Walking into your local retailer or even surfing online, it's sometimes easy to forget about the technology that you're using.

It's a constantly changing bit of the IT world, and interesting to follow as consumers can often see the newest bits of tech when they hit the checkout.

Here are some of the most interesting retail technologies out there now - and what to expect in the future.

1. E-Commerce

People are spending more and more time online instead of on the high street, and this pattern isn’t likely to reverse. This means that having a website is absolutely vital for the success of any retailer.

Retailers face big challenges in persuading users to come to their sites, stay for a while, and eventually spend money. Any one of a multitude of things could make a customer leave, such as poor website security, downtime, or slow connectivity - which could all cost sales.

2. Mobile retail

As the number of people with internet-enabled smartphones continues to increase, it could be that people will be much more willing to spend money online - if browsing experiences improve.

Like e-commerce, it’s going to be the user experience that really marks the difference between the retailers that offer a good mobile shopping experience and those that don’t.

Social networks such as Facebook have been successfully moved onto mobile devices, but it may be a while yet before we see a much bigger range of retail websites that can be browsed easily using a phone.

3. Contactless cards

The technology needed to successfully implement contactless cards in retail chains is already available, but questions remain whether they will be taken up at the speed some are expecting.

Barclaycard has been trying to push contactless card technology for years. The Barclaycard OnePulse card - with Oyster, credit card and contactless tech - has been around since 2007, and all of its new debit cards now feature contactless tech.

Surely it will become more popular, but will it be soon?

4. CRM software

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software can be used for retailers who need to understand their customers, know what they have bought and how to use the information to market to specific targets.

Many software companies offer CRM solutions, including Oracle, SAP, Salesforce.com and Microsoft. Typically, the software aims to improve customer service and market effectively.

However, unless employees can understand the systems and take advantage of them and information they offer, then having a CRM solution is rather pointless.

Also, some analysts claim that Customer Experience Management (CEM) is much more important to the retail sector.

5. Wireless tech

Wireless technology can help save money in the office, by cutting back on wiring and maintenance, but it can also help on the shop floor and in the warehouse.

There are a number of devices - usually handheld, such as barcode scanners - that can effectively make areas such as inventory and aisle management much more efficient.

6. Social networks

Websites such as Facebook and Twitter have an online community ripe for targeting.

Many retailers have already promoted their brands on social networks, and you can actively encourage an audience to show some loyalty.

There is no definite answer about whether creating an audience like this has a direct impact on sales, but whether or not it does, direct communication with the audience can certainly help.

7. Biometrics

Even though biometric technology has been associated with security for a long time, it hasn’t really taken hold in retail, possibly because of the wariness that the public has for anything that could record their personal information.

But the possibilities are there, with some companies keeping track of consumer access through fingerprint scanning.

However, it might have more of an impact internally. For security, the technology could be used for activities such as verifying employees at the POS or making sure that only certain employees could access restricted areas.

8. POS technology

This is where the most important part of retail occurs – the transaction – where money changes hands. Good point of sale (POS) technology is vital for any retailer.

This can involve software or hardware. EPOS software is vital to enable the efficient recording or a sale or goods, and is provided by many computer vendors.

The hardware is also key. In restaurants, wireless technology is already in wide use with mobile chip and PIN terminals enabling waiters to move around and let customers pay at the table.

9. Virtual shopping

The hype has died down over retail in virtual environments like Second Life, but the potential is still there to make online shopping more interesting, especially with computers getting more powerful by the day.

We recently covered how Lenovo used a 3D gaming engine to combine virtual world principles and retailing to create an interactive shopping experience.

Shoppers were allowed to create their own avatars, walk around a 3D virtual store, browse products and interact with sales staff around the world.

It’s exciting and unconventional, but it remains to be seen if it ever takes hold like it does other in areas, such as online gaming.

10. Self-checkout technology

This POS tech is becoming more common as an alternative to the traditional cashier-staff checkout, especially in places that sell groceries such as Tesco.

Customers scan their own barcodes at an un-manned checkout. To prevent theft, the weight seen in the bagging area is compared to what is stored in the system about the products.

This reduces checkout time because stores can now effectively put in place several checkout units in the space where there would usually have one cashier.

It’s also great for the retailer. Instead of needing several staff to operate the checkouts, they can instead spend money on other areas where the shop might need help.

Click here to return to the main Focus On... Retail page, or reading on to find out about Tesco’s security, New Look’s SOA and the basics of CRM.

Author: Asavin Wattanajantra

The top ten retail technologies