Sony has released its Retail Tech Index, highlighting that customer engagement with retail innovation has fallen 11% across Europe despite unprecedented investment in the sector.
With billions invested in AI systems, edge computing, digital signage, and smart in-store infrastructure, Sony’s report says that shoppers are seeing few tangible improvements on the shop floor.
The report draws on 721,000 retail technology conversations on social media and online, with labour market analysis across six major European markets. The index identifies three critical gaps: proof, ownership, and trust, that are preventing digital transformation from delivering measurable results.
Is experience everything?
Online and social media discussions around customer experience rose 20% year-on-year, but engagement collapsed by 11%. Complaints about queues, stockouts, and pricing dominated online conversations, highlighting a disconnect between retail tech investment and shopper perception.
AI also attracted over 100,000 mentions, but saw engagement drop more than 50%, as AI generated the highest negative sentiment of any retail technology theme (4%), double the average for other pillars.
The report highlighted that European retail faces a severe leadership challenge, with ICT managers in the UK accounting for just 0.1% of retail management hires, compared with 3.3% across the wider economy, which reflects a 33-fold deficit. France and Germany were also highlighted as showing similar shortages.
Job growth
Sony’s report highlights that retail technology job postings have grown by 40%, with most focussing on general infrastructure roles rather than the strategic digital leadership needed to scale pilots into fully deployed systems.
AI: A privacy and security nightmare?
The report highlighted that engagement with AI content in retail spaces declined by 53% in Europe, driven by concerns over privacy, job security, and regulatory compliance. The EU AI Act also requires retailers to demonstrate transparency and accountability in all AI-driven systems, putting additional pressure on adoption of the technology.
National focus
Summing up Western and Central Europe’s retail market, the index demonstrates that Germany and the UK are showing a high interest in RFID, kiosks, and computer vision, but face severe IT manager shortages.
France is focused on AI-Act compliance, while Spain has rapidly adopted retail media tech but with limited digital leadership. Italy and Poland have shown persistent underrepresentation of IT managers in retail, according to the index, however ambition across Europe remains high with execution capacity lagging.
Next steps
Sony highlights five priorities that it says can turn ambition into impact, starting with queues, stock availability, and inventory shrinkage.
The index says that retailers should test and scale fast to expand successful pilots, while also integrating new tech into existing systems.
Compliance should also be positioned as value, says Sony, communicating privacy protections to shoppers.
Lastly, Sony says that performance should be measured through stock tracking, labour efficiency, shrinkage, and queue times.
Chris Mullins, head of product marketing, professional solutions and displays, Sony Europe, commented: “Retailers aren’t struggling from a lack of innovation - they’re struggling from a lack of visible progress.
“Shoppers want proof that technology is improving their experience today, not promises about tomorrow. Our goal with BRAVIA Professional Displays and the AITRIOS platform is to help retailers close the gaps in proof, ownership, and trust, so digital transformation finally delivers measurable results where it matters most: in the store.”