Retail Technology Show 2024 Review

Ever wondered what it's like to have a front-row seat at the heart of retail innovation? Sue James and I just stepped off the buzzing floor of the Retail Technology Show, and we're eager to bring you the scoop on the latest trends that are transforming the way we shop. We'll explore the show's explosive growth, the educational value of its workshops, and tackle the omnipresent topic of AI in retail

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:05

Welcome to the Productivity Podcast. Sue James and I return from the Retail Technology Show last week. I think my feet have just about recovered. Are your feet recovered, james?

Speaker 2: 0:18

No, I spent a lot of time standing on our stand talking to clients and kind of new contacts, and there's something about standing still for eight hours just really uses different muscles than you would use, uh, day to day.

Speaker 1: 0:31

so, no, I'm still feeling it actually still feeling it, you see, fine, all back to normal, good, well, um, yeah, it was a week. Today we were kind of heading down to london to set up. Wednesday, thursday was the show um busy, busy. So it was nice to see it full, busy. Good to connect with lots of people we knew clients, partners, um new, new people to talk about productivity. Sue, do you want to kick us off with your kind of takeouts from the show?

Speaker 3: 1:03

every year we've been. So certainly since, um, kind of the covid years, the show's really been growing and it really struck me it's got much bigger. It has filled two halls. So for people who haven't been, it's kind of it started in one and it gradually filled up the other, so I think it's kind of doubled in size. There's a lot more people there.

Speaker 3: 1:22

And the other thing that I think it makes it really good for retailers to attend is I think there's a very good programme of workshops and sessions now. So they have some good speakers, some good sessions. So I think there's lots for people to go and visit. So I think it's a show that's really improved as the years have gone on. So you know, it struck me just how busy it was and kind of you know what a good visit it is and lots of opportunity for networking. The other big thing that struck me was kind of every other stand said AI, and I think there's a real challenge for people to know, kind of, what's that AI really doing for me? So is it something that adds value and does, you know, make a difference, or is it just something that's kind of it's the same old product but somebody's put ai on it and it kind of has connotations of being fancy, and I don't think that's the case anymore and james, your your first visit yeah, my first visit it was um, it was, it was great and I was.

Speaker 2: 2:25

I was taken aback by how big it was. As you said, phil, it filled two halls and you know it was genuinely full of lots of different ideas and so I know you've kind of got some ideas of what categories the different exhibitors fell into. But I think it was a fantastic opportunity to network, as Sue said, and had a lot of really interesting conversations about data and insight with retailers, and I got the sense that there are a lot of retailers who have an appetite to do more with their data because they're aware that they're sitting on quite a lot and want to get more out of it. But I think my other take out was similar to what Sue said around the AI.

Speaker 2: 3:03

Really, I remember a conversation I had with someone a few years ago who said robots are only called robots until they actually work and then they get a proper name. So, for example, everybody has a robot in their house that does their dishes for them, or lots of people do. It's just we call it a dishwasher now that it has a specific task and that it works. And I think AI is at that same stage. Everybody says that there's AI in their product but they can't really talk about how useful it is or a specific job that it does. And as soon as it does a specific job for that company and that product or service, then it will get a name and it will be clear of what it does for people. And it really felt like AI is the buzzword at the moment but it's not necessarily clear what anybody's actually using it for.

Speaker 1: 3:46

Yeah, I agree, and it was probably to a lesser extent the same last year, with those rebadges or the words creeping in ai, stroke, machine learning, um. So yeah, the show's growing. As we said next year, it's moving to the excel second and third of of april 2025. So growing again. I suppose my takeouts this year I think you you mentioned it at the show, sue lots of electronic shelf edge labels this year even more so than last year. Lots of point of sale printing solutions, lots of, I suppose, emerging technology. So not artificial intelligence, but reality, augmented reality.

Speaker 1: 4:31

We've talked about the internet of things for what seems like an eternity now, but starting to to come through, but in a more um, infant state than even AI. So again, lots of people having things on stands or the words there, but not really sure what the user cases are, how it comes to view. Lots on managing data. As you said, james, people seem to have lots of data, whether that be customer data, marketing data, loyalty data, tracking data, lots around kind of security cameras and different uses. I suppose the one thing I was maybe surprised about was there was maybe it's not the right show there wasn't much around shrink from a technology point of view, bearing in mind how much has been in in the news about it being pretty much the biggest thing. Certainly retailers are looking to combat that. Any thoughts on that?

Speaker 3: 5:24

so yeah, you're right, there wasn't uh much about it I don't know there ever has been at that show, so maybe it's a show thing. The thing that, um, I did like seeing on a practical level, though, was, um, kind of the lockers, that and the developments that are happening with lockers for click and collect. So I quite like the things that, the things that we see when we're working with clients, that are their operational challenges. I really love seeing solutions for them. So, yes, it would have been great to see more of a shrink. I think it's really good to see what's happening with lockers so not only that you can have temperature controlled either hot or cool or whatever really simple to use, and the fact that they're coming up with new finance models, because a barrier to part of that has been the capital cost of putting them in, and there's kind of new finance models. So I think that kind of innovation is really interesting for addressing practical problems.

Speaker 1: 6:18

Yeah, no, I agree. And James, any final thoughts? Any other bits that are noteworthy? No, I agree and James, any final thoughts? Any other bits that?

Speaker 2: 6:25

are noteworthy. From my point of view, I think that a lot of the problems that these organisations were solving were similar. It does seem to be kind of, yeah, some themes in what people are offering to retailers. But yeah, as you say, there were some technological solutions to problems that I wasn't sure were really problems or really existed. So it was nice where you got that kind of alignment of clear problem for retailers that I've heard them talking about and solution for them. So yeah, that was nice to see.

Speaker 1: 7:02

Good. So, all in all, all an interesting two days, busy two days. If you came and saw us and said hi, it was great to see you. If you didn't, you can drop us a note and say hi, we'll be there next year because we've rebooked already, excited to see what it looks like in the excel and, clearly, the the expansion. Yet again, so good two days. Feet are just about recovered and we'll look forward to seeing everybody next year. Um, yeah, you can rest your feet now, james, and clearly yours have recovered too. Yep, thanks both thanks, all right thanks bye.