LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM -- (Marketwire) -- 03/15/13 -- A tough economic climate has changed the shape of retail and the way in which customers shop - as well as having a considerable effect on retail technology innovations, says leading technology company Synqera. Although there has been a string of high street casualties in recent years, the fact that retailers have had to become much more savvy in their approach to attract and retain customers has played an important role in retail innovations - an area which has really evolved.

Some real game-changers have included new methods of payment, such as NFC payment, analytics of shopper behaviour and location-based services, enabling retailers to track a customer's journey. The evolution in retail technology has been rapid and sustained, and in a multi-channel era where social media and mobile commerce are part of shoppers' buying habits, the in-store experience is also making a real come-back and gaining the focus of retailers once more.

Kirill Gorynya, CEO of Synqera, comments: "While for some retailers the economic situation will have caused their downfall, it has also been the catalyst for some great retail innovations, which have been instrumental in changing the way we shop forever.

"Customer loyalty schemes have to be one of the biggest advents in the last decade, along with online retail, but there is a real sense now of moving communication between retailer and consumer back in-store, combining real-time communications with enhancement of customer experience which have a real impact on customer loyalty."

While Big Data is a huge consideration for retailers, who are busy gathering insights through their loyalty schemes, using this to best advantage by combining with other intelligent solutions is the key to tapping further into the customer's actual preferences.

Kirill added: "The innovations of the last five years in the retail technology arena have been great - who would ever have thought customers could walk into a major store and access a self-serve payment terminal? The future, I think, could be even more exciting, as retailers take what has worked in the online retail arena with real-time targeting according to customer preferences, offline and in-store."

Synqera has recently launched a solution for retailers to help them achieve heightened customer engagement at intrinsic points throughout the store such as the cash desk or store entrance. The Synqera software platform can be applied to third party devices and interfaces, where it can be integrated into current infrastructure and existing customer loyalty schemes. It is also available on Simplate - Synqera's intuitive POS terminal, which also acts as an in-store advertising point and is NFC-enabled for contactless payment, has a magstripe-reader, a touch screen, a camera and microphone for capturing physical information, such as a smile. In addition to contactless payment, emerging mobile wallet and online systems, such as Paypal are supported.

For further information about Synqera and the SIMPLATE platform, visit www.synqera.com.