Innovative Technology Providers Push Retail Industry to Embrace the Future

First-of-its-kind ISG Provider Lens™ report looks at retail tech start-ups solving long-standing industry challenges.

A group of small companies is prompting the retail industry to adopt innovative new technologies that are solving long-standing industry challenges, according to a new ISG Provider Lens™ report published by Information Services Group (ISG) , a leading global technology research and advisory firm.

The 2021 ISG Provider Lens™ Retail Digital Innovators Report looks at the technology offerings of 10 small technology providers, with products focused on improving customer experience, making in-store operations more effective, and making the supply chain more transparent.

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“Our new digital innovators report identifies some of the cutting-edge solutions they are, or should be, considering”

The report is the first in a series of “digital innovator” reports planned by ISG that will look at smaller providers—those with annual revenues of less than $100 million and with fewer than 200 employees—that offer groundbreaking technology solutions.

Jan Erik Aase, partner and global leader, ISG Provider Lens Research, said the reports do not offer quadrant and archetype evaluations as other ISG Provider Lens™ reports do, but are intended to spotlight “true innovators that are worthy of our clients’ and our advisors’ attention.”

Aase said in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, retailers are trying to identify areas for placing their digital bets. “Our new digital innovators report identifies some of the cutting-edge solutions they are, or should be, considering,” he said.

Retailers, the report says, are using technology to improve the value proposition of their stores and to complement their e-commerce services. Many are working with tech start-ups to accomplish multiple goals.

One goal of retailers is to enhance in-store customer experience, the report adds. Technologies such as smart carts, in-store personalized or interactive displays and self-checkout digital kiosks are simplifying the buying process. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many retailers to revamp their in-store experiences by allowing shoppers to integrate their personal devices for a near-touchless experience.

The report also sees retailers using groundbreaking technologies to improve the effectiveness of in-store operations. Technologies including out-of-stock detection and computer vision are helping stores deal with low inventories, stop revenue leakage and improve planning. At the same time, product authentication technologies are helping retailers prevent counterfeit products from entering the supply chain.

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Among the featured vendors are ones helping retailers make their supply chains more transparent and agile, the report says. So-called circular commerce solutions help retailers track and trace a product throughout its lifecycle, and supply chain harmonization solutions are enabling retailers to plan and procure inventory faster, thereby reducing overall time-to-market.

In addition, visual artificial intelligence technologies are transforming e-commerce, the report adds. By leveraging computer vision and deep learning algorithms, retailers can achieve faster and more accurate catalog management by replacing the hand-coding of product attributes with AI-assisted tagging. Retailers are also using visual search, digital stylists and similar product recommendation services to improve customer experience and increase sales.

Companies featured in the report are Caper, offering an in-store self-checkout technology; Cooler Screens (in-store digital displays); Entrupy (anti-counterfeit solution); EON Group (circular commerce); Focal Systems (in-store out-of-stock detection); Pixyle (visual AI); SupplyCompass, (supply chain harmonization); Vengo Labs (in-store and standalone digital kiosks); Visenze (visual AI); and Wide Eyes Technologies (visual AI).

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