Retail and Technology

Changes in technology have also affected the business environment (not just the social aspect). I work in retail, and they have begun to introduce the iPad into some stores as a trial experiment to replace our much outdated signing devices. I have noticed that other retail stores, such as Kohl's, have digital signs instead of paper signs. As one who knows how annoying changing paper signs are, I feel this advancement would make things so much faster. Whereas this store has already implemented this change, my store has only begun to talk about it. Change is very slow in coming, and this is what will make the difference between a successful company and an unsuccessful one. Being quick to change was not a skill-set businesses in the past had to really worry about too much, but in this new era of change, a slow-moving company may be left behind. I feel what makes a company successful is by setting trends, not following them. Ipads are expensive, and that is money that could be used to update other areas of our store, such as using digital signing, replacing our old registers with newer ones, or replacing our signing devices with something less expensive and more durable—because it won't be long before the iPad is “out”.