THE INFLUENCE OF INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES ON TRADE DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to assess the impact of innovation on the development of trade and identify trends in offline outlets. The history of trade reflects a continuous march of technological innovation. The article argues that trade enters a new section, where information and data flows are decisive, as well as technological changes that change the industry's value chains. Trade flows are shaped by many forces (including trade policy), changes in the nature and location of consumer demand, and differences in the cost of labor and other resources depending on the geographical region. Another critical but underestimated driver of trade flows is technology. Advanced trade technologies and marketing, various information, technical, and technological innovation development projects, which radically change the traditional idea of trade business, are actively entering the trade industry. The focus is on innovation. The future of world trade will be driven primarily by Internet-related innovations, including the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, 3D printing, and blockchain technology. The article presents statistics on the development of electronic, retail, and wholesale trade. There are also examples of trade and technological innovations and their impact on retail. Examples are considered, and their advantages and risks in use both for buyers and the trading enterprises are resulted. The future of retail trade was assessed, and trends of offline outlets were presented. Augmented reality, robots, electronic price tags, cash registers, NFC technology, and the SoLoMo concept, delivery services, supermarket transformation - this is the future that is already here. The result of the study was that automation and the growth of artificial intelligence are changing trade flows. The determining factors are the workforce's skills, the quality of infrastructure, and access to resources. The authors identify the benefits and risks of each innovation, present their potential impact. These innovations require significant funds for their implementation, especially for robots, electronic price tags, and SmartCart. Also, the older generation is not yet ready for the SoLoMo concept, as most of them do not use smartphones and do not have access to the Internet. Another risk to pay attention to is high-cost repairs in case of technology failure. However, these technologies are being introduced rapidly, and outlets are trying to reduce these risks.