What will store tech look like over the next 5 years?
With much discussion around stores of the future and after years of underinvestment, many retailers are focusing on store tech again.
With much discussion around stores of the future and after years of underinvestment, many retailers are focusing on store tech again.
For the last 20 years most investments went purely into e-commerce but this is changing for two reasons:
So investment is returning to stores, what are we seeing people focus on? Often it’s a three part roadmap:
1. The utility staples
You’re still going to need your EPOS and still going to need core tools to help the core items of the store. Inventory solutions for order management and solutions to help manage labor (i.e. workforce management) are essential parts of retail today. Those companies who haven’t invested in the most up to date areas are playing some catch-up to integrate these systems into our more data-driven world.
2. Coordinating work
Those with staples in place are now faced with a different problem. With so much data and so many systems, how do you help time-poor Field teams coordinate across all the different potential activities.
Many retailers are now focusing on how they use tools to coordinate work in stores more productively and efficiently. This is an area that is currently highly segmented across multiple areas:
The growing trend retailers are discussing with Quorso is a desire to streamline these across fewer tools (with a vision for an all-in one tool) ensuring that all work is coordinated by data.
There is also a movement on devices used to coordinate work. Away from the desktop computer in the back office towards front-office friendly devices I.e. mobile handhelds or headsets (though we haven’t seen anyone talking about the VisionPro yet).
3. Automating work
The final category is using technology to automate some labor heavy processes. After taking all the potential out of A and B, how can you drive productivity further?
This includes areas like:
All of these are much heavier investments given the capex requirement but can make sense once quicker ROI options are off the table.
What about AI?
Of course AI is being discussed by every board and vendor right now, but the core point is that AI is an enabling technology of one of the three themes above and must be considered in its appropriate use case. E.g. you don’t want to use GenAI to generate more communications if your teams are already overwhelmed by them. But you do want to be using AI and ML to enhance the productivity and efficiency of any tool you are using.