Is retail just the land where shelves are stocked with goods, where salespeople appear at your elbow to inquire about your quest to buy? Is retail the purview of the buy button, the screen, and should it be defined as tied to the big screen (laptop) or small screen (smartphone)?
Consider how retail has evolved over the past 20 years, with bricks and mortar facing an existential crisis in terms of small firms versus big-box stores such as Walmart.
Online, of course, has taken a big leg out from under the physical store model, dominated by Amazon and others. The storefront has given way to the virtual storefront, and though the tangible store is not dead, it does need as a model to attract new and fresh footfalls.
Can technology help level the playing field? After all, online retailers have a wealth of data at their keyboards and platforms, as customers spend and these online players can examine what people buy and why they buy it in real time.
Can payments help pave the way? As shoppers strut seamlessly between the physical and digital worlds, what is the role that payments play in removing friction and energizing spend?
Join a panel of experts spanning the traditional to the trendsetting innovators on March 15 to 16, 2017, at the Innovation Project 2017, on the campus of Harvard University, where panel participants will delve into retail, the shape shifting industry that must adapt in order to thrive.
Can you afford to miss the conversation? Check out Innovation Project 2017.
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