Six Startup Retail Tech Trends to Watch for in 2017
My 2017 has been off to a hot start. First off, we opened our applications for our 2017 Techstars Retail Accelerator in partnership with Target. Then I was able to attend, or more accurately survive, both CES and the NRF Big Show.
After walking the floors of these events, talking with our corporate partners, and meetings with hundreds of startups, here are some trends I’m seeing for 2017 for retail technology for startups.
#1 — Serious Supply Chain Investment
Target recently announced it will be spending $2.5B on their supply chain in the coming years. Amazon spends $13B annually on R&D and Alibaba is plans to spend $16B on supply chain improvements. These numbers are massive and scream opportunity for supply chain focused startups.
#2 — Voice-enabled Purchasing Will Become Less Weird
Amazon Echo and Google Home were both breakout products in 2016. While at first this voice-based interface seemed weird, consumers quickly saw the benefits of a voice-based operating system. Today, these devices are mostly used to control your home or play music. The holy grail for retailers is turning these devices into commerce platforms. Startups who help existing retailers or e-commerce companies integrate with these emerging platforms could see a lot of opportunities to partner in 2017.
#3 — Integration of AI Into Everything Retail
Artificial Intelligence is the new Mobile for Retail. While most retailers have a “mobile strategy”, they now must contemplate their “A.I. strategy”. A.I. will quickly work its way into almost every facet of retail. I expect to see record levels of investment into A.I startups for retailers. This is both for backend of the retail machine or consumer facing products that help inform consumers to improve conversions.
#4 — Store as a Distribution Center
Brick & mortar stores are uniquely positioned to fulfill same-day orders online. However, this can be a supply chain/logistics/delivery nightmare and most retailers are not ready. This incredibly complex, highly technical problem is ripe for startups to solve.
#5 — Groceries Will Become the Next Hot Area for Membership + Delivery
Consumers buy only two percent of their groceries online. The grocery industry is $700B. Think about that for a second. How many times a week do you visit a grocery store and buy the same items? I bet it is many more times than you research and buy a flat-screen TV. My point is, this is a prime area for disruption. I suspect consumer adoption of online grocery purchasing and delivery will grow.
#6 — Retailer Startup Investment and Acquisitions Will Heat Up
Traditional retailers investment and acquisition activity lags behind other markets. Their are some notable exceptions (see Inspectorio and Jet.com), but I believe this will change in 2017 as more retailers look to the startup market for “outsourced R&D”.
Do you have any other retail startup trends you are tracking this year? Are you a startup looking to disrupt retail? Let’s chat!
Hit me up on Twitter (@rbroshar) or submit your application for Techstars Retail today.
This was originally published on the Techstars’ blog.
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