Opinion: Retail technology innovation can't be restricted to Shoreditch

That was one theme at the recent R:evolution 3.0 event organised by accelerator and investor TrueStart, where retailers met to gaze into their crystal balls to divine the future direction of retail.

Retailers, even the most forward-looking, sometimes face a battle to appeal to the new generation of technology bright sparks who can often be spoilt for choice about who to work for.

As centres of excellence have sprung up, such as London’s Silicon Roundabout in Shoreditch, retailers have had to open what amount to bespoke offices in such districts to reflect the start-up culture and mindset that the digital stars expect.

River Island chief information officer Doug Gardner crystallised the issue. He said: “We have to do everything we can in terms of changing the working environment and processes.

“Location is very important. We’ve just opened a Shoreditch office. We found it difficult to attract people to Hanger Lane.”

The fact that Hanger Lane is only about 10 miles from Shoreditch highlights the extent of the problem.

“Centres of specialisation and excellence have always existed, but you have to ask whether it’s healthy for so much digital expertise to be concentrated in east London”

If companies can’t get digital experts to cross the capital, what hope is there for retailers further afield, especially those that may feel a little behind the curve digitally?

River Island is not alone. Amazon too is moving from Slough in Berkshire, where it has been headquartered for more than a decade, to Shoreditch.

Centres of specialisation and excellence have always existed, whether it be the City for financial services or the Northern mill towns when cotton was king.

But you have to ask whether it’s healthy for so much digital expertise to be concentrated in a small area of east London. It’s not good for the UK’s regions and it’s not necessarily good for retailers.

As smartphones and similar technology become more and more integral to contemporary shopping, retailers could surely do with more mixing of staff so that those schooled in traditional disciplines become better attuned to changing attitudes, behaviour and expertise and so are better able to adapt.

Surely, the divide that the need for separate offices epitomises – and, it should be acknowledged, seeks to address – perpetuates a wider problem that frequently faces start-ups developing retail technology: the fact that, as good as their ideas may be, they can get lost in the bureaucratic treacle of big business because they are shunted from pillar to post at head offices.

Thankfully, the picture is not entirely bleak. Cities such as Liverpool and Manchester can also draw on tech talent because they are home to digital businesses such as Shop Direct and Boohoo, which are at the cutting edge of technology and retail.

But more retailers, in more places, must find more ways of engaging with the digerati than opening Shoreditch offices – both for the good of the country and the good of the industry.