Robots, digital signage tools and other gadgets are getting a new lease on life. Tech Republic brought this interesting topic to our attention in their article, “AI, machine learning, robots, and marketing tech coming to a store near you.”
Typically these are utilized to increase efficiency and bring people back into stores. However, with the COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing, and sheltering in place, online retailers are finding ways to attract the previous brick-and-mortar shoppers, at least for now.
There can be a balance between the two. Those companies that have a great online experience and capability combined with a brick-and-mortar store are in the best place in terms of their ability to be profitable.
Part of that strategy includes retailers transforming parts of their stores into fulfillment centers for their online sales – or in this current climate, curbside pickup. This could have a positive effect of bringing customers into the store where they may spend even more on things they see, when we return to whatever normal looks like.
Melody K. Smith
Sponsored by Access Innovations, the world leader in thesaurus, ontology, and taxonomy creation and metadata application.
