On our morning news feeds, we see headlines chock-full of emerging tech that is supposedly changing the game for next-generation retail experiences. Somehow, those hoverboarding delivery robots, Amazon Go checkout knockoffs, and frighteningly accurate computer-vision-powered taco stands are most certainly going to put you out of business. No, not quite . . . not yet.

What we don’t see on the front page are the practical retail investments that are actually driving growth for retailers today. For example, what do Alibaba, Best Buy, ThirdLove, ULTA, and Walmart have in common, you might ask? It’s not VR tools; they are all trailblazers of today’s leading retail technology investments. These companies are succeeding because they are investing in technology to improve customer experience and optimize operational efficiency.

In Forrester’s annual NRF retail executive survey, we identify key technology investment categories. This past year, we found that surveyed digital business leaders are focusing spend on:

  1. Omnichannel
  2. Personalization
  3. Analytics
  4. Digital store technologies
  5. Artificial intelligence

What retail use cases are there today for these technologies? And how can you build a business case for investing in one of these initiatives? Our recent “Trailblazers Of The Top Five Retail Tech Trends” report aims to answer these questions with numerous case study examples for each tech trend. To learn more about the innovative retailers that are seeing results, from buying personalization vendors and allowing customers to test showers in-store to automating copywriting, read our report.