The first visible evolution is on design and ergonomics. There’s no doubt that this is the element where manufacturers have put the majority of their effort and we see noticeable progress over recent years. I found many examples of this but would highlight Suzohapp and the ”organic” integration of their cash devices over the checkout, merging looks and function in a flawless way and giving the retailer a very interesting mix of options where technology never imposes itself to the store environment. Of significance also, is the impressive gains in performance and range in what regards the automation cash handing. This is more impressive if we compare both the cost and performance of today, with just three years ago, making it a perfect example of the laws of technology evolution over each years.
However, these evolutions also show an almost exclusive focus on the “product”, and a large convergence of common formulas that bring to my mind the words of Peter Goldberger in his influential New York Times article on Retail entitled “The sameness of things”:
While everything may be better it’s also increasingly the same
I think the main players are lacking a digitally integrated vision and the ability to offer Retailers the power to think or re-think the Customer journey, the consumer and the store personnel in the first place. Online, mobile and traditional are merging, at least in the minds of consumers, but we don’t see this reality being a priority of the Retail IT industry, which continues seeing stores as an aggregate of technological compartments.
While this certainly brings some disappointment, it also reinforces my view that we, at Xhockware, are heading in the right direction.
A final word to our Compagnons de route and partners from Italy, SN Systems, with whom we shared stand G.65, to Suzohapp and CPI, our partners for cash systems and S&T, our Distributor for Poland.
Text written by
João Carvalho
