The future of Retail is here - in Dublin - Fujitsu UK & Ireland Blog

Published on November 2, 2018 in Retail • Innovation

A new wave of retail operations is emerging online, and we’ve gathered all of the solutions into one space, in Dublin. We’ve created a centre that brings to life real solutions and services in a more realistic environment and we’ve called it the Connected Retail Experience Centre.

The centre features live demos of 13 different technologies that retailers can employ to improve their business, enabling connected retail experiences.

Photo of the Connected Retail Experience Centre

Online for some time now has become the destination of choice for consumers looking for convenience, flexibility and a seamless shopping experience – from the comfort of their home or at the touch of a button while on the go. This has without a doubt impacted on consumer’s expectations of traditional high street retailers, demanding an in-store experience that matches that of online.

But is this even possible?

In order for high street retailers to remain competitive and appealing to consumers, they’ve needed to reinvent themselves and embrace digital transformation. They must become agile, reliable and flexible, and offer the technology that will give customers a reason to visit the ‘traditional’ shop floor over ‘logging on’.

Bricks and mortar retailers need to think outside the box when it comes to creating heightened experiences for customers and deploy digital capabilities and in-store infrastructure that meets customers’ changing needs and demands – ensuring every store visit is an ‘experience’.

Fujitsu’s recent Technology in a Transforming Ireland report echoes the rapid change that technology is having on the retail sector. The report found that for Irish consumers, when it comes to Retail, Augmented Reality (51%) and Virtual Reality (21%) are having the most impact on the sector.

Together with customers and partners, we are shaping a world where everyone, everywhere is empowered with digital technology. We call it Human Centric Innovation.

In Retail, this means combining all that customers love about online shopping and bringing it to the shop floor in a way that is new, exciting and addresses the stresses customers usually associate with the shop floor – queues, finding the right items and picking the right sizes amongst others.

Since the findings of this report Fujitsu Ireland has developed the Connected Retail Experience Centre. The centre brings to life the future of the bricks and mortar retail experience for customers – from all in one point of service and virtual in-store queue management to facial recognition technology and digitised ‘connected’ fitting rooms. All these innovations have the clear goal of enhancing the customer’s experience and improving the in-store retail technology experience.

Change is inevitable in this sector. Irish customers, however, are relatively comfortable with this, as 38% said that they would be happy to be served at the supermarket by a robot.

The ‘what’ for consumers hasn’t changed – they want great choice, quality and service – but the ’how’ is an ever-changing and developing battleground for retailers and the team at Fujitsu.

Find out more about the Connected Retail Experience Centre on our website.

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