There are some predictions for next year about technology in retail that are very easy to make. But IT analyst Gartner has been bold with its opinions on how much could change in 2009.

Gartner says that there are still opportunities for retailers to use technology – and particularly mobile phones – to reach customers.

With the discounting going on in stores right now, store opening and refit programmes going on hold, and the shedding of staff being witnessed within retail, it seems obvious that many retailers will cut capital expenditure next year, and IT will be one of the budgets that is reined in.

So it came as little surprise to Retail Week when we received the headline findings of a new retail technology report from Gartner that highlights its expectation that capital expenditures will be cut by as much as 50 per cent by half the world's top ten retailers.

But other findings within the report seem very much more open to debate.

For instance, the report claims that by the end of next year, at least two of the world’s tier one retailers will claim that mobile retailing is influencing at least 20 per cent of their customers' purchases.

So it is advising retailers that they will need to deliver a two-pronged strategy taking into consideration how the physical store is affected by the mobile phone, and how the mobile channel can generate revenue in its own right.

There is no doubt that there is a consumer push in this area, and this will likely accelerate next year after more people receive iPhones and other such mobile web-friendly devices as gifts.

But whether many retailers will have time to draw breath and give this trend any focus in 2009 is another matter.