Posted by Girish Pai
What are the most important things on a retailer's mind? Staying ahead of the curve, with a little help from technology, of course! Up until a few years ago, this meant large capital investments on the part of the retailer. But, things are changing. Start-ups are providing retailers with an affordable way to steer ahead of the competition.
Start-ups provide retailers with two distinct benefits: speed and cost. Today, start-ups are working on exciting solutions. An interested retailer can experiment with these technologies in controlled markets and see what works. Then, there is cost. Some of the innovations, especially in the omni-channel space, require capital and infrastructure. Start-ups are building such solutions on a small scale allowing retailers to leverage these investments in a controlled pilot before determining if there is a business case to do something new on a large scale. For retailers who are trying to leverage their brick and mortar footprint in the omni-channel space, start-ups can provide a way to leverage their store networks, which are closest to the end-consumer as a competitive advantage against the likes of Amazon and AliBaba who are making huge investments in this space.
Continued: http://www.infosysblogs.com/infytalk/2015/01/start-ups_steering_retail.html