Software application development
This blog is intended to provoke discussion and exchange between like minded software application developers, engineers, architects, project managers - and keen hobbyists too.
Friday 9 January 2009, 1:28 AM
Corner-shop Software Cornerstones
Intershop (and this is 10-years back remember) used to be able to make headlines by telling people that their software could help ecommerce work in hitherto unimaginable ways. Picture this: “If it’s a sunny day, our software can help Sainsbury’s Homebase put garden chairs and parasols on its homepage within minutes, thus driving sales for these and other good weather-related products.”
Woah – hold on. You mean a web page could feature differing content dependent on external factors and the Internet could be presented as an almost, well, “living” type of thing? You got it.
Ten years later, Herr Pfeiffer appears to bringing his Germanic charms to a role at General Motors – and the rest of us kind of pretty much realise that the web is a totally fluid and dynamic entity these days.
Why this reminiscing you say? Well, shop front technology is still a huge part of the way the retail trade operates by all accounts. The latest news I see details the fact that IBM and Sky IT Group are helping fashion and apparel suppliers to take advantage of consumer trends by equipping them with a software as a service (SaaS) offering.
These days we’re more focused on the granular detail of these systems and opportunities for manufacturers, distributors and retailers to view their product sales performance at the store level and opportunities for merchandisers to “slice and dice” information and make informed production, orders and markdown decisions based on real-time product sales performance.
I will not go any deeper into this story as it’ll start to read like a case study and this is a blog, but it did get me thinking about retail tech all over again. No doubt there’s probably a magazine called Retail Technology (actually, I just checked - there is and it’s edited by a superb freelance colleague of mine) as this kind of IT is now part of the fundamental mechanics of the shop trade.
“For my part, I spend so much of my time talking about this subject that it’s kind of hard to remember a time when the retail business wasn’t underpinned by a fairly progressive and intelligent technology backbone. But in the marketplace itself, it’s only the businesses that really get it (the Tescos and Play.coms of this world let’s say) that are going to survive the latest consumer turmoil in the wake of the recession. While others may fall, the new breed of retailers will quietly mop up market share from those casualties that don't,” said Miya Knights, editor of Retail Technology Magazine.
PreviousComments on this post
Hi Adrian!
I see a time coming when having a shop front may become too much of a burden for many a business to hold stock of any great numbers. Perhaps there will be a melding of shop front with a giant warehouse out the back that people could visit if they really feel like getting out.
Or a high street scenario with giant video interactive MS ball type computers. People could talk to these systems and say "yes I want one of those cars, jars, whatever."
Maybe not food though, having given online shopping a go, wifey and I found that the vegetables chosen for selection could be a bit "iffy."
Bemusement befell me the other day when WHSmiths (Taunton) came to a stand still when the till system crashed. They looked like they where running windows 3.1 and this was only a little time after MS withdrew support. So there's plenty out there to bite on for those sales type people, the time is ripe.
Yeah totally Rog -
Makes you think that Argos got it right years ago doesn't it? Actually, any time I need a coffee machine, lawn strimmer etc...
I'm too much of a hunter gatherer to opt for food online though - I agree. Must be my backpacking years that still won't leave me. We only have one Bangladeshi shop in Epsom and I've been working my way through every item they sell for the last 5 years.
In the US I use a system called RED-BOX and DVD-EXPRESS for $1 DVD for one night. The system is similarly down this week at our local "SuperFresh" and just hangs with a pathetic injured Windows logo floating on the screen. The online help people have given me free credits, but just as I was enjoying the feeling of automated shopping - the system support people were what I really needed.
There's no replacement for squeezing a french stick, melon etc... perhaps some things will never sell well online. I read once that perfume and cars are the two biggest NO NOs. One because you can't smell it and the other because you can't feel the drive.
Who know?
AdrianB
Makes sense!
I don't think the windows platform, much as I love it is going to be ideal for online retail into the future. It either should be solid MACs or MS really need to start thinking about an OS that isn't windows designed on hardware that will be a known working standard for the job in hand.
I still think windows is a great hobbyists system though.
When a company contacts you after you've already filed a story, my reaction is normally just to say that I've moved on and am looking at something else. However when a company that I know quite well and have met a few times contacts me, I have to take a slightly closer look.
Zeus Technology is an interesting enough operation, I have to say that their product is really quite complex and if you bounce around their site for a while you'll know what I mean. Anyway, I sat with Zeus at the CNET awards a couple of years back and they clearly feel quite strongly about the current issues shaping the software application development stratosphere.
Graham Moore, e-retail specialist at Zeus Technology sent me the following quote and I see no reason not to post it as a worthy comment on my first retail technology story - especially as it turned out to be the first of three inter-related stories on this subject.
Moore's quote reads as follows:
“In the current economic climate, cost conscious consumers are opting to shop online in greater numbers than ever before. According to recent research from New Media Age, 89% believe that they can find a better price online, while 68% said shopping online is cheaper than visiting the high street. Recently reported financial results back this up. Debenhams Direct – the online arm of the department store retailer’s business - posted a 37% increase in sales over the holiday period. Fashion retailer, Next also said its online business rose by 1.1% despite its high street sales falling by 7%.
"So, why did these retailers succeed were so many others have failed? The answer is online investment. Debenhams has spent £30m revamping front and back-office IT systems over the past two years to improve the level of service delivered to customers. Others have followed suit. John Lewis recently announced that it had invested in intelligent technology solutions to create a more dynamic online environment now demanded by consumers.
"Those that have not been so successful in recent months all have one thing in common – poor online presence. They failed to invest in intelligent technology that could have enabled them to deliver an exceptional online service at a time when more and more people are opting to shop online. The success of Debenhams’ online business over the Christmas period should prove to other retailers the value of investing in back of-house retail technology. The retail market is tough enough and retailers can’t afford to miss out on sales online.”
