5 Retail Innovation Traps To Avoid

November 2015 Innovative Retail Technologies

By Healey Cypher, former Head of Retail Innovation, eBay Inc.

Excelling in today’s redefined retail industry means putting equal weight on avoiding problems and finding solutions.

The retail customer experience is going to change more in the next five years than the last 20. Scratch that. The last 100. One of my favorite graphics is of two photos I found: a department store in 1910 and a department store in 2014:

What’s changed in 100 years? Color cameras. That’s what. #bam.

Okay, okay ... a bit of hyperbole, but what was once a distant future has become today’s reality. Customers are conditioned every day by smartphones to expect intuitive, robust, and personal experiences. The definition of an engaging, valuable shopping experience has changed.