Retail trends that will gain traction in 2019

Sr. Director, Content Strategy
September 20, 2018
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Staying competitive in the fast-paced world of retail requires business leaders to keep one eye on the future and closely watch the trends that are shaping the dramatic disruption of the industry. But knowing where to focus your energies can be difficult when many so-called trends are simply overhyped. Jason “Retailgeek Goldberg leads the commerce and content practice at Sapient Razorfish and hosts The Jason & Scot Show podcast about ecommerce news. He joined the Retail Gets Real team from the Shop.org 2018 conference in Las Vegas to discuss the key technologies that will gain momentum with retailers, shaping not just the holiday shopping season, but the year to come.

“Potentially, machine learning is a bigger disruption of our industry even than digital was.”

Jason Goldberg
Sapient Razorfish

Artificial intelligence is one of the most talked-about technologies, but one of the least understood. Goldberg predicts that one area of AI that will start to become more realized in 2019 is machine learning, and its impact will be transformative. “Potentially, machine learning is a bigger disruption of our industry even than digital was,” Goldberg says. “And I don’t say that lightly.”

Goldberg says that because AI is a “big, broad, amorphous thing,” it’s not necessarily something you can just implement or turn on; it’s a whole suite of tactics that you can use to create better customer experiences and save time.

To learn more about upcoming retail trends (including Goldberg’s favorite trend, progressive web apps), listen to the full episode.

For more insights from NRF’s Shop.org conference, visit the event recap.

Jen Overstreet is a co-host on NRF’s Retail Gets Real podcast. Meet all the co-hosts and learn more about the show.

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