Jewelry Industry and Retail News
We permanently get informed by our friends and partners from around the Web - about news, trends and/or best practice advice, loosely related to the jewelry retail business. Therefore, we present you here the most interesting or most useful of this information every month - from the following 3 top categories:
Trends | Sales | Tech |
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Hot new/continued jewelry trends as presented to your customers from around the Web. See what they see when they scour the Web and think about your inventory. | Marketing news and related info that you could use in your daily operations. How to get your name out there, wherever you can and get people to know about your business. |
Tools and Trends (mostly tech related) that can make your business life easier. These are tools or trends that can help your business grow, get more organized, save more money, and/or streamline operations. |
Hopefully, you will get some tips/suggestions for your own business activities from this!
June 2018
5 Technologies Transforming Retail in 2018 - 5/5
From artificial intelligence to blockchain, five important innovations can help fashion businesses make their processes more efficient, enhance user experience and offer an improved overall customer value proposition.
2017 was the worst year on record for brick-and-mortar retail. By December, more than 6,985 stores closed across the US, according to retail think-tank Fung Global Retail & Technology. That’s up more than 200 percent from a year ago, according to the firm’s findings. It also beats the previous all-time high of 6,163 store closings that took place during the 2008 financial crisis, according to estimates by Credit Suisse.
The reality is that many stores are closing for the same reason they’ve always closed — they simply don’t meet the needs and demands of customers. But at a time when consumers are empowered with choice and market conditions are increasingly volatile, new technologies can help brands and retailers drive valuable business efficiencies, and improve the overall customer experience and value proposition.
“The biggest upside to technology in fashion will be the ability to offer consistency, and being able to personalize the customer’s shopping patterns,” said Robert Burke, chief executive of retail consultancy firm Robert Burke Associates. Indeed, fashion companies that effectively deploy the right technologies will be able to enhance their competitive advantage by personalizing products and shopping experiences, and refining logistical processes that nibble away at budgets.
However, fashion has been slow to harness many of these opportunities. “We’re only scratching the surface right now of technologies like virtual reality or artificial intelligence,” said Doug Stephens, a retail industry futurist and author of “Reengineering Retail: The Future of Selling in a Post-Digital World.” “But directionally, we can already envision a point where the margin of error for consumer shopping for clothing — both online and offline — will be almost nil.”
Here in this short series, we spotlight the five important technology innovations that can help brands and retailers boost their businesses.
5/5 Facial Recognition
Diners at KFC in China can now pay for their meals by using a facial recognition system. Walmart previously applied for a patent that would use facial recognition to identify varying levels of customer satisfaction. Union Pay has introduced facial recognition-based payment system. And JD.com has recently announced that it is opening hundreds of unmanned stores, which will use facial recognition technology to register payment for products.
Previously, facial recognition was used mostly to help with criminal investigations or unlocking smartphones. But, “the recent release of the iPhone and its FaceID technology has brought us closer in bringing facial recognition to the masses,” said Beringea’s McCormick. “In 2017, there were huge developments from retailers around the world that would suggest that facial recognition technology is on the brink of mainstream adoption.”
According to Fung Global Retail & Technology, the global market for facial recognition applications brought in revenue of $178 million in 2016, making the second most adopted biometric technology after fingerprint scanning. Technavio predicts that the global facial recognition market will grow at a CAGR of close to 23 percent by 2021.
Not only could facial recognition technology offer convenience, but it can also provide insights on a consumer’s purchasing decision process by identifying individuals and developing personalized experiences for them. “Imagine a major customer at a store. He would walk in and sales associates — if they were well trained — would recognize him and know what he likes,” said Burke. “But if he goes to London or Paris, or maybe he went for a jog and went into a different store, they won’t recognize him at all. He wouldn’t get the right service and therefore won’t buy anything.”
A facial recognition tool linked to cameras in high-end stores could allow the staff to improve their service by gaining insight into customer's online and offline profile. “Facial recognition can give all the background on a customer’s past purchases, his shipping addresses, where he travels; it logs everything,” said Burke, who found in his personal experience as former senior vice president of fashion and public relations for US multi-brand retailer Bergdorf Goodman, the technology also makes companies less reliant on its staff, particularly in retail, which has one of the highest turnover rates in any industry.
“I’ve had relationships with personal shoppers, but when that person leaves, nine times out of 10 I get lost in the shuffle. That’s one of the biggest complaints customers have. Some people may find it potentially intrusive, but it’s absolutely not going to go away,” he added. Looking ahead, “the technology also allows for incredible advances in body scanning and other applications that will be meaningful for fashion,” said Avametric’s Bloom.