Footwear Insight

A lthough some Wall Street experts have soured and become skeptical over the hype around Artificial Intelligence (AI), more retailers are turning to technology to improve the in- store experience for customers and the communication level among staff. Modern Shoe's Nettleton says the store's new foot scanner, which replaced one that was installed in 2009, has been beneficial to its business. Meanwhile, abbadabba's has made strides in upgrading its barcode scanner technology to enhance the efficiency and accuracy of its inventory systems and reducing costs. And the retailer has streamlined communication among its employees with tools such as Slack, retail training academies and Google docs. "ese platforms facilitate real-time, paperless communication and allow us to ensure that critical information is promptly delivered and acknowledged," Nix says. "is approach not only enhances operational efficiency but also ensures that our stores are well- informed about product details." An area that doesn't fall into the tech bucket but could greatly benefit costs for retailers is the recent Supreme Court ruling allowing a legal challenge to debit card swipe fees to move forward. e lawsuit challenges a Federal Reserve cap on debit card swipe fees that took effect in 2011. In 2023, the Fed proposed lowering the per transaction fee cap to 14.4 cents plus .04 percent for fraud loss and 1.3 cents for fraud prevention. e NRF has said the fraud prevention fee should be eliminated since the 2015 adoption of EMV chip cards shied fraud costs to merchants. n footwearinsight.com July/August 2022 ~ Footwear Insight • 17 TOPIC 3 EMBRACING TECHNOLOGY TO IMPROVE A STORE'S METRICS More retailers are turning to technology to improve the in- store experience for customers and the communication level among staff.

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