Last night my friend Josh Greene from the important retail industry association Shop.org, invited me to their Boston networking dinner. This is a really open and engaging group that are using the Net in the most practical ways - to efficiently sell stuff while growing their corporate brand online and in stores.Special thanks to Stonewall Kitchen and the Wild Maine Blueberry Jam ... New England in a jar!
Interesting paradox - Tracy Palm said that the beautiful ColeHaan.com sells more than any of their 70ish stores, but corporate only allocates 3 people to her staff! What does online have to do to earn more support!?
The Retail Industry is going through the same corporate struggles of "Web Acceptance" as any industry. However, they do have the benefit of all that great instant gratification data from those shopping carts!
For a look at the not so distant future (as soon as retailers realize the intersection of ROI and competitive differentiation), below is Cisco's augmented reality mirror demonstrating some interesting applications ... it's all about the customer!