BF-DigiT@il - Digitalization in Retail: Evaluation of Technology Acceptance at POS and in Retail Logistics

The stationary retail trade represents an essential pillar of the domestic economy and plays an important role both in terms of its contribution to gross value added and in terms of employment figures. For years, however, the threat to this sector of the economy from globally operating e-commerce companies such as Amazon has been growing. The rapid growth of the online trade sector has produced numerous innovative products and services. Consumers, on the other hand, prefer hybrid shopping models that combine the advantages of both worlds - online and offline - and thus offer maximum benefit and convenience. For this reason, it is important to analyze which new technologies can be used in which way to benefit stationary retail. The focus here is on the one hand on the in-store customer experience and on the other hand on order processing (fulfillment). The technologies to be examined are thus PoS (Point of Sale) or PoP (Point of Purchase) technologies as well as technologies for retail logistics. However, most companies in the sector lack the resources and know-how to determine which technologies are worth investing in. The research project will therefore evaluate which current and future technologies from the above-mentioned areas can be sensibly used in the stationary retail trade and which conditions must be created to achieve a high level of user acceptance. The publication of the results of the research project will give domestic retail companies and their technology suppliers a head start in order to be prepared for the online competition.