IT bosses in retail are used to working in a state of flux, and the technology landscape continues to throw up challenges to keep them busy.

IT bosses in retail are used to working in a state of flux, and the technology landscape continues to throw up challenges to keep them busy. Mobile payments, for instance, have been on the horizon for years, but that hasn’t made rolling out a mobile payment service any easier. The market is busy and sometimes confusing – choosing which service to invest in is difficult. We look at who’s doing what in the market, the main players and what motivates them to seek a slice of the mobile payments pie.

As mobile continues its fast pace of development, so does cloud technology. It has made two of the world’s biggest retailers – Amazon and Apple – bona fide technology suppliers to consumers and in Amazon’s case, to other retailers. We discuss why winning the cloud battle is so important and who might triumph.

The development of the multichannel environment is driving many of the changes affecting retail, including the focus on in-store technology. Cross-channel retailing is changing the role of stores, as bricks-and-mortar retailers use IT to help them face the threat of pure-play etailers. From kiosks to Wi-Fi, we look at how stores can be equipped with an arsenal of technology to encourage shoppers to buy there and then, instead of later on their computers or via their mobile phones from Amazon and its ilk. Meanwhile, we discuss the development of self-service tills. Are they doing what they were designed to do? Do customers love or hate them, and are they fit for purpose?

The challenges don’t stop at in-store technology either. Competition online is just as tough, and retailers must work hard to stand out. Good quality digital content is a crucial part of doing this – from conversion of sales to customer engagement – it’s a core part of trading online. We look into how to do it. Encompassing everything from excellent imagery to videos and the facilitation of online discussion, the IT department is now involved in areas that five years ago would have been hard to predict. We ask who does digital content best, and why it matters.

  • Rebecca Thomson, Supplement Editor