Macy's Inc. has outlined its new plans for omnichannel and in-store technology in the coming months.

"Macy's and Bloomingdale’s remain committed to operating at the forefront of innovation, as well as fostering a locally relevant shopping experience in every store. We will continue to test, to learn, and to proceed aggressively with new ideas that excite our customers and that make shopping more convenient and fun. Our goal remains to help our customers shop whenever, wherever and however they prefer, and to use the entire inventory of the company to satisfy demand," said Terry J. Lundgren, Macy's Inc. chairman and chief executive officer. "We are a multifaceted retailer with stores, technology, Internet capability and mobile access that come together for our customers. They are at the center of all our decisions, and our ongoing research and development will continue to help us understand how to personally engage with them."

Here are examples of emerging omnichannel strategy and technology at Macy's Inc., encompassing stores, online and mobile:

• Apple Pay: As announced on Sept. 9, 2014, Macy's and Bloomingdale's stores will be among the first retailers to support the new Apple Pay mobile payment system which will be available beginning this fall on new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus mobile devices, as well as on the newly unveiled Apple Watch.
• Same-day delivery: Macy's and Bloomingdale's this fall will begin piloting same-day delivery of products purchased online at macys.com, bloomingdales.com and on both brands' mobile-enabled websites. Macy's will offer same-day delivery to customers in eight major U.S. markets — Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New Jersey, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle and Washington, D.C. Bloomingdale's will offer same-day delivery to customers in four major markets — Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Jose.
• Buy Online Pickup in Store rollout completed: BOPS, originally piloted in fall 2013, recently completed its rollout to all full-line Macy's and Bloomingdale's store locations nationwide.
• New in-store technology: Macy's is piloting a variety of selling technology innovations at select stores in Georgia and New Jersey. These include a new generation of enhanced handheld point-of-sale devices and tablets. Macy's is testing Connect@Macy’s Centers in selected locations as in-store destinations for online order pickup, with increased associate staffing to help customers with styling advice and products that meet their needs. In pilot stores, customers also can shop Macy's omnichannel assortment via electronic kiosks and large interactive "lookbook" displays, and purchase on mobile devices if they prefer.
• Enhanced shopping apps: Macy's and Bloomingdale's both have launched new mobile shopping apps for iOS and Android. Enhanced navigation allows customers to easily and quickly move between features, reach desired product with fewer clicks, check-out more quickly, as well as the enhanced ability to manage gift registries.
• Macy's Image Search: The company said it has begun deploying new technology concepts created in its San Francisco-based Idea Lab at macys.com and then built quickly in its lean development organization. Among them is Macy's Image Search, an app that allows customers to search the merchandise assortment on macys.com by taking and submitting a photograph of any outfit, accessory or merchandise item they see in daily life. The visual search will take the customer to similar items on macys.com, where they can be purchased. Macy’s Image Search is currently available for iPhone from the Apple App Store, and the functionality will be incorporated into the primary Macy’s app.
• Macy's Wallet/Bloomingdale's Wallet: Macy's and Bloomingdale's have introduced new mobile wallets. The Macy's Wallet and Bloomingdale's Wallet enable shoppers to store and access offers and coupons virtually. The company says the wallet creates a seamless, omnichannel checkout experience for customers enrolled in loyalty rewards programs (Macy's Star Rewards and Bloomingdale's Loyallist), whether in-store, on the go via their mobile devices or at home through desktop interaction. The wallets are already available to customers with profiles on macys.com and/or bloomingdales.com, where shoppers can currently access the functionality via desktop, mobile devices and in-store at point of sale registers nationwide. In November, the company's mobile apps will add the wallet function.
• RFID expansion: The company said it is seeing tangible results from its adoption of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology that began rolling out in 2011. In recent omnichannel pilots in fashion categories — social dresses, men's sportcoats and men's slacks — the company documented RFID's ability to significantly improve sales, gross margins and markdowns by better leveraging inventory counts that are real-time and accurate. Additional rollout of RFID tagging in fashion categories is planned for 2015.
• Shopkick: After a test run last year during the holiday season at Macy's flagships in New York and San Francisco, Macy's said it will expand the use of shopkick's shopBeacon technology to all Macy's stores nationwide. In what the company says will be the largest implementation of iBeacon technology at retail stores to date, more than 4,000 devices, shopBeacons, an enhanced mobile location-based technology built on Apple's iBeacon Bluetooth Low Energy protocol, will be placed within various departments at Macy's locations, allowing for users of the shopkick app to get more personalized department-level deals, discounts, recommendations and rewards. Installation of shopBeacons is expected to be complete by early fall 2014, with activation beginning shortly thereafter. Once live, as shoppers enter any Macy's store, shopBeacon will remind those shopkick app users who’ve opted in to receive notifications to open their app.
• Smart fitting rooms: Bloomingdale's has introduced smart fitting rooms in five store locations — Century City, San Francisco and Palo Alto, California; Short Hills, New Jersey; and Garden City, New York. These fitting rooms have wall-mounted tablets where selling associates and customers are able to scan merchandise items to view other colors and sizes available and, in many cases, see additional product information, product ratings/reviews and recommendations on complementary items to "complete the look." Customers are able to tap a button to call for assistance from a sales associate without leaving the room. This can be a call for general assistance or a specific request for another color or size in items they like. The new Stanford Bloomingdale's store in Palo Alto will be the first to have the new technology in all women's and men's fitting rooms.