“Technology Never Sleeps” was this year’s theme at EuroCIS in Düsseldorf, Germany, highlighting how an “always on” approach to retail technology is now critical for everything from retail barcode scanners to mobile payments and shelf technology.
This is the biggest trade fair for retail technology in Europe and this year’s event had 482 exhibitors from 39 countries and more than 13,000 attendees (from 94 countries) focused on the latest retail trends in omnichannel, self-checkout, artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT).
IoT – Internet of Things is a growing topic in retail. From “smart shelves” and digital mirrors to connected packaging, we are seeing many developments in this space. As IoT and AI improve data quality and insights for retailers, they can bring great benefits via personalized services for customers.
Robotics - As was evident at NRF 2019, robotics is an emerging trend across the globe. At EuroCIS we saw many exciting robot companies that can be equipped with camera vision or work with RFID technology to take stock autonomously. These robots can also be used as a shopping assistant, helping customers navigate the store and find items.
Cashierless Checkout and Seamless Shopping – The checkout process today can take many forms to serve the various needs of customers. For convenience store shoppers we see various self-checkout solutions, as well as “grab & go” solutions (for example in the AiFi NanoStore, using camera vision and AI).
For traditional grocery retailers, mobile self-scanning is growing in popularity across Europe, in particular with solution providers such as Re-Vision or Scandit.
Digimarc’s Dave Wheat was at EuroCIS highlighting how Digimarc Barcode provides seamless checkout for retailers. © Microsoft Deutschland GmbH
Overall the European retail industry is developing a strong customer focus while maintaining optimized cost efficiencies. Thanks to many technological solutions, these business goals are no longer in opposition. And according to a study from EHI Retail Institute retailers are planning to invest in their IT infrastructure, in order to profit from these new retail technologies.
The study shows 64% of retailers plan to invest in their IT infrastructure, 53% in their inventory management system and 36% in their hardware and software for checkout. The retailers acknowledge they need to lay an up-to-date foundation on which to build innovative customer services operations, strong omnichannel offerings and gain from efficiencies in supply chain and store operations.
The Digimarc Germany team was at EuroCIS in the Microsoft booth demonstrating its Smart Store Associate solution in conjunction with the Microsoft Surface Go. Find out more about Digimarc Barcode for retail.
Share this Blog
