2/27 Future of Shopping: Retailers Explore 3D Printers, Flashy Tech

Future of Shopping: Retailers Explore 3D Printers, Flashy Tech

The centerpiece of Intel’s booth at the recent National Retail Federation Show in New York City was undoubtedly the massive Mach 2XS commercial printer by Japanese manufacturer Shima Seiki.

At nearly 3 meters wide and 1.37 meters tall, the printer was hard to miss. The small crowd that had gathered around it though, was more interested in what was being printed — row by row, the knitted lines of a sweater were coming together and gradually being “printed” out.

“What we’re able to do is print a garment in 45 minutes that’s exactly tailored just to you, the fabrics, the styles and everything you like,” said Ryan Parker, general manager of responsive retail at Intel. The printer and technology behind it were one of several offerings made by Intel to retailers.

Brick and mortar

As more and more consumers shop online and opt for virtual carts over physical ones, retailers are considering flashy technologies like 3D printing and virtual reality to entice them back into brick-and-mortar stores.

A recent study conducted by the IBM Institute for Business Value and the National Retail Federation found that 67 percent of those ages 13 to 21 shop in a physical store most of the time despite being the first digitally native generation, having grown up after the advent of cellphones and mobile devices.

Even customer service robots are part of the future of shopping.

Duy Huynh, CEO of New York-based startup Autonomous, displayed two fully autonomous telepresence robots in a mockup store.

“Customer experience is still a very, very important problem to solve in retail today,” Huynh said, citing subpar experiences at major retail hardware chains as examples. “I don’t have the support that I want or they don’t have enough staff to support me. Or they have staff, but who don’t have knowledge about the product I want.”

Autonomous robots working in a hardware store could be manned by representatives anywhere who have expertise in specific areas like plumbing or electrical wiring.