Innovation and developments in technology bring both opportunities and challenges for the retail industry, and Hunton Andrews Kurth has a sophisticated understanding of these issues and how they affect retailers. On January 23, 2020, our cross-disciplinary retail team, composed of over 200 lawyers, released our annual Retail Industry Year in Review. The 2019 edition, Spotlight on Technology, provides an overview and analysis of recent developments impacting retailers, as well as what to expect in 2020 and beyond. Topics discussed include: braille gift cards as the next wave of evolving accessibility litigation; enterprise software licensing audits; the intense FTC oversight of online user-generated reviews and influencer marketing; challenges around skilled immigration for staffing roles in a variety of technologically-driven professions in retail; the increase in retail bankruptcies and the “retail apocalypse”; M&A as an ongoing strategy for navigating growth; upcoming modifications of the FTC’s Made in the USA program; cyber insurance coverage for phishing schemes and coverage for privacy breaches; the intricacies in AI product liability cases; and key retail payment trends such as frictionless payments, mobile payments and the rise of voice commerce.

Read the 2019 Retail Industry Year in Review