11.03.06
Retail Innovation
Given the low margin in retail business, it is interesting to see a new wave of technology spending from retailers. Here are some new innovations coming up in the retail space:
- According to business week, a Little Rock marketing company, called EnVision, is deploying a solution in several southern food chains to place ads on the conveyance belt. Essentially, EnVision would print ads on custom-made plastic belts, and find a new way to claim a real estate that was not used effectively before.
- Video surveillance technology seem to be pretty popular these days as a new way to fight “shrinkage” (a word for theft in retail) and inventory management
- RFID on the case level is picking up, item level deployment is still challenging till we solve some the technology shortcomings and pricing issue
- As bandwidth increases in branch office, VoIP deployment is on its way up
- Location based ads printing and coupon offerings to cell phones is definitely picking up interests
