Retailers reinvent themselves with eye on uncertain future

Shopping with the click of a button on a laptop, tablet or smartphone is fast becoming old school. The retail industry is on the cusp of startling new innovations that could change the way Americans shop.

The industry is bubbling with ideas and test runs, from having delivery services that head straight into the kitchen to restock customers’ fridges to apparel stores where you can buy clothes on your smartphone by tapping the glass on the display mirror.

“The real innovation is how they go to market in new ways, and in particular, combine online and offline” experiences, says Tom Robertson, interim director of the Jay H. Baker Retailing Center at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. “I think companies are working very hard on all of that, and in some ways, it’s a great time to be in retailing.” Among the ideas retailers tried on for size this year:

❚ Nordstrom. Instead of sending customers into endless racks of clothes, personal shoppers did the