Day by day, week by week, and year by year, retail technology is evolving—faster, it seems, than we can keep up with it.

But the companies that are able to quickly understand retail technology and implement it as smoothly as possible, will stand out in comparison to their peers. Here are some of the retail technologies where competent implementation is ripe for the picking.

AI: Artificial intelligence has several applications across retail, but we’re going to focus on the most prominent and widespread one: generative AI, which has been popularized in recent months through applications such as ChatGPT.

Generative AI uses data to create new content like audio, text, images, and even video. Brands and tech companies that work with retailers have recently introduced generative AI capabilities to provide a more seamless customer experience.

• For example, Google recently launched a virtual try-on tool that uses generative AI to create multiple product images in different sizes and skin tones for women shopping for tops.
• The goal of the tech is to reassure shoppers they’ve purchased an item that they’re confident will fit their body type. In turn, merchants offering the tool stand to keep their return rates lower and land more conversions.

But there are many other applications: A recent McKinsey report found that 75% of generative AI’s value will come in four areas: customer operations, marketing and sales, software engineering, and R&D. Generative AI can also help with customer service, advertising, and turning natural language commands into code.

Keep reading here.—KM

In the constantly changing retail industry, there’s one thing we know for sure: Customers want experiences. They’re looking for exciting, exclusive, and interesting new ways to interact with your brand.

Think text message shopping, in-store events…*anything* to bridge the gap between online and traditional in-store shopping. And Square breaks it all down for you in their Future of Retail Report.

Square teamed up with Wakefield Research to survey 500 US retailers and 2k consumers ages 18 and up for insights on:

• the top retail trends of 2023, from virtual reality experiences to the emergence of the multi-hyphenate retailer
• tools and strategies to help you bring your ideas to life in store

Up your retail game.

After debuting in November 2021, Harry Styles’s quirky beauty and lifestyle brand Pleasing has been on a mission to scale.

Now, the retailer has hired its first-ever CEO: Shaun Kearney, who joins the brand from Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop, where he held the position of chief design and merchandising officer.

“We have a unique opportunity to make a positive impact on people’s lives and expand our product offering through many different lifestyle verticals and multiple channels of business,” Kearney said in a statement.

At Pleasing, Kearney’s responsibilities will range from adding new products to growing its creative community and strategic partnerships.

New boss, who dis? Until now, the retailer has used a collection-focused, drop-style strategy to introduce its products. For instance, it debuted its holiday collection, called Super Magic Family Time, in November 2022 via three pop-up stores in New York, Los Angeles, and London.

Keep reading here.—JS

“Latin America’s importance to worldwide agriculture is immense, and venture-capital investment seems to be catching on,” writes Tech Brew’s Jordan McDonald:

Investment in the industry was up 183% in 2022 compared to 2020, with 153 food-tech and ag-tech companies in Latin America raising funds last year. The categories that received the most funding were “eGrocery” and “cloud retail infrastructure,” which raised $404 million and $270 million, respectively. At the opposite end of the spectrum, farm robotics, mechanization, and equipment only raised $2 million, while the “home and cooking” category pulled in just $1 million.

Read the whole story here on Tech Brew.

Today’s top retail reads.

Signed and delivered: How Amazon is getting local businesses involved in last-mile delivery through its pilot program. (The Atlantic)

Over/under: Why the CEO of Overstock decided to rename all of the company’s e-commerce channels…Bed Bath & Beyond. (Insider)

Loyal to a T: With special discounts, exclusive sales, free samples and of course, an annual birthday gift, Sephora’s loyalty program continues to dominate. (Retail Dive)

Smell that?: It’s the intoxicating scent of laundry luxury. Laundry Sauce partnered with fragrance experts to create the best-smelling laundry pods on the planet. Elevate your everyday and bid adieu to boring laundry.*

Glow-up: From lipstick to deodorant, Gen Z is disrupting the beauty category. Read about it in our latest article, sponsored by LTK.*

^{*This is sponsored advertising content.}

Three of the stories below are real...and one is most definitely not. Can you spot the fake?

1. Pepsi has teamed up with Culinary Institute of America Consulting to create a condiment called “Colachup,” which is basically…Pepsi-infused ketchup. Yum!
2. Panda Express will now deliver its food via a 10-minute drone delivery system no matter where the customer is in the country.
3. New York-based ice cream chain Van Leeuwen is hiring for a role called “Lead Ice Cream Taster,” who gets to suggest ice cream flavors and yes, eat a lot of ice cream.
4. A luxury hotel in Iceland is offering a dinner experience featuring a three-course menu inside an old Icelandic cave that dates back to before Nordic Vikings settled in the area.

Keep reading for the answer.