EuroCIS, The Leading Trade Fair for Retail Technology, held from 31 May to 2 June 2022 in Halls 9 and 10 of Düsseldorf Exhibition Centre is the international communication forum for innovations and trend themes, especially for technology in the retail trade.
In 2022 the five Hot Topics are:
Customer Centricity
Focus on the customer and his needs. Many retail companies are seeking ever closer direct contact with end consumers/shoppers in order to offer them personalised and individualised digital customer services. The shopper’s smartphone plays a major role in this context. Keywords are digital advice assistants, personalised digital offers based on the individual shopper profile, digital personalised coupons, digital loyalty cards, etc. The smartphone plays a major role in this context. For many retailers, it is crucial that digital services are devised "from the shopper’s point of view".
Analytics
The use of artificial intelligence and machine learning is one of the most important technological challenges for many retail companies in the coming years. Especially in the area of data analysis, machine learning already plays a major role and supports retailers in sales forecasting, assortment management and pricing. In the future, retailers will rely even more on AI-based applications, which will then also use technologies such as image recognition and sensor technology. In the course of the expansion of digital pricing, dynamic pricing, which has been common in online retail for a long time, will gain in importance.
Payment
The Covid pandemic has permanently changed consumer payment behaviour and caused a boom in contactless payment methods. Apple Pay & Co have ensured that many customers have become accustomed to paying by smartphone in a short space of time. In the coming years, the touchpoints at which shoppers pay in bricks-and-mortar retail will move further away from the traditional checkout environment. Scan & Go solutions enable shoppers to pay directly via smartphone app, mobile checkout solutions enable sales staff to make the payment process via tablet or smartphone without customers having to go to the checkout. The merging of payment channels from the online and offline worlds will also increase, so that shoppers will also be able to use online payment methods in physical retail, for example.
Connected Retail
The merging of online and offline retail, often referred to as omnichannel, has received another major boost from the Covid pandemic. Click & Collect services have become the norm for many shoppers, and other services such as Click & Reserve are also becoming increasingly popular. Many retailers have also merged their loyalty systems from the online and offline worlds, giving shoppers a 360-degree view of the purchases they have made. In the future, it will be more essential than ever for every retailer to seamlessly connect digital and brick-and-mortar sales channels.
Seamless Store
Since the launch of AmazonGo, a variety of automated store concepts have developed in which the physical shopping process is largely digitalised. Food and convenience retailers in particular will continue to invest in the further development of such "cashierless" formats in the coming years. This will involve various forms, from Scan & Go and Tap & Go to the use of sensor technology and image recognition. Implementing a seamless store strategy often requires extensive investment in the technological infrastructure. In this context, cloud-based applications are of great importance, as they enable a flexible and quickly scalable implementation of innovative applications.
Trade visitors from retail and wholesale, consumer goods, IT and security industries, online retail, system and experience hospitality as well as financial services and banking will meet international suppliers of highly specialised developments and solutions at EuroCIS, including from the following areas: Omnichannel Management, Business Analytics/Big Data, Payment Systems, IoT (Internet-of-Things), E-Commerce-/E-Business Solutions, ERP/Supply Chain Management, Mobile Solutions & Technologies, Checkout Management, Digital Marketing/Digital Signage Robotics, Workforce Management and Weighing Technologies. Many well-known players have already registered. The exhibitor database is available on www.eurocis-tradefair.com.
The trade fair company ensures visitor safety by means of a comprehensive hygiene and infection protection concept for events at the Düsseldorf location that has already proven its worth during numerous trade fairs and which is constantly being adapted to current circumstances.
The trade fair is open daily from Tuesday, 31 May, to Thursday, 2 June 2022. Tickets to EuroCIS are available online only.
