Episode Details

In this episode we bring a review of the best and brightest from the show floor at NRF 2019 - we talk Innovation Lab, "Ingredient Brands", Shoppable AR, and much more. Listen now!

Main Takeaways:

• Phillip and Brian podcast twice live from NRF

• Body data is still in vogue in retail-tech company spaces, but has anyone learned to implement it properly?

• Want a 3D rendering of Brian's face? Take our survey.

• Will Walmart finally impress Gen Xers?

• Clothes that fit the customer, not the creator's specifications need to be the future of retail.

• Millennials are killing the curse of boring retail.

Everything's About The Innovation Lab: NRF Edition Part 2:

• Brian went on a curated tour of the Innovation Lab put together by Tusk Ventures, that highlighted all the latest in retail innovation.

• Phillip attempts a French accent.

• Allure Systems (who we last saw at Shop.org) was featured in the Innovation Lab, as were a lot of other body-data focused companies, proving that body-data is still all the rage in the retail tech space.

• Brian notes that body-data is a consistent trend, but as of yet, retailers have struggled with application, though Amazon purchasing Body Labs for 50MM may make room for better implementation.

• Allure is still running their Walmart case study. And it's pretty impressive to see how their body-data technology can help to cut costs and reduce time through the use of virtual models.

2019 is Going to be All About Clienteling: The Year of The Customer:

• Phillip points out that long-term customer engagement used to be much simpler because luxury retailing was 30-40 year career, and retailers had actual long term relationships with their clients.

• Retail turnover is pretty notorious anyway. And now these roles have been so diminished, that there isn't that same connection between retailer and customer especially in luxury.

• One example of modern-day"clienteling" Hero, a software company that connects the sales associate with digital info and then they can feed that back up to the website.

• Retailers should already know this: Building relationships with your customers really is the best way to build brand loyalty.

Will Walmart Become a Grown-Up Version of Itself?

• Walmart isn't exactly known as a luxury retailer, and it hasn't always had the best reputation.

• Walmart has been trying to shed it's notoriety lately though, it opened a Lord and Taylor's flagship store, featuring several more upscale brands like Lucky Jeans and Vince Camuto.

• Walmart has also gone on an acquisition "shopping-spree" buying up popular brands like Bonobos and Modcloth, and expanding into plus-sized fashion with Eloquii.

• But Phillip says Walmart may have aways to go in convincing Gen Xrs because that generation views Walmart through a specific lens, and that lens is quite di