Business intelligence meets cutting edge thought at retail insight event

Detego demonstrates the future of retail at all-star event featuring Marks & Spencer

Detego, the leader in business intelligence for fashion retailers, showed the great and the good of the UK’s retail industry a vision of the future in association with Marks and Spencer, Intel, Impinj and noted futurologist Patrick Dixon.

On Tuesday 8th this week Detego and partners presented a vision of a consumer-centric, emotionally engaged retail future to an audience of retail insiders at the Advantage Austria in London. Attendees learnt how a foundation for meeting the expectations of shoppers, especially millennials, is borne by emotional connection and satisfaction delivered by integrated retail services.

Detego, the fashion business intelligence provider, assembled leading speakers to demonstrate how traditional ‘bricks and mortar’ retailers can gain back sales from online competitors and build efficient omni-channel retailing without upsetting their existing infrastructure. The key is to integrate and add intelligence to pivot existing services by better stock control and awareness – and therefore the use of staff.

Patrick Dixon, Futurist, kicked off the event with a talk entitled ‘How to create customer magic’. Patrick promoted emotional engagement through satisfaction as the key driver, making a case against the customer frustrations that retailers must overcome.

He was followed by Richard Jenkins, Head of RFID Strategic Development at Marks and Spencer, presenting ‘The Future Today – RFID @ Marks & Spencer’. Richard’s case study shared insights based on learnings over 11 years using tagging technology to boost intelligence in hundreds of stores. Richard explained the project’s primary use cases: Improving inventory accuracy; reducing out of stock lines; increasing on floor availability; loss prevention. Additionally, benefits were delivered for Marks and Spencer in: Cycle counting strategies; conversion; enhanced customer experience, e.g. within fitting rooms; and the chain’s omni-channel strategy.

Goetz Pfeifferling, Sr. Director of Business Development, Global Retail at Impinj, shared insights from a case study of the joint Detego-Impinj project with the brand G-Star in a New York franchise store, ‘Full automated in-store inventory visibility’ explaining how to maximise time spent on the shop floor with customers with greater stock intelligence. Impinj’s hands-free ceiling reader system combined with Detego’s software products for real-time analytics and item level visibility deliver the G-Star franchisee complete transparency of their in-store business in real-time, enabling exceptional customer experience and product availability.

Wrapping up the event with ‘Intel in retail – enabling the ‘big pivot’’ was Matthew Ward, EMEA Retail Enabling Manager at Intel Corporation. Matthew’s core theme was that ‘the insights ‘kings’ will win’. Well-known disruptors ranging from the growth of e-commerce, cross channel behaviour, and mobile and 10-screen life, have all fundamentally changed retail delivery. No facet of omni-channel service has remained the same, and the traditional ‘4 Ps’ have become commoditised. Leaders have used data-led insights to strategically redefine the store and massively shift brand trust as all retailers discover that the old rules no longer apply.

Finally, Uwe Hennig, CEO, Detego, sharing his ‘Actionable Insights – In-store analytics makes the store shopper visible’ tying the speakers’ themes together. Attendees were able to change the way they view the entire retail supply chain, from distribution centres via the shop floor into the hands of shoppers and learnt invaluable techniques to future-proof their businesses.

Uwe Hennig, CEO at Detego, explained, “Consumer expectations and desires have sky-rocketed and few retailers have been able to adapt to really wow consumers and keep up with tech-driven service expectations. We aim to show how fashion retailers can lead the whole retail sector in operational excellence and customer enchantment.”