Happy spring! I always celebrate spring's arrival by getting my hair cut and buying some new clothes, and boy do I need them after slaving away to write my latest report, "The Retail Point-Of-Service Transformation."

This report has taken me a long time to write. Why? There's a ton of stuff going on in store technology, and we conducted in-depth interviews with more than 30 retailers (thank you for your time!) and more than 35 technology vendors and service providers. From all this effort, I have a new phrase: Retail Technovation.

Since people began trading goods through barter systems, merchants have continuously tried to innovate their selling spaces ¿ their tents, their bazaars, their strip malls, and their stores. But in the past few years, as technology has become a more critical aspect of every retail model (except maybe barter), many retailers now approach store renovations with technology foremost in their minds. Hence the new phrase.

So what's hottest in retail technovation?

1. POS upgrades. Not surprisingly, retailers worldwide are upgrading core POS systems in response to multichannel pressures and financial institution requirements. But it's getting easier, due to declining technology costs (thanks to Dell and HP) and broad adoption of open standards (thanks to NRF-ARTS committee).

2. Kiosks. Believe it or not, I got a huge laugh from a crowd recently by saying version 1.0 kiosks stink. But it's true. Fortunately, retailers are moving on to versions 2.0 or better, and many retailers are considering how kiosks fit into their multichannel and/or self-service strategies. Read my brief "Making Store Kiosks Work" to avoid a version 1.0 debacle.

3. Tons of new apps. At the top of the list are gift cards, CRM/loyalty programs, fraud detection, and access to inventory from the POS. It would be foolish for me to believe that I have the answer for how every retailer should technovate their stores to create better shopping experiences ¿ and more profits. But like so many early kiosk developers, I have taken a stab at it in my report by outlining how department stores, grocers/mass merchants, big box specialty, and small box specialty players might develop their sales and service ecosystems. Take a look at my technovation schematics, and tell me if you think they hit the mark ¿ or if they are, um, version 1.0.

Best wishes for a sunny, rejuvenating spring.




Kate Delhagen
Vice President, Retail Research

P.S. Join Carrie Johnson and me at Shop.org's "Best Practices in Online Marketing" workshop on April 21-23, 2004, in Phoenix, Ariz. We'll be presenting preliminary findings from the State Of Retailing Online 7.0 benchmarking survey. Thanks to all who submitted survey results.

Research Referenced In This Issue BJ's, Costco, And Sam's Club Win Loyalty With Price (33810) Europe's eCommerce: The Next Five Years (33927) Exposing The Myth Of The 5-Cent RFID Tag (33905) How To Get To Multichannel Merchandising (33210) Learning From Best Buy's Employee Portal (34025) Making Store Kiosks Work (33581) Retail's Technology Year Starts With A Bang (33857) RFID At What Cost? (33695)    Take Online Merchandising Beyond Zoom In 2004 (33235) The Future Of Amazon.com (16873)    The Retail Point-Of-Service Transformation (33806) Web Content That Sells (33749) What's Holding Back Online Groceries? (34079) Winning The CPG Data Synchronization Race (33934)

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