Project Outline for an Innovative Training Network
Dublin City University

Description and Motivation:

Online sales are growing rapidly while brick and mortar companies are hit by stagnation or even diminishing returns. Europe is losing ground against the big global players from the US and Asia whereby turnover drains and jobs are axed. Traditional brick and mortar companies have particular advantages over pure online retailers (e.g. haptic of products), but fall behind in other aspects like information quality, assortment or delivery quality. Due to technological advancements shopping will look differently in 2025. New technologies including wearables, location based services and the IoT have the potential to serve as bridge builders between offline and online commerce by enabling parallel utilization of different shopping and information channels. The on-site use of these new technologies and devices at retail stores opens up novel promising opportunities. The rigor combination of online, offline and mobile channels provides manifold great potentials for those companies who are able to play a dominant role in omni-channel.

General Objective:

• GO1: To implement an innovative interdisciplinary cross-sector Pan-European training network in order to eliminate barriers between disciplines, sectors, and countries in the field of connected retail.
• GO2: To establish a training programme for a new generation of highly-skilled researchers by conducting comprehensive blended training that combines campus-based and industrial practice training through well-established researchers and practitioners from academia and industry. This should generate excellent career perspectives for the recruited ESRs both in the industrial and the academic sector through tailored training along individual career development plans.
• GO3: To implement an innovative research programme to develop innovative concepts, methods and applications in the context of connected retail by conducting complementary individual research projects with each exploring a specific field of connected retail.
• GO4: To ensure the continuation of the training on a European level via multiple training formats in the form of long-term academic training initiatives and study programmes.
• GO5: To disseminate the accumulated knowledge to all relevant stakeholders.

Research Goals:

• Conduction of comprehensive investigations and elaborations in no-line commerce incorporating online, offline and mobile channels along the whole customer journey with consideration of Business models, Digital marketing, Consumer behavior, Legal issues, Business processes, Logistics, Technology

• Elaborate innovative approaches for the innovation breakthrough of no-line commerce in Europe.

Research Objectives:

• RO1: Digitalisation of Business Models: Individual research projects shall identify ways for the successful configuration of business models in connected retail and develop a corporate foresight model for sustainable business development in connected retail.

• RO2: Information Systems for Connected Retail Processes: Individual research projects shall evaluate opportunities of Big Data for enhancing connected retail business processes, identify challenges and develop IT architectures for the integration of retail systems in connected retail and develop omnichannel recommender systems for connected customer journeys.

• RO3: Connected Omnichannel Retail Marketing: Individual research projects shall identify psychological determinants of dynamic channel selection in the context of connected retail, identify factors of omnichannel marketing along the customer journey in the connected retail context and develop a model for data analytics and visualisation in connected retail.

• RO4: Omnichannel Retail Logistics: Individual research projects shall optimize retail logistics by applying physical internet principles, develop and evaluate delivery methods for the last mile using smart logistics concepts and develop methods for perishable food logistics and food information systems.

• RO5: Connected Retail Technology: Individual research projects shall develop applications using augmented reality for enhanced in-store customer experiences and store operations, investigate controlling attentiveness in in-store retail and develop concepts and methods to integrate smart connected shopping carts with mobile payment solution in a virtual checkout.

• RO6: Legal Regulations: An individual research project shall identify legal challenges of connected retail on the European market.

Benefits for non-academic beneficiaries:

• ESRs are 100 % funded by the training programme for 36 months

• During these 36 months ESRs shall work on a specific cutting edge challenge of the company in the field of no-line commerce

• ESRs get scientific assistance and supervision by academic partners

• ESRs get training specifically aligned to the no-line challenge

• ESRs participate in an interdisciplinary training network that provides a comprehensive education in the field of no-line commerce

• ESRs are trained in transferable skills that aim to produce creative, entrepreneurial and innovative employees required by the retail industry

• Access to the results of investigations conducted across the training-network

Contribution of non-academic beneficiaries:

• Active participation in the project (e.g. trainings, supervisory board)
• Hosting, supervision and mentoring for the ESR
• Facilitate researcher exchange within the network
• Support the scientific and economic exploitation of the results

Contact Dr Markus Helfert on markus.helfert@dcu.ie

Dublin City University