Shopping on the go has taken several decades to achieve, but today, we’re fully “turned on.” In 1980, WWD offered its readers a special section, titled “Star Tech: New Technology in the New Decade.” The report highlighted research from The National Retail Merchants Association (NRMA) convention in New York on the integration of technology and consumer shopping in the future. On everyone’s mind was how the seismic shift technology would impose on physical shopping. From the mall to mail-order catalog shopping, analysts saw retail’s future blooming right at home. “Shopping is ego intensifying,” they noted, anticipating that computer use for shopping would expand into the home. “On a television channel in the consumer’s home. . .she can have a blue dress in size 13, sent in two days.” By 1986, QVC, founded by Joseph Segel, made that prediction a reality. The report served as a catalyst for today’s seamless relationship between fashion, retail and technology, which has continued to evolve through the transformative power of AI.
