Retail Innovation Shout Out: Gap to Introduce Clothing Vending Machines

When was the last time you walked into a brick and mortar retail store without doing some online research either before, or after your visit? Today’s retail consumers lead busy lives. As technology continues to improve, so does the number of innovative ways to shop outside of a physical retail location. Brick and mortar retailers are seeing less and less foot traffic each year. Once bustling malls are slowly being replaced with online reviews and free shipping. In this type of environment retailers must, in a sense, “innovate or die”. Gap CEO Art Peck recognizes this and is taking innovative leaps towards the future to ensure that Gap stays relevant.

In a recent interview, Peck outlined his “Retail 3.0” strategy in which mobile technology and innovation will lead the way to the future. Gap is embracing technology, mentioning the use of radio-tagged clothing and even the development of a vending machine that will dispense your clothing. While the exact path towards these innovation solutions is not perfectly linear at the moment, Gap is taking major strides to ensure that technology and innovation is a top focus. Within Peck’s “Retail 3.0” strategy, Gap also plans to adopt a rapid prototyping model for new technology and improvements by using customer and salesperson feedback.

These rapid and iterative changes will allow Gap to react and adapt to the continuously changing brick and mortar environment. Gap’s efforts to elevate the current status quo within the retail space leave us very excited to see what the future of in-store retail will look like.

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