Nearly two thirds of retailers are planning to increase spending on in-store technologies this year, with more than half stating that this will be a sum of more than £1 million, a new report has revealed.

According to the WBR Digital and Retail Connections’ report, the biggest drivers behind investing in in-store technology are retailer’s expectations that the implementation will result in enhanced in-store shopping experiences (61 per cent), the ability to close the gap between online and in-store customer experience (61 per cent) and helping to convert in-store sales (44 per cent).

However, as investment figures suggest, retailers still have a way to go before they can claim to truly innovate in-store. Indeed, more than half (51 per cent) of retailers said that they are either ‘working on’ achieving a customer-centric approach to their existing in-store design, or have failed to reach this yet.

And for some, it seems that support for digital transformation is somewhat lacking, with only 28 per cent claiming they have strong support across the business for this change.

But despite potential barriers, many retailers are now recognising the move towards digital transformation with the number of retailers considering it rising by 13 per cent since last year. In addition, the amount of retailers that don’t believe that digital transformation has rapidly fallen from over a third last year (34 per cent) to just 1 per cent.

Chris Field, head of innovation at Retail Connections, commented: “Traditional retailers have come to realise that the High Street will never be the same again. This is because consumers have changed the way they shop and engage with brands, thanks to mobile technology. As our report shows, stores need to digitally transform their in-store offering to meet consumer’s expectations and demands.”

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