This article is courtesy of Techstars, the best global ecosystem for entrepreneurs to bring new technologies to market. From inspiration to IPO, Techstars empowers the world's most promising entrepreneurs throughout their lifelong journey by providing a global ecosystem made up of tens of thousands of community leaders, founders, mentors, investors, and corporate partners. More consumers are getting used to purchasing their items online, through voice activation or on their smartphone. But there are more solutions that need to happen in retail and startups are starting to respond. After walking the floors of CES and other events, talking with our corporate partners, and meetings with hundreds of startups, here are some trends I'm seeing for 2017 for retail technology for startups.

Amazon's Alexa can be used for a variety of home tasks, but could it make your phone calls? Recode reports that Amazon is developing Alexa-based devices that would have the ability to be used as a phone-like intercom. The devices are still in beta and details on functionality -- for example, how the devices would pair with phones -- are unclear, but Recode says an announcement will be coming in the next few months. While details on the new devices remain scant, they fit into Amazon's teased and stated goals for Alexa and the Echo as a platform. Thanks to devices like the Echo and Echo Dot, Amazon has gotten the virtual assistant into homes and made its use more intuitive, but the online retailer's next planned steps are to integrate it more into your daily routine.

Amazon.com has launched a new program to help students build capabilities into its voice-controlled assistant Alexa, the company told Reuters, the latest move by a technology firm to nurture ideas and talent in artificial intelligence research. The e-commerce company said it is paying for a year-long doctoral fellowship at four universities for an undisclosed sum. Working with professors, the Alexa Fund Fellows will help students tackle complex technology problems in class on Alexa, like how to convert text to speech or process conversation. Amazon (amzn), Alphabet Inc's Google (goog) and others are locked in a race to develop and monetize artificial intelligence. Unlike some rivals, Amazon has made it easy for third-party developers to create skills for Alexa so it can get better faster--a tactic it now is extending to the classroom.

The writer William Gibson once said that the future is here, just not evenly distributed. That was the case with the World Wide Web 20 years ago, when some business models – notably e-commerce and new media – took off faster than others. Now a similar trend is happening with artificial intelligence, or AI. The promise of AI has seemingly been just on the horizon for years, with little evidence of change in the lives of most consumers. A few years ago, buzzwords like "big data" hinted at the potential, but ending up generating little actual impact.

Gartner says 85% of customer interactions will be managed without a human by 2018. The prognostications of analysts are to be taken with a pinch of salt, but those working in the eCommerce field are hardly less enthusiastic. "Online retailers are scrambling to partner with or adopt new AI technologies to help facilitate customer interaction to try and match and even surpass the typical in-store experience" Let's have a look at two of the ways eCommerce merchants are already using AI to augment the experience of both retailers and their customers.

I've perfected a method over the years for preparing for a grocery store run. I carefully open up the fridge and scan through it several times, letting out most of the cold air. I then do a similar exercise with a few other cabinets in the kitchen. Even though I've tried different mobile apps in an effort get more organized, I have yet to improve upon this simple paper method. Given that I love technology, I'm convinced there's a better way to stock my shelves, but haven't seen the right solution yet.

Machine learning is quietly spreading into every aspect of our lives. Perhaps it is not quite yet completely common, but it is definitely becoming more noticeable. From recommendations by online retailers to better, less congested routes to familiar destinations, it is starting to make our lives easier. At the same time, of course, we are starting to rely on it more and more to help us organise our complicated lives, and live smarter. One really big change has been from products to services.

Cafe X's robot barista serves coffee in San Francisco. One of the biggest problems in retail today is what to do with the brick-and-mortar store. Retailers have in some ways painted themselves into a corner: the one thing stores have that really could make them stand out from online is employees – except that most retailers have taken too many employees out of stores, leaving customers to fend for themselves. If no one is in the store to help you, why bother coming to the store at all, when you can feasibly get a better experience at home on your computer, or even more ironically, on your phone in the parking lot? The question retailers now face is, do they add labor back into stores? Do they, even, add more labor into stores to offer differentiating service that can never be met by online?

This piece follows an earlier story about artificial intelligence in retail. Yesterday, he was your typical helpful retail employee. Tomorrow, he may be John Henry. Henry is the American legend who, with his bare hands, outperformed a steam-powered railroad drill in a contest that pitted man against machine. Today that drill is artificial intelligence, and instead of digging, it's selling. Whether Chad and artificial intelligence (AI) have to compete, however, is a question for retail.

Cafe X's robot barista serves coffee in San Francisco. One of the biggest problems in retail today is what to do with the brick and mortar store. Retailers have in some ways painted themselves into a corner: the one thing stores have that really could make them stand out from online is employees – except that most retailers have taken too many employees out of stores, leaving customers to fend for themselves. If no one is in the store to help you, why bother coming to the store at all, when you can feasibly get a better experience at home on your computer, or even more ironically, on your phone in the parking lot? The question retailers now face is, do they add labor back into stores? Do they, even, add more labor into stores to offer differentiating service that can never be met by online?