Image courtesy of John Lewis Media Centre

John Lewis has announced that it is trialling three new retail technologies in its department stores over the festive period.

“We intend to keep investing and innovating in our shops so that they remain compelling and hassle-free places for customers, offering multiple reasons to visit them,” said Simon Russell, director of retail operations development at John Lewis.

“Partly, this will see us use an increasing amount of technology to make shopping easier and offer more in-shop help,” he added.

Transactional Tablets

John Lewis Cheadle, John Lewis Brent Cross and Peter Jones will trial in store transactional tablets that link to the shop’s EPoS till system. The tablets have access to a wider range of product information including customer ratings and reviews on johnlewis.com. They will enable customers to make their purchases directly on the shop floor with a member of staff; a mobile printer will print a receipt and customers can also request home delivery.

Google Street View

John Lewis’ Oxford Street store is seeing a retail-first after becoming the first department store in the world to be fully mapped by Google Street View. The technology will allow customers to virtually navigate their way around the store and walk down aisles. Designed by Ideal Insight, the in store view uses 500 panoramas to help busy shoppers plan their trips to the seven-floor department store.

ChargeBox

John Lewis’ Peter Jones and Watford shops are involved in the trial of ChargeBox, a free to use mobile phone charging station. The idea behind the station is that customers are able to shop for longer without fear of the mobile dying while deciding on purchases with friends, family or the web. The service provides 30 minutes of charging power for mobile phones, tablets and other devices.  Customers can select from a variety of cables and connect their device via the appropriate one.