'Frictionless' shopping and the rebirth of the high street

In 2019, we saw this new breed of interconnected shopping enter its next phase, when the world's leading online retailer did something no-one could have anticipated and opened a series of new brick-and-mortar locations across the country - the Amazon Fresh stores. These sites took the well-established self-checkout concept to its logical conclusion, doing away with physical checkouts altogether. Instead, 'smart' cameras and sensors track which items shoppers pick up, then automatically bill them when they leave the shop, typically through an app or their existing Amazon account.

The concept is potentially transformative for the sector, with 70% of UK shoppers already expressing interest in a checkout-free shopping experience. As a result, the 'checkout-free' model was quickly embraced by other retailers, including Tesco, Sainsbury's, and Aldi, all of whom have begun trialling similar sites across the UK. In particular, Tesco has begun exploring other applications for some of the technologies used in these new sites. For example, they are currently testing how weight sensors and AI-powered cameras could be used to detect checkout errors and prompt the user to correct them as part of a wider effort to combat shoplifting and make the checkout process more efficient, reportedly reducing transaction times by as much as 40%.

There's no doubt that consumer behaviour has changed forever, and will continue to evolve in new, unprecedented ways in the years ahead. While the sector as a whole has already demonstrated its ability to pivot and adapt in response, it cannot allow recent successes to lead to complacency. As new technologies establish themselves and customer expectations shift in response, it is essential that the underlying infrastructure for our increasingly interconnected high street shops evolves. This is not just a question of meeting immediate requirements, but also laying a strong foundation for future innovations that have yet to reveal themselves.

So, let's consider what this foundation will look like in practice, drawing on the lessons learned from several decades of digital transformation for retail (and other sectors) and the shifts we are currently witnessing...

High-performance, highly resilient networking

As with most digital transformation initiatives, it all begins with the underlying connectivity. Checkout-free shopping requires high volumes of complex data to flow in as close to real-time as possible, potentially between multiple, highly dispersed sites. This means a world-class network is essential.

An intelligent approach to Cloud transformation

Collating, storing, managing, and analysing these volumes of customer data will inevitably require some form of Cloud-based infrastructure, in order to ensure security and availability can be balanced against ongoing costs. Hybrid Cloud solutions, where combinations of public and private Cloud platforms are integrated to achieve the desired result - are an extremely attractive option here, allowing the performance and security of edge computing platforms to be fully optimised.

Embracing AI-powered analytics

Developing a holistic security posture

Checkout-free shops reflect the wider convergence of IT and OT systems that we are seeing across other sectors (CNI, transport, and manufacturing, for example), with data seamlessly flowing between physical and digital systems. But as these other sectors have already found, all the possibilities opened up by this convergence must be balanced against a range of new security concerns. Security ecosystems must evolve in response, treating areas that would traditionally have been very siloed as part of a single, robust security posture. Beyond avoiding the financial and reputational consequences of a data breach, this will ensure customers can enjoy these new shopping experiences with complete peace of mind, at a time when concerns about privacy and security continue to grow.

It's a lot to consider, for sure. But with the support of the right technology partner - one who cannot just demonstrate a deep understanding of retail's unique challenges, but also provided fully integrated, end-to-end solutions wraps in response, with best practice around IT/OT convergence and leading-edge cyber security inherent in the design.

And that's where Exponential-e comes in! Whether you're interested in completely transforming the shopping experience you offer, or simply keen to futureproof your digital infrastructure, get in touch. We're ready to help you achieve your digital goals, working together to bring tomorrow's shopping experience to life, today.