The 10 most innovative retail companies of 2022

Explore the full 2022 list of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, 528 organizations whose efforts are reshaping their businesses, industries, and the broader culture. We’ve selected the firms making the biggest impact with their initiatives across 52 categories, including the most innovative beauty, design, and style companies.

As the pandemic stretched on, it continued to hurl obstacles at retailers, from worker shortages to new variants that kept consumers from shopping in store. But for some companies, these setbacks sparked creativity, prompting them to come up with solutions that would revolutionize shopping long after COVID-19 is a distant memory.

Startups brought new technology to brick-and-mortar stores. Mashgin’s self-checkout—powered by computer vision that accurately identifies items from any angle, no barcodes required—reduced the need for checkout staff at its more than 550 locations, including hospital cafeterias, airport shops, and stadiums. Wholesale marketplace Faire helped Main Street boutiques get back on their feet (and compete with Amazon) by offering them access to capital and tools for managing their inventory, while Thrilling supported vintage clothing shops by connecting them to online shoppers. GlossGenius helped entrepreneurs quickly launch beauty salons and spas, thanks to software that allows them to focus on increasing bookings and revenue.

Shopping online also got more exciting. Stitch Fix launched a new site called Freestyle that uses the company’s extensive data to create a personalized shopping experience for every customer, pulling together looks from various brands based on that person’s tastes, body type, and budget. Food52 became the definitive site for passionate home cooks, seamlessly blending crowdsourced recipes, stories, a marketplace, and cooking videos. Thanks to LTK, it was easier than ever for us to shop from our favorite influencers’ content. The Fascination created a one-stop shop to explore and purchase from the more than 250 direct-to-consumer brands that have mushroomed over the last decade. And Arrive gave any brand, in any industry, the logistical tools to launch a rental business within their existing website.