Euroshop is a gold mine of inspiration

Every three years the retail industry gathers in Dusseldorf to discover the latest trends, store concepts, and also learn about how retail will look like tomorrow. Euroshop is an event that anyone interested and active in retail should visit.

Seamless experience, easier and faster checkout, robots and more

It took quite some legwork but I managed to cover and pass through most of the halls in a day. Obviously, I didn’t stop everywhere due to the lack of time, but I did manage to make a few nice discoveries and could definitely note a few trends.

Visual merchandising is not dead: Cartoon characters, automatons, lights in all colors and shapes… one could tell once again that when it comes to decorate a store, visual merchandisers have an unlimited creative mind
The frictionless story: This was probably the most constant trend all over the tradeshow grounds. Everyone was talking or presenting solutions about the seamless experience a consumer needs to have. Every single little frustration must be taken out of the customer’s path. This trend is valid for both ecommerce and brick and mortar. The merchants and retailers must offer a clear path, without waiting periods, with easy access to information and payments and many more. A perfect example was from Walkout, a startup I saw that developed a system which they say is more scalable than Amazon Go. It all fits in a shopping cart. A customer can just do his shopping, place his items in the cart’s basket and cameras on the shopping cart immediately recognize the products and help the consumer to pay in the end of the process.
All in one and all by yourself: The checkout gets more and more complex. In one single point the cash register is no longer just a recording system. It’s a database of information, equipped with cameras for facial recognition and product recognition (to reduce scanning times), and with fast varied payment methods (with code, contactless etc…). It is also interesting to point out that checkouts are more and more aimed to be manipulated by customers directly, so the self-checkout seems to be the future.
Mobility: Another important idea is that checkout systems shouldn’t be only at one place, but should be mobile. Many solution-providers offer tablets or boxes with all the features of a natural checkout, except that it can be mobile and operated by a store employee servicing customer. This is great to reduce queuing, but also to have employees devoted to help directly customers and deliver a personal shopper experience.
The rise of the machines: if you visited the show, you should have seen robots at different places. Those little (or not so little) machines are more and more used to welcome customers, but also to perform various tasks instore such as checking shelves or planograms. Ecommerce merchants also seem to embrace automated solutions as AI and chatbots become more and more mainstream.

My 20/CENT on Euroshop

This year’s vintage was quite interesting. However, one could already sadly feel that the Covid 19 crisis started to show as many visitors didn’t make it. But anyway, I am glad I was lucky and managed to visit and see that the show was once again a gold mine of inspiration and new concepts.

In terms of organization, it was once more flawless with clear signage, easy access, etc.

In terms of innovations, I must conclude that the retail industry continues to travel the disruptive road. Many ideas and innovations are shifting or shaking habits. However, it is good to see that many ideas are (finally) getting translated in workable and scalable solutions.

To sum up, this year’s Euroshop was again a must see. Now we just need to be patient, as the next one is only in three years. See you in 2023!

PS: check out the three items that caught my eye on the show in a next article.

Your comments and questions are welcome via vincent@20CENTretail.com or via the form http://20100retail.be/en/contact

Euroshop Euroshop 2020 Pos New Concept Instore