As the pandemic fades from the spotlight, several cutting-edge technology trends in retail may also be falling by the wayside, Modern Retail reports. Examples: Instagram said that last month it is ending its live shopping feature that lets users tag products in livestreams beginning in March. Around the same time, Walmart announced it was closing its last two pickup-only stores. And several months earlier, Amazon slowed testing of Scout, its home-delivery robot.
Those actions reflect three larger trends taking place in the post-Covid era, Modern Retail concludes:
- Retailers’ live shopping channels could be DOA
- Curbside pickup might get kicked to the curb
- Autonomous robotic delivery remains problematic
So, what’s the takeaway for retailers in all this? “It’s really about making sure that the decisions you make when it comes to technology are brand right,” Insider Intelligence Principal Analyst Suzy Davidkhanian told Modern Retail.
Click here to read the full report.