Republic Retail: NRF 2023 - Innovation Lab: 10 solutions to make commerce more interactive and efficient

Républik Retail surveyed the innovation lab at Retail's Big Show. Discover our selection of start-ups that bring a little extra to make commerce more interactive and efficient.

Booth.ai uses Generative AI to industrialize the production of visuals

Generative AI is one of the new technologies that will frankly shake up the world of retail. Midjourney is one of the solutions that has caused the most ink to flow and allows from a text - a prompt according to the jargon - to create images. The solution will dig into its databases. In the Innovation Lab, Booth.ai has taken advantage of generative AI to help brands and retailers easily create visuals to showcase their products. The platform has an image library that it will cross-reference with product images. The creation time is thus minimized for the brands and the customers thus have more photos to project themselves.

Byondxr builds virtual stores

The metaverse is one of the strong subjects of NRF. Byondxr is part of this trend and has developed a solution to create virtual stores that allow you to discover products in a more immersive way, without having to use a virtual reality headset. Spring tested this principle last year. Byondxr already works with big names including L'Oréal, which has for example created more than 40 Lancôme Connected Stores in 40 countries.

To create a digital point of sale, brands and retailers can take inspiration from the actual shops they have or completely innovate. Once the "hull" has been defined, it is also necessary to recreate online courses, the aim being to present the products in a new, more playful way. The product sheet must also be redesigned in form and substance. The price of the project will also depend on the number of articles to be made clickable. The end of the customer journey resumes on an e-commerce site logic, with a classic purchase. Byondxr announces about 3 months to create a virtual store.

Squadded facilitates social shopping between consumers

Squadded is a social commerce platform that facilitates exchanges between consumers by mixing live shopping and the social network and allows you to bet on UGC: User Generated Content. This customer-pleasing content helps improve online conversion rates. In the case of Squadded, brands can give the right (or the privilege) to customers who are fans of the brand to become influencers on their site. They then have a turnkey solution to create their live which will be hosted on the brand's website. Customers can watch these videos live or in replay and also subscribe to the ambassadors they like. It is possible to create private or public groups, with 5 people live simultaneously and up to 1000 connections to view the images.

BigThinx turns customers into avatars

To make online shopping more fun, BigThinx allows you to transform customers from photos into avatars. Specifically, two full-length photos and a face photo are needed. Once this operation is done, the customer sees himself walking through the virtual store. But big peculiarity of BigThinx's technology, its avatar try on clothes. A more fun way to discover products.

Tronic switches loyalty programs to NFT

After the metaverse, NFTs are another hot topic at NRF. Tronic has designed a platform for brands to switch their loyalty program to the world of web3 and NFT. The loyalty card is stored in a wallet. The advantage of this solution compared to the classic model is that it is possible to know via the wallet the other NFTs that the customer has and thus to deduce their passions or other brands that they appreciate. Everything is GDPR compatible because there is no personal data on the customer, we are on the token. Tronic also offers a module so that the wallet is also an entry key to the brand's e-commerce site.

Arht Media creates interactive holograms

Arht Media has created a solution to create interactive holograms in minutes. On one side, the person who will become a hologram must stand on a white background with a camera facing him. On the other, there is a sort of box connected to the internet and to a mains socket which reproduces the image in holographic form. The transmission is instantaneous. On the famous holographic receivers, there is a camera and a microphone, which makes it possible to create an interaction and an exchange. This device, which costs $65,000, can be used to organize flagships or even carry out distance training. Arht Media has already installed its solution in Italy and the United States.

Hivery uses AI and data to adapt the assortment locally

Hivery has designed a platform that helps category managers refine their assortments for each store, or by creating clusters of points of sale. To do this, the solution relies on weekly sales histories, product attributes and store planograms. Hivery mixes its three data to identify which items should be put in the point of sale and in what quantities. The system takes into account additional rules to reflect its commercial strategy, such as allowing 30% space for its own brand.

Lisa offers low code social commerce

Lisa, a German start-up that already works with Zalando, has created a solution to add live streaming to an e-commerce site in low code mode. The start-up announces that it has all the possible scenarios in stock in order to facilitate the deployment of this service without over-soliciting the IT Department. Moreover, according to the founders, one of the differentiating points compared to other social commerce solutions is that the customer never leaves the video stream, so as not to lose the relationship with him. A particularly important point when you are on a mobile navigation. Thus, if during a live, the Internet user wants to consult a product sheet, the tool displays the information on the images of the live. Lisa's price breaks down with a monthly license and a variable depending on the volume.

FIT:MATCH creates avatars to help with size choices

FIT:MATCH relies on 3D to help customers find the right product size. The start-up has designed an algorithm that analyzes the images captured with a smartphone and thus generates an avatar. These measurements are then compared to a brand's catalog to offer a size and product recommendation. The start-up announces a 4x higher conversion rate with its solution.

FIT:MATCH is currently conducting a test with Macy's which offers in its lingerie section to discover their bra size. Two scenarios are possible. The operation is done with a seller who holds the smartphone, while the customer is in lingerie. And via FIT:MATCH Self, integrated into the Macy's application, customers can independently create their avatar.

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This article was originally written in French; translations may not be completely accurate. Please read the original story HERE.