EuroCIS in Düsseldorf: Information technology specifically for retail

There is a constant demand from retailers for IT innovations, so it does not come as a surprise that early March the EuroCIS retail information technology trade fair in Düsseldorf was a great success. Our guide was 39-year old Ulrich Spaan, who has been working for the EHI Retail Institute for eleven years. He told us that the development of information technology and the growing IT demand from retailers both stimulated the creation of new technology solutions.

Companies want competitive advantages and lower costs – and the crisis strengthened these trends further. In connection with security technology, he emphasised that EUR 71 billion worth of products disappear in the supply chain all over the world in a year.

In Germany the annual loss is EUR 3.9 billion. 53 percent of this loss is caused by buyers, 23 percent by retail company employees and the rest is the fault of service providers and transporters. To improve product safety German retailers spend an annual EUR 1.1 billion. There were 190 exhibitors from 22 countries at the fair, including market leaders like IBM, Bizerba, Wincor Nixdorf, Honeywell, SAP, EPSON, Canon and Toshiba; Hungary was not represented but I met about 20 Hungarian visitors. EuroCIS focused on speeding up the work at cash registers, including new forms of paying without using cash. First we went to IBM’s stand where the head of retail and consumer good department, Michael Woydich informed us that IBM defined 4 different phases of selling in stores: 1. improving the shopping experience, 2. cash register systems, 3. special solutions 4. improving in-store sales. IBM offered integrated systems for each blocks. For instance Brent Cossey showed us how iPhones can be used to communicate with customers. IBM also developed a scent-automat that makes it possible for customers to try how different drinks smell – for me it was one of the most memorable experiences at EuroCIS. Wincor Nixdorf was present with several mobile shopping solutions. They combined portable scanners with intelligent software to speed up the shopping process – by using these it is shoppers and not cashiers who scan the products.

In Europe Carrefour and Delhaize are the pioneers of this new solution. Wilhelm Nidergöker, the director of Düsseldorf Messe summed up the three days as follows:
– Information technology plays an increasingly important role in every process of retail. EuroCIS presents technology solutions which specifically target retail. Mr Nidergöker added that the fair registered 5,400 visitors from 50 countries. Dutch supermarket chain Albert Heijn (part of the Ahold group) won the EHI Retail Institute’s retail technology grand prize for the electronic shelf label solution they had started to use. Toshiba, Capgemini and Impulselogic developed the system which reduces fresh product loss.