Articles

Technological advances have had a transformative impact on the retail landscape. Challenges arise with guaranteeing technological changes lead to, rather than detract from, increased efficiency and positive experiences. First, integrating technology into the supply chain in an aggressive way is costly. It requires vast changes to existing systems and developments of cross-industry communication protocols. Secondly, the public is often quick to reject technological changes or slow to become users. Finally, ensuring that technological advancements do not only benefit the top few retailers and are accessible to those of any size poses a challenge, as has been seen in the fate of only a handful of radical changes in retail technology. On the other hand, an integral aspect of technology, particularly that used for big data collection and processing, is that it can account for these and other variables. It can predict the success of ventures into modernizing or developing new systems and can identify more effective and efficient ways to do so. Of course, the concerns of job loss or technological monopoly still loom. But, it would seem, the continued advancement of technology in the retail landscape is inevitable.