VR and AI Wizardry Can't Help Stores Struggling to Nail Down the Basics
- Recent stumbles are due to discounting errors, poor locations
- Industry officials set to convene on New York for annual event
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Across three floors of Manhattan’s Javits convention center, about 37,000 retail-industry professionals will come together this weekend to “revolutionize” the shopping experience with virtual reality, artificial intelligence and facial recognition.
But after this week’s series of lackluster holiday sales reports, retailers might want to ditch the VR goggles and focus instead on the stark reality that many aren’t even getting the basics right. A selloff in retail stocks Thursday showed just how much pressure companies are under to compete in a digital world, and how little margin for error they have.