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Detego unveils 5 key trends for retail technology
24 Dec '17
3 min read
Detego, the UK software company behind various Internet of Things (IoT) and AI initiatives in fashion retail, including RFID based merchandise management and digitally connected “smart fitting rooms” capable of making recommendations to shoppers, has unveiled five defining key trends that will earmark the retail technology scene in 2018 and beyond.
These range from further adoption of the IoT in everyday retail practices to rising investments in augmented reality and AI powered chatbots that will change the way people shop and interact with stores in future.
The first trend is personalisation. The digital engagement of consumers, both online and in stores, facilitates the compilation of more and more information on customers, their behaviour, tastes and preferences. But making sense of all this data, coupled with the desire for increased levels of personalisation in retail, means there’ll be a greater dependency on analytical and self-learning systems in future.
The second trend is chatbots. Interacting with customers and offering personalised services will bring AI powered chatbots onto the sales floor, meaning that consumers can get rapid assistance for general enquiries directly on their smartphone. In the not too distant future, it will be common practice to pull out your phone and ask a question as you enter a store, rather than seeking out a sales assistant or searching through the rails yourself.
Detego predicts the third trend as IoT. Just as smart devices are being increasingly adopted in homes, so will IoT technology make more of a mark in retail. The use of sensors and tags on every item will mean that retailers can more accurately monitor the movement of goods and improve inventory management and achieve efficiencies rarely seen before.
The fourth trend is augmented reality. We’ve already started to see some retailers using augmented reality to engage customers emotionally and enrich their experience of a brand. Augmented reality combined with “location based” services is also making headway by, for instance, allowing retailers to push their locations onto the user’s smartphone using a 3D map; or helping customers find stores or particular items they are looking for in the right size and colour.
Detego unveils the next trend as open platforms. Retail IT landscapes of the future need to be as flexible as consumers are. To compete, retail companies must transition their IT systems to open platforms that enable rapid deployment of new solutions and make use of on-demand cloud services to create outstanding customer experiences. Open platforms will allow retailers to combine in-house software with third-party applications as well as to switch services on or off, as and when required. This makes business innovation easier, faster and less expensive. (GK)
These range from further adoption of the IoT in everyday retail practices to rising investments in augmented reality and AI powered chatbots that will change the way people shop and interact with stores in future.
The first trend is personalisation. The digital engagement of consumers, both online and in stores, facilitates the compilation of more and more information on customers, their behaviour, tastes and preferences. But making sense of all this data, coupled with the desire for increased levels of personalisation in retail, means there’ll be a greater dependency on analytical and self-learning systems in future.
The second trend is chatbots. Interacting with customers and offering personalised services will bring AI powered chatbots onto the sales floor, meaning that consumers can get rapid assistance for general enquiries directly on their smartphone. In the not too distant future, it will be common practice to pull out your phone and ask a question as you enter a store, rather than seeking out a sales assistant or searching through the rails yourself.
Detego predicts the third trend as IoT. Just as smart devices are being increasingly adopted in homes, so will IoT technology make more of a mark in retail. The use of sensors and tags on every item will mean that retailers can more accurately monitor the movement of goods and improve inventory management and achieve efficiencies rarely seen before.
The fourth trend is augmented reality. We’ve already started to see some retailers using augmented reality to engage customers emotionally and enrich their experience of a brand. Augmented reality combined with “location based” services is also making headway by, for instance, allowing retailers to push their locations onto the user’s smartphone using a 3D map; or helping customers find stores or particular items they are looking for in the right size and colour.
Detego unveils the next trend as open platforms. Retail IT landscapes of the future need to be as flexible as consumers are. To compete, retail companies must transition their IT systems to open platforms that enable rapid deployment of new solutions and make use of on-demand cloud services to create outstanding customer experiences. Open platforms will allow retailers to combine in-house software with third-party applications as well as to switch services on or off, as and when required. This makes business innovation easier, faster and less expensive. (GK)
Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India
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