Swiss watch (and learn)

After a hellishly early wake-up call from a cab driver last Thursday morning, I found myself in Switzerland at 9am to visit one of SAP’s best kept retail secrets.

At a research facility on the outskirts of Zurich, SAP has built the Future Retail lab; where it builds, tests and demonstrates leading-edge retail technology.

There were practical applications of RFID – for instance for locating pickers’ positions in distribution centres, and tracking high-value goods likely to be counterfeited through the supply chain – where the cost of the tags can be justified.

It was leading-edge, but leading-edge with an acceptance of retailers’ financial realities. Indeed, one of the research directors made a great joke about how German retailers cry if you mention margins.

And the in-store demonstration offered shopping trolleys with touch screens, but also technology to allow customers to make use of their own smart phones in stores. Another set-up showed how a retailer can present customer opinions and product reviews at the shelf-edge straight from a specially created homepage on Facebook.

Some of these ideas are in pilot in stores, others are still at the development stage. But by bringing its retailer customers into an environment where anything seems possible, SAP is able to open their minds to new end points and applications, while still preaching its message of the importance of the centralisation of data. If retailers come up with good ideas, SAP will try to build them.

Switzerland seems like a long way to go to have these kinds of conversations. But around 80 groups from around the world are making the trip each year – including some of the team from Dunelm Mill who had been there last week. If SAP invites you out to Zurich, I can recommend the trip.