Bridging Online And Offline Experiences

☕ 3D-Printed Coffee and the Future of Retail Spaces A new Starbucks is opening soon in Brownsville, Texas — but this one isn’t being built the usual way. It’s being 3D printed. Yes, you read that right. Using COBOD’s gantry-style 3D printing technology and PERI 3D Construction’s expertise, this 1,400-square-foot drive-thru is redefining what physical retail architecture can look like — faster, smarter, more sustainable. 🛠️ 3D printing in construction isn’t new, but the retail industry is now catching up. And that changes everything: ➡️ Speed: Buildings can be completed up to 35% faster ➡️ Design freedom: From futuristic facades to custom shapes ➡️ Efficiency: Less material waste, lower carbon footprint ➡️ Scalability: A way to rapidly prototype physical locations Why does this matter for us in retail and POS technology? Because innovation in how we build retail stores will reshape where and how we implement our solutions. Think about: 📍 POS infrastructure in modular or mobile stores 📲 POS systems that adapt to non-traditional layouts ⚙️ (Fiscal) Middleware that works seamlessly regardless of store format Retail is not just about what we sell. It’s where and how we connect with customers. And this Starbucks is a glimpse into that future. 3D printing won't replace traditional retail — but it extends its possibilities. As someone working at the crossroads of retail technology, fiscalization, and innovation, I find this incredibly exciting. ☕ Would you get your next coffee from a 3D-printed café? #RetailTech #3DPrinting #Innovation #POS

The next decade belongs to the retailers who treat their physical stores like websites and their websites like physical experiences Day 2 at Shoptalk Spring 🗽 🎡 🇺🇸 If Day 1 was about the WHAT, Day 2 of Shoptalk Spring was undeniably about the HOW. We moved past the polished keynotes and straight into the plumbing of modern retail. The energy in the halls today shifted from broad curiosity to a more tactical let’s-build-this vibe. AI in-store - more than just a chatbot The conversation around AI has matured significantly. We no longer just talking about generative AI writing product descriptions anymore, we’re talking about AI as the operating system of the physical store. Computer vision & inventory - retailers are using AI-powered cameras to solve the phantom inventory problem in real-time. If a product is misplaced or out of stock, the system alerts a floor associate before the customer even notices. Hyper-personalized stores - imagine digital displays that adjust their messaging based on the demographic flow of the aisle. The co-pilot associate - AI tools that give store employees instant access to deep product knowledge and customer history, turning every staff member into a brand expert. Shout out to my friend Florian Westerdahl for being a trailblazer with Lindex roll-out already in 2024. One of the most fascinating sessions focused on engineering serendipity with leaders from Lowe's Companies, Inc. TikTok and Reformation In a world of search and algorithms, we’ve accidentally killed the joy of discovery. Retailers are now trying to bring back the treasure hunt feel of shopping, but with a digital twist. The anti-algorithm Instead of showing customers exactly what they bought last time, brands are using data to predict adjacent interests - showing them things they didn't know they wanted but will absolutely love. The 2026 consumer - value vs. values New research presented today suggests a widening gap in consumer behavior. We are seeing a "barbell effect where the efficiency seeker wants zero friction, automated replenishment, and the lowest price, while the identity shopper views every purchase as a micro-vote for their personal values (sustainability, ethics, community) The takeaway? If you’re stuck in the middle, you’re invisible. You have to be either the fastest/cheapest or the most meaningful. The C-level chats on main stage provided a masterclass in brand pivots and scaling with the CEO of Victoria’s Secret sharing about their cultural resonance journey. It’s no longer just about selling a product, it’s about maintaining a dialogue with a modern audience that demands inclusivity without sacrificing the aspirational spark of the brand. Home Depot spoke about their heavy focus on the pro-customer. They are doubling down on complex logistics and supply chain tech to ensure that for a contractor, time-is-money isn't just a catchphrase, but a service level agreement. Stay tuned for Day 3 tomorrow #shoptalkspring

𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱, 𝗖𝗿𝗮𝗳𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 I still remember those endless nights in SEPHORA, manually counting thousands of items. That’s why Starbucks’ announcement today resonated so strongly with me. They are rolling out AI-powered automated counting across all their North America coffeehouses: 11k stores. What’s remarkable is the technology mix: 👀 Computer vision to instantly recognize products on shelves. 🔢 3D spatial intelligence to capture placement and quantities. 🪩 Augmented reality overlays guiding partners through the process. 📈 AI analytics that flag low-stock items and will soon automate replenishment orders. The results are striking: ✅ Inventory now counted 8x more frequently. ✅ A process that used to take one hour, now takes minutes. They are reporting a saving of 16,500 hours per week. ✅ Sales people spend less time in the backroom and more time crafting and connecting with customers. Starbucks calls it “technology in the background, craft and connection in the foreground”. And that’s exactly why it matters: technology here is the enabler of efficiency, consistency, and focus on consumer experience. Starbucks is not alone. Walmart with robots scanning shelves, Inditex embedding RFID across its stores, and Amazon Go pioneering frictionless checkout all point to the same truth: the future of retail advantage lies in mastering the invisible backbone of operations. 👉 We’ve moved beyond pilots and “experiments.” AI, AR and computer vision are becoming part of operational infrastructure. Having lived both sides, the manual counts and the promise of automation, I guess this will become the standard for every retailer. #RetailInnovation #AI #AugmentedReality #Operations #CustomerExperience

Get rid of the shop counter. It's so yesterday. The shop counter in retail shops an artefact of another period? What does it achieve now? It creates a literal and psychological divide between staff and shoppers, anchoring interactions to a transactional mindset in a world that now thrives on fluidity, connection, and immersion. The Counter as a Barrier. Counters act as physical roadblocks, distancing staff from customers. Instead of enabling interaction, they reinforce a static, transactional relationship. In quiet moments, a staff member behind a counter can seem unapproachable or disinterested. Modern retail demands a more fluid, mobile, and customer-led experience—something the traditional counter simply doesn’t support. The Rise of Counter-Free Retail, Several leading retailers have already removed the counter entirely and are reaping the benefits: Apple stores are the benchmark example. With no fixed counters, Apple team members roam the floor with mobile POS devices, assisting customers wherever they are. It’s seamless, personal, and entirely focused on the shopper. Nike’s flagship stores (including Nike Rise and Nike House of Innovation) have no traditional counters. Staff are mobile, and many transactions can be completed via the Nike app, in-store kiosks, or roving team members. Decathlon has introduced self-checkout stations in several global markets, minimising fixed counter space. In some pilot stores, staff use mobile checkout devices or tablets to process payments anywhere on the floor. In Australia, JB Hi-Fi and Cotton On have trialled or implemented mobile POS systems in selected stores, reducing counter congestion during peak times and offering checkout wherever the customer is. Mobile Technology Enables Freedom The evolution of mobile point-of-sale and app-based checkout systems means staff no longer need to be chained to a fixed station. Instead, they become guides, curators, and brand storytellers—free to walk the floor, connect with customers, and personalise the experience. Removing the counter also frees up valuable retail space for brand storytelling, immersive displays, or community engagement—much more valuable than a transactional desk. Security and Structure, Reimagined Some argue counters provide control and security. But today, cloud-based POS, biometric authentication, and mobile devices with security protocols make this concern largely outdated. Staff lockers, mobile cash drawers, and discreet backroom setups are smarter, more customer-friendly alternatives. Designing for Connection, Not Control Ultimately, retail is no longer just about efficiency—it’s about emotion, experience, and engagement. The shop counter, once a symbol of control and structure, now works against the very principles that modern retail stands for. The future of retail is not behind a counter—it’s beside the customer. Brian Walker

