Evan Schuman's StorefrontBacktalk

John Lewis Retail Operations Manager Mark Lewis says it’s becoming more important for the business as a whole to be involved with technology decisions. “Consumers are more aware of the role technology plays in their lives and how it can be used, and as business leaders it’s really important that we are also aware and have interest.” He says listening to the start-ups’ ideas can help generate inspiration of his own. “Something like today is fantastic because it enables me to hear about the latest ideas and what the latest thinking is. It sparks ideas in our minds.”

With some notable exceptions, retailers haven’t always been known for their innovative approach to technology. Coby hopes to change that, and says part of the purpose of the competition is to help foster innovation in John Lewis. “I want John Lewis IT to be known for being open to innovation,” he says. “Technology is revolutionizing retail. It’s driven by online, but it’s more profound than that. IT is moving into a different position in the retail world.”

As technology changes rapidly and new gadgets come thick and fast, it’s a good idea to try to harness some of this energy—as the John Lewis competition shows, the benefits can be felt far beyond the IT department.

Retail Week is the U.K.’s leading provider of retail industry news and insight, top retail jobs, key retail market reports and data, from across the entire retail sector. Visit www.retail-week.com for the latest breaking news, views and analysis on the U.K. retail sector.

Sidebar 1: Good Ideas Welcome

The retail scenarios that technology start-ups were asked to respond to:

• Customer collection in John Lewis shops. Respondents were asked to come up with ways to improve the customer and staff experience and increase the efficiency of the service.
• John Lewis children’s shoe department. Respondents were asked to come up with services that would improve stock management in the children’s shoe department. They were also asked to look at how to cut queues and improve customer service.
• Customer service across channels. John Lewis has invested heavily in its in-store customer service and the third challenge asked respondents to look at how this can be replicated and communicated in other channels.

Sidebar 2: The Competition Finalists

Corporate Group
This software supplier came up with a system to try to improve customer collections at John Lewis. Its social shopping platform would enable customers to find out their queue status and chat online to John Lewis staff. It also aims to connect online shoppers with in-store specialists, enabling shoppers to talk via video chat to a specialist sales assistant—helpful for buying big items such as mattresses or white goods.

DataTherapy
Its solution was also designed to improve customer collections. The company advocated using mobile devices to process collections using QR codes to track products as they made their way to the collection point. Shoppers could receive texts when their collection was ready.

Black Marble
Competition winner Black Marble suggested a queue management system using in-store kiosks and mobile phones to deal with crowded children’s shoe departments. It also suggested putting RFID tags on each shoe box to help staff track stock levels.

Mobestar
It also tackled the children’s shoe challenge. Its system would enable shoppers to register their place in the queue and receive a text when it was their turn.

Cardinal Group
This company looked at how to improve online customer service. Its solution would connect online shoppers with store staff members who have specialist knowledge, giving those shoppers access to the same expertise they would get in-store.

Mhub
This online video service would offer John Lewis shoppers access to virtual online experts, who can be accessed via PCs, mobile devices or kiosks.