Digital entrepreneur and Kiddicare founder Scott Weavers-Wright will be sharing his insight into whether UK retailers are taking digital development sufficiently seriously at Retail Week Live.

Augmented reality pod Fashion 3D allows customers to virtually try on clothes, jewellery and other accessories and take photos, accelerating the sales process

How many retailers that fail to evolve using the technological innovations available to them will still be on the high street in five years’ time?

That’s one of the key questions former Kiddicare chief executive Scott Weavers-Wright will be posing to a panel of start-up technology firms when he takes to the Technology Stage on March 13.

“I’m really worried for the state of the high street. Retailers there are not innovating, they’re stuck in today’s market and they’re not looking to the future,” he says.

High street retailers are not innovating, they’re stuck in today’s market and they’re not looking to the future

Scott Weavers-Wright

From the customer journey to supply chain, technological innovation is driving every element of retail forward. As the hot topic of the moment, digital evolution will no doubt underpin the majority of discussions taking place at industry event Retail Week Live. This is not just as an integral part of any retailer’s strategy but as a defining factor that will determine those that will not only survive but leave less dynamic retailers floundering in their wake.

“Most retailers today have an online operation that is pretty separate from the store and some of them have integrated online into their stores via click-and-collect,” says Weavers-Wright. “However, I am genuinely worried that the retailers just aren’t doing enough.”

The entrepreneur is concerned for the future of those businesses that are dragging their heels against the unforgiving tide of digital innovation.

Well positioned to be commentating on the state of play in this area, Weavers-Wright has an extensive ecommerce history, including the transformation of Kiddicare into a multichannel business, and wider leadership credentials when he was managing director of non-food online at Morrisons. In October 2013 he launched new business venture Haatch, which makes investments in promising digital start-ups.

Amazon challenge

With Amazon already an industry leader in areas of ecommerce such as product breadth, consistently replenished stock levels, and delivery and returns, the challenge it poses to other retailers could soon be even greater should it adopt a serious grocery offer in the UK, according to Weavers-Wright. “As a consumer I might ask why I would go elsewhere if I can have my weekly shopping delivered at home on a Thursday as well as my new TV or laptop?”

To help compete with business models such as Amazon, retailers with a high street presence should consider collaborating with third parties on their technology use, urges Weavers-Wright. Such partnership will ensure retailers never have to turn a customer away empty-handed due to out of stocks, he says.

Also likely to contribute to the success of bricks-and-mortar stores is click-and-collect - a service that Weavers-Wright asserts should, by now, be standard. “Click-and-collect is going to evolve a lot more,” he predicts. “It is a differential from the online players. Stores that are desperate for business need click-and-collect. If they haven’t got it now after two or three years of it being pretty much the norm, how are they going to survive another two or three years without such a basic thing?”

Innovation highlights at Retail Week Live

  • East London start-up hub, the Rainmaking Loft, will showcase some of its most dynamic retail-related start-up businesses in a hub at Retail Week Live.
  • Using technology in supply chain evolution to meet changing consumer habits and last-mile expectations will come under the spotlight in a session, sponsored by MetaPack, with Travis Perkins group supply chain director Robin Proctor and House of Fraser executive director of multichannel Andy Harding.
  • Delegates will hear from four of Israel’s most innovative retail start-ups at a breakfast hosted by Retail Week Live, with the economic and trade mission at the Embassy of Israel in London and the UK Israel Tech Hub at the British Embassy in Tel Aviv.

While investing in the next generation of emerging technologies and services is recommended by Weavers-Wright, so too is making a real commitment at board level. The entrepreneur questions why there is a distinct shortage of multichannel directors on retail boards. “Where is the authority and the challenge coming in at board level?” he asks. “The retailers who will be here in five years’ time are the ones that are taking it seriously by having non-executive directors who are actually capable of advising the business in this space.”

Weavers-Wright is also frustrated that companies frequently fail to send board members to important technology events such as the National Retail Federation’s Big Show in New York. “At conferences you often stumble across new technologies that are so good you think, I should be implementing this in my stores,” says Weavers-Wright. “I’m bemused as to why a chief executive of a high street retailer would send his IT person to something like NRF. His IT person would report back but a chief executive would recognise an opportunity and use this new technology to create something they don’t already have.”

Innovative technology is increasingly integral to every element of retail. At Retail Week Live, Weavers-Wright will delve further into the abounding opportunities that technological innovation is creating, unearthing the complex range of challenges and growth potential in this dynamic digital space.

Next-generation technologies on show at Retail Week Live

Data from behind the curtain

For retailers seeking insight into how their customers are behaving in store, Microsoft’s stand at Retail Week Live will be well worth a visit.

In a concept powered by Microsoft and developed by Accenture, delegates will be able to interact with a connected shop fitting room that runs on Windows Embedded and numerous other technologies. RF-tagged clothing feeds information through to a touchscreen digital display positioned inside the fitting room set-up. The system provides the customer with information about the clothes they have selected, and, should the item be unsuitable, allows them to use a drop-down menu on the screen to select a more appropriate size or colour, which is flagged up on a device held by the sales adviser who can retrieve the desired item.

Not only does this technology streamline the shopping experience but the information is stored at the back end of the system too, providing the retailer with marketing-friendly information, including customer preferences and staff responsiveness, empowering retailers to make better merchandising and staffing decisions.

Interactive shopping

AVM Impact has plans to bring not one but three dynamic new technologies to Retail Week Live.

The Holo, designed by Habitat founder Terence Conran, is a substantial piece of diamond-shaped kit that turns products into 360-degree interactive holograms. Gesture controlled, the holograms can be manoeuvred by hand movements.

Retailers will also get a glimpse of another interactive shopping experience tool on the AVM Impact stand in the shape of Fashion 3D, created by Engage with software supplied by Space3D. This augmented reality pod allows customers to virtually try on clothes, jewellery and other accessories and take photos, accelerating the sales process.

Christie MicroTiles will be on show too. Used to create digital display walls or features, these square tiles provide retailers with plenty of display flexibility and can be used to display the likes of advertising and videos.