NEW from me for Modern Retail: The application of artificial intelligence as a customer-facing element of physical stores is far from one-size-fits-all. In February, The Vitamin Shoppe opened an “innovation store” in New York City’s Upper East Side with a “Shoppe Advisor” touch screen. The AI-powered screen provides product information, wellness articles and videos, as well as information on in-store and online inventory. It aims to enable “more informed, interactive conversations throughout the shopping experience,” according to Retail Dive. Last summer, The Guitar Center Company launched Rig Advisor, an AI shopping assistant used by customers on the store floor to explore and compare gear. Customers can scan a QR code in the store and type in a question, and Rig Advisor will recommend products that are in stock at that specific location. Guitar Center CEO Gabe Dalporto told Modern Retail in December that Rig Advisor was built to fill the void when a customer walks into a store and the associates are too busy with other guests to help them. “This is basically everything an associate can do, on your app or on your mobile device,” Dalporto said. These two examples alone show how AI use cases for in-store shopping, in discovery, research and checkout, can vary. Not even considering behind-the-scenes use cases like supply chain tech and employee assistants, retailers are finding all sorts of ways to bring the technology into brick and mortar. These range from big kiosks to mobile app features, audio summaries or computer vision. Story below with Greg Carlucci of Gartner and Melissa Minkow of CI&T. https://lnkd.in/gYJF9CUg

Customer Experience is like an orchestra. The customer does not hear individual instruments. They hear the final performance. Marketing sets the expectation. Sales introduces the promise. Product designs the offer. Operations keeps the rhythm. Technology enables the sound. Service teams handle the difficult notes. Leadership conducts the performance. But if one section is out of sync, the customer feels it. A strong campaign means little if the process is difficult. A great product means little if the explanation is unclear. A digital channel means little if it fails at the moment of need. A fast frontline response means little if the back office delays the outcome. That is why CX cannot depend on one team playing well. The experience works when the whole organisation plays together. Customers may not see the rehearsal. But they know when the experience feels off. And they know when it feels seamless. Great CX is not noise from many departments. It is harmony created by one organisation. When every team plays its part well, the customer hears trust.

It’s been almost a year since we started our experience management journey at Lloyds Banking Group; it’s becoming our design system for CX. We’re about to scale it, so I thought I would reflect on what we’ve learnt over these last 12 months. 1. Your experience hierarchy and journey framework are the backbone of your system. It is the shell that structures experiences at different levels across customer types, products, and channels. You won’t see results until everyone can embrace it. 2. Your hierarchy and framework must work on paper, on a digital whiteboard, and in sophisticated software. There cannot be barriers to entry. 3. This system turns journeys into data products that require structured inputs (like OKRs, analytics, quant and qual research), and structured outputs (like opportunities, propositional bets, and solutions). 4. This, in turn, invites your whole company to align on how you structure and classify metrics, research, opportunities, and solutions cohesively. This is a hard task at enterprise level. 5. This system isn’t a design thing or a CX thing; it’s a real-time outside-in view of how your business is serving customers. It only sticks if product, design, engineering, marketing, operations, etc., all embrace it. This takes a hell of a lot of storytelling and pitching. 6. You can see and feel results such as reduction of siloes and duplication, more efficient delegation of backlog items, and faster design-to-delivery cycles after (approx) 10 end-to-end journeys go live. The language and way of working becomes a domino effect across the organisation, at all levels. 7. This opens the door to conversations about journey-centric operating models— what would that look like, and what would it take? 8. Like a design system, it needs a governance model (and a core team) to create, maintain, and remove components.

