Futuristic stores aim to win back customers

Tomorrow’s retail stores want to take a page from their online rivals by embracing advanced technology, using such real-world store features as helpful robots and interactive mirrors to lure shoppers back from the internet.

Amazon’s new experimental grocery store in Seattle, Washington, will let shoppers buy goods without needing to stop at a checkout line. Sensors track items as customers put them into baskets or return them to the shelf, and the shopper’s Amazon account will automatically be charged.

“Amazon, for good or bad, has been setting the path,” said Robert Hetu, research director at Gartner Research. “Each retailer is going to have to respond in some way. But it’s not one-size-fits-all.”

Kroger, Neiman Marcus and Lowe’s are among the US companies already experimenting with futuristic retail stores. Robots, for instance, could help guide shoppers to the right aisle, while augmented reality apps could help customers see how a particular shade of paint will look in the living room or how they might look in a pair of jeans. Many of these technologies will be unveiled or demonstrated at the C ES gadgets how this week in Las Vegas.

Plenty of retailers have learned through trial and error that technology can’t get too far ahead of shoppers. It has to be easy to use and beneficial to shoppers in some way, whether it’s to save time or money. If retailers get it right, they might succeed in boosting spending at retail stores at a time when consumers increasingly prefer to shop online.

Among the technologies headed to stores are smart shelves, which track shoppers from site to site and lure them with ads targeting what they have purchased before; multilingual robots that can scan shelves for inventory and guide customers to specific products; and interactive mirrors outside fitting rooms that can offer shoppers a 360-degree view of what an outfit looks like.