When looking back over the past 12 months’ news to try to decide a common theme for the year, what has become apparent is how varied the technology deployed by retailers has been.

There have been plenty of core financial, merchandising and EPoS systems implementations; but technology is also increasingly being deployed in departments that have traditionally made do with a mish-mash of systems, spreadsheets and manual processes.

Many retailers are now bracing themselves for a tougher trading environment in 2008. What struck me about many of the systems that Retail Week has written about in the past year is that they could prove their worth even more in a downturn.

Technology solutions that fall into this category span the retail spectrum. Stories from recent weeks have included property management and staff scheduling system deployments. Both can save money and a well-operated staff scheduling system should also allow a retailer to increase sales.

Other solutions include product lifecycle management systems, which are being used by both fashion and food retailers as they aim to streamline and standardise the method for getting own-brand products from concept to store.

Here the internet has played a part in allowing the creation of cost-effective systems that can be accessed by retailers and their trading partners alike. Increased speed to market means an improved ability to match supply to whatever consumer demand is out there.

However, the lifecycle of a product does not end at the point it hits the shelf. Tough trading will increase the benefit a retailer could gain from a mark-down management system, ensuring that profits are maximised despite changing demand patterns.

Project management technology is also being used in a broader sense, helping to manage and keep on track processes as diverse as the creation of marketing material to store refurbishment programmes. In both these cases hold-ups have a financial cost.

There has been a fixation in the past year on improving the data that is held on customers. If the downbeat economic predictions for 2008 hold true, then retailers will quickly respond by looking for new areas of cost reduction within their own businesses.

IT budgets are often one of the first to suffer when retailers are looking to cut costs. However, such short-term financial decisions could end up costing retailers dearly.

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