Algorithmic Commerce Has Entered the Aisle A small digital screen replaces a paper tag on a shelf inside #Walmart. Then another. Then another. By 2026, it won’t be a pilot. It will be every shelf, across 4,600 stores centrally controlled, instantly updated. At first glance, it feels like a routine upgrade. It isn’t. It’s the moment physical retail begins to behave like software. Every decision of the consumer is carefully studied and dynamically priced . The more customers buy the more we pay. For years, #Amazon has operated in a world where prices are fluid changing millions of times a day, shaped by algorithms reacting to demand, competition, and inventory in real time. Now, that capability is stepping into the aisle. And with it, something fundamental shifts. Price is no longer a number printed and forgotten. It becomes a living signal. A store is no longer a static environment. It becomes a responsive system. Merchandising, supply chain, and demand sensing once separate rhythms start collapsing into a single, continuous loop. This isn’t the first time retail has crossed such a threshold. In the 1980s, Walmart introduced barcode scanning and Retail Link. What looked like operational efficiency quietly rewired power suppliers were no longer guessing; they were exposed to data. Two decades later, Amazon took it further. Pricing wasn’t set it was tested, tuned, and optimized in real time. Airlines followed a similar path. Seats became perishable inventory, priced not by managers but by yield algorithms predicting demand curves down to the hour. And outside retail, we’ve already learned to live with it. Uber or Lyft on a rainy evening ,the same ride costs more. Priority pickup costs even more. Rush hour rewrites the rules. We accepted it slowly, then completely. Now imagine walking into a store where: Milk is priced differently at 6 PM than at 10 PM. A slow moving product quietly discounts itself without human intervention. A competitor’s price drop across the street reflects on the shelf within minutes. This is no longer theoretical. Kroger is already experimenting. Tesco is building the digital backbone. Alibaba, through Freshippo, has blurred the line between online and offline pricing altogether. But the real shift isn’t technological. It’s philosophical. For decades, pricing was a decision : periodic, deliberate, human. Now, it becomes a computation : continuous, automated, systemic. And that raises questions we haven’t fully answered yet. Will customers accept that the price they see now may not be the price five minutes later? At what point does optimization begin to erode trust? And when algorithms decide, who is ultimately accountable? Because in the end, digital price tags aren’t about replacing paper. They are about removing latency. And when latency disappears, so does the comfort of predictability. Retail moves from scheduled decisions to real-time systems. And once that shift happens there is no going back. Wipro

When was the last time your executives met with your customers? Customer Success isn’t a single department’s responsibility—it’s an organizational mindset. The most successful companies I've worked with weave executives and cross-functional leaders into every stage of the customer journey. Your customers don’t just buy from a company. They buy into the people behind it. How are your leaders showing up? Here are a few ways to engage leaders and teams across your org: 🤝 Exec Sponsorship: Assign senior leaders as sponsors for strategic accounts. This creates a direct line of communication for your customers and also gives your execs a front row seat to feedback and the actual customer experience. 🤝 Cross-Functional Business Reviews: Bring leaders from Product, Sales, Ops, etc. into QBRs, EBRs, or key account reviews. Their insights often uncover new growth opportunities or identify gaps in delivery. 🤝 Unified Company Goals and Themes: Align your entire organization around customer-centric metrics like NRR, retention, and customer satisfaction. I'm a big fan of company wide themes that put the customer at the center. When every department is working toward the same outcomes, silos disappear. 🤝 Tiger Teams: Form cross-functional "tiger teams" to tackle specific customer challenges or opportunities. 🤝 Hackathons and Innovation Labs: Engage both customers and internal teams in hackathons to co-create solutions that directly address customer pain points. 🤝 Go-to-Market Collab: Encourage CS, Sales, and Marketing to collab on messaging, events, and campaigns that will resonate best with your customers. 🤝 Customer Advocacy and CABs: Involve execs in customer-facing events like webinars, product launches, or industry panels. Invite them to the customer advisory board meetings. 🤝 Customer Stories in Company Meetings: Incorporate customer stories and voices into company all hands or leadership offsites. Invite a customer to share their journey, successes, and challenges with your teams. Hearing how your product impacts their business helps other teams feel like they are part of something bigger.... How are you engaging executives and cross-functional leaders in your customer journey today? Are there specific strategies or moments where their involvement has made a measurable impact? I'm looking for ideas!!