What Does An "Innovation Lab" Look Like?

By Matt Pillar, chief editor

It’s Q1, the season of innovation in retail. We’re three weeks off the NRF BIG show. The pundits are making their predictions and prognostications on the retail tech breakouts we’ll see in 2015. The buzz is loud, fueled by inspirational expo hall demonstrations and countless media stories about retail “innovation labs.” Home Depot, Lowe’s, Nordstrom, Sears, Staples, Target, and Zappos are among the big brands that have made “innovation lab” headlines in recent months.

Reading their stories leaves me with an image of the James Bond character Q, dressed in a lab coat and presenting a shiny new piece of gadgetry to Tony Hsieh inside some highly-secured, titanium and stainless laboratory buried deep into the side of a mountain.

That’s the impression we’re supposed to get. Well-funded Skunk Works tech labs lend to the corporate mystique, and that’s PR gold.

Meanwhile, many retail executives who attended the show—and many of those who are following post-show coverage—are suffering an inspiration hangover right now. Back in their hometown realities, they’re coveting the glamorous and romantic notion of a tech innovation lab of their own.

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