Marks & Spencer is launching a ‘digital lab’ to speed retail technology development. This will involve prototyping and developing a range of e-commerce and in-store technologies, as well as digital marketing platforms for employees to use within the organisation. Heikki Haldre, founder and chief executive of virtual fitting room Fits.me looks at the new trend to merge the high street with online.
There are thousands of retail innovations on the market, so it’s very difficult for a retailer to know which ones are going to have a positive impact on sales and on their brand.
It follows that it’s a difficult decision for retailers to bet significant resources and investment on a particular solution without real evidence from some sort of pilot.
Innovators and solution providers should probably look at what M&S is doing here, and think very carefully about making sure their solution is ‘light’ enough, from an implementation point of view, to be tested quickly and easily by this sort of agile evaluation group. It’s most likely the way forward.
By Heikki Haldre
Founder and chief executive of virtual fitting room
Fits.me