In talks with BT Expedite speakers

With the much anticipated and developed Retail Technology Expo underway, FashionUnited caught up with Kevin Burns and Geoff Barraclough who will be speaking and presenting an integral new showcase from BT Expedite, entitled

'The Future of Retail- Lighting up the High Street.'

This BT's first year at Retail Expo? Why did you decide the time was right for you to showcase here?
A number of BT’s employees attended and presented at the show last year and we were impressed with both the setting and the attendance. In addition this show appears to have filled the gap left by the Retail Solutions show. We've built a fantastic showcase specifically designed to show retailers how all the latest technology can help them delight their customers. We're delighted to have the chance to bring the Showcase to London which includes drawing demos from BT’s Adastral Park in Ipswich one of the biggest Research and Development centres in the world.

With a focus on the 'high street' - how do you think the recent advance in technology in retail has affected the high street in general?
New technology cannot revive the high street but it can help those retailers who are doing well to do better. High speed networks enable real time data updates and combined with ODC can reduce TCO; Wi-Fi in-store can help to unlock better service with assisted selling and greater product information being delivered to the shop floor; integration between channels can help to drive customers in to stores (with Click and Collect) which gives the retailer the chance to up-sell...for compliance the implementation of Point to Point Encryption (P2PE) solutions should reduce the complexities and on-going burden...

Shops do have a future but they will be more about experience and service and less about transactions. Think about the store as a forward distribution centre located near your customers and you can see how it can allow retailers to offer much more flexible fulfilment options.

How do you think high street retailers need to better utilise current technologies?
Data consolidation, Unified CRM / customer information and Social media integration – find new channels to engage with customers and transact in a recession. Savvy retailers are maximising the return on their existing assets - people, stock and customers. Motivated staff armed with the latest product information and able to engage with customers on the shop floor will be retailers’ greatest asset. Mobile infrastructure such as Wi-Fi and iPads will be essential but retailers also need to invest in CRM/clienteling, mobilising EPOS and flexible delivery options.

Can you give me a bit of insight as what we can expect from your Expo showcase and what the personalised tours will offer?
Our 'The Future of Retail – Lighting Up the High Street' showcase at the event will be crammed full of the very latest retail technology, from digital signage and social commerce to clienteling and mobile point of sale. The demos we will be featuring along with some of our partners include the following (please also see attached demo guide for full descriptions)

1.       Virtual mannequin (MediaZest)
2.       Video Business Intelligence™ (Verint)
3.       Clienteling
4.       Mobile point of sale iPad
5.       Supply chain solutions (multichannel, merchandising, sourcing, wholesale, PLM and planning)
6.       FrescaCommerce - next generation e-commerce (BT Fresca)
7.       FrescaCommerce - multichannel and international e-commerce
8.       Prosperity - helping retailers go international
9.       BT Connect IQ eValuator - more intelligent networks
10.   Data networks for retailers - real-time management
11.   Near field communications - contactless marketing (Proxama)
12.   Digital signage - The Smart Screen™ - messages based on demographics (TruMedia)
13.   Wi-fi - BT Openzone
14.   Digital signage – interactive, microtiles and video walls (Symon Dacon)
15.   Transparent digital displays - PrimaSee™, translucent digital display (StrataCache)
 

The personal tour includes taking pre-booked retailers on a tour of the relevant demos listed above as sighted during tour booking follow up call, where the retailer would have outlined their key business interests, issues, challenges and where we would have recommended which demos they should see. Each pre-booked retailer will be introduced to a BT Showcase Host on the stand who will then guide them through the demos that best suit their needs.

Who do you think can best benefit from your showcase/who are you most targeting?
Our technology showcase is best suited to multiple retailers, who have plans to grow and implement a multichannel element in the near future; that is retailers with 35+ stores or have 100+ tills and sales of £25m+ pa or have aspirations to sell £2m+ online.  So we have aimed for the pre-booked tours to be for retailers of this shape/size.

How do you see the future of retail?
Reduced high street presence by most retailers; greater reliance on other channels which tend to have lower costs, fewer bricks and mortar start-ups and more online only retailers emerging. And more collaboration between retailers on innovation,  greater adoption of Wi-Fi in store for IT, and for customers, more implementations using fewer tills, replaced with tablets (or similar). International expansion – test using online and then strategic physical stores based upon customer adoption. Greater diversity on payment options and merge of payments between channels and continued growth of mCommerce, as well as more intimate (mid to high end) or more disposable (low end).