation (NRF) Big Show and EXPO, #nrf2018.
For 6 or 7 years, this exposition has evolved from presentations on how to get the more attractive displays, design and things to do to improve the in-store experience, to an exposition more and more technological, more and more software oriented… for numerous uses in retail.
This year, the words that the exhibitors of the NRF used the most were:
Future, customization, automation and data analytics.
Each year, when the VIF Télé team attend this exposition/trade show, they always make a detour by the Innovation Lab. For 2 years, robots have been in the spotlight, like DASH, the robotic shopping cart.
Take a good look at it on the picture, because DASH probably won’t be found on every street corner… or grocery store aisle. Even if this is a multitask robot, you still have to follow it everywhere in the grocery store!
Another robot, this one used to perform a real-time inventory of all departments in a department store… even during business hours!
Many exhibitors also offer “electronic tags” or small screens for shelf edges.
Hershey’s chocolates take advantage of the video to replace paper price tags!
On the main screen above the shelf, the big screen display goes from a general visual content about the brand to a price offer when it detects a customer at less than 10 feet!
All right, we may not see all those technologies at once in every store, but this kind of event allows you to see what is coming in a near future for merchants.
