EuroCIS 2025 to Focus On Artificial Intelligence

(PRESS RELEASE) Exponential learning progress, especially through generative AI, makes IT solutions possible that seemed like distant visions of the future just a few years ago. EuroCIS 2025, The Leading Trade Fair for Retail Technology, gives retail companies the opportunity to obtain first-hand information about current AI applications and the technical requirements needed for efficient AI use. EuroCIS will be held from February 18 – 20, 2025 at the fairgrounds in Düsseldorf, Germany.

As if by magic the cursor hovers across the screen, opens an online shop, selects products and places them in the shopping cart – according to Google’s AI division DeepMind, Internet use is on the verge of a fundamental paradigm shift. In December, the company launched a new generation of AI agents capable of handling complex queries in several steps. The development goal: instead of humans, smart machines will surf the web in search of products and information and procure what they need independently.

AI 2030: 1,000 times smarter than today
Two years after the launch of ChatGPT this scenario appears neither impossible nor improbable: especially generative AI has developed rapidly, now making applications possible that were hardly conceivable two or three years ago. “With no other technology have I seen as many innovations emerging concurrently in basic research, technology development and new applications as in generative AI in 2024,” says Ute Schmid, Managing Director at the Bamberg Centre for Artificial Intelligence, recently featured on German TV channel ZDF. And Satya Nadella also believes that this is just the start of a steep learning curve. The performance of systems with artificial intelligence will continue to double every six months, said the Microsoft CEO at a company conference in November. This means that in five years’ time, AI systems will have more than a thousand times their current “brain power.” IT applications that still seem like science fiction today could be ready for use by EuroCIS 2030.

AI knowledge not yet fully leveraged
Across all sectors of industry, businesses face the challenge of keeping up with the enormous speed of development. Many find this difficult: according to a current joint survey of the German-speaking SAP-user group DSAG and their counterparts in the U.S. and Great Britain, less than 10% of respondents consider themselves experts in AI and generative AI. Only 30% of the companies participating in the survey in the D-A-CH(Germany, Austria, Switzerland) region use AI at least in some areas. “The speedy development of AI technologies can be overwhelming for companies,” says Jens Hungershausen commenting on the survey results. According to the DSAG Chairman, pilot projects are one way to avoid being left behind. In these projects companies can acquire valuable experience and build in-house skills for more comprehensive AI implementations in future. According to the survey, at least one in three DSAD member companies are currently conducting AI pilots.

Focus on business processes
Asked about current or planned applications for Artificial Intelligence, the majority of companies – according to DSAG – state above all the data-based optimization of business processes. AI-supported data analysis and improved decision-making processes – topics that have long been high on the agenda in retail. As in previous years, the segments Analytics as well as Merchandise & Supply Chain Management are among the key topics at EuroCIS 2025. Providers of ERP platforms, forecasting and planning software, merchandise management, inventory management, in-store analytics, CMR or dynamic pricing solutions have been relying on rules-based AI and machine learning for many years. In presentations, the auditing and consulting firm KPMG, Deutsche Telekom, Invent.ai, Wayvee Analytics and the Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems IAIS, among others, will provide information on current developments and show how AI and generative AI can ensure greater efficiency and transparency along the entire value chain. At the trade fair, the Institute will present the “RetAll Allocator,” to name but one solution, an AI-based distribution solution for logistics. It can be used to optimize the availability of goods in online and physical stores – by way of faster re-introduction of returns into retail or more precise sales forecasts, for example.

AI 2025: key technology driver
The increasing use of smart and increasingly autonomous systems is associated with rising demands on the technical infrastructure, on the availability of reliable data in real time, but also on IT security and sustainable energy management. The global market research and consulting company ISG expects Artificial Intelligence to no longer be an isolated development but rather a driver for many IT trends such as robotics, Cloud and Edge computing or Spatial Computing. At EuroCIS 2025, retail companies have the opportunity to gather information about preventive cyber security concepts, IoT solutions as well as robotics and computer vision. GK Software, for example, will present partner solutions such as the AI-assisted article recognition at self-checkouts and smart shopping trolleys with integral personalization. Even manufacturers of self-service scales such as Bizerba focus on AI-assisted visual object recognition to make the weighing of fruit and vegetables or sustainably unpackaged products faster, more shopper-friendly and less error-prone. For this, the merchandise placed on the scales is captured by a camera system. An algorithm analyses the image data and displays the matches.

At EuroCIS 2025, the Chinese company Hanshow will demonstrate how retailers can use AI to keep an eye on their stores at all times. This provider of electronic shelf labels (ESL) and digital store solutions practically gives shelves eyes by linking ESL, AI cameras and IoT technology. Shelf-Edge Computer Vision enables companies to automate stocktaking processes, identify perished goods or avoid out-of-stock situations. These tasks can alternatively or additionally be performed by a mobile service robot that autonomously moves through the aisles. According to Hanshow, these AI-based solutions also allow comprehensive data analysis of stocks, sales trends and shopper preferences in physical retail stores – i.e., business intelligence comparable to e-commerce.

In addition to this Chinese company, German company MetraLabs will present their mobile service robot Tory, which can now even guide shoppers to the desired merchandise in the store. The smart AI agents from Google & Co, on the other hand, are still in the development phase. It is still unclear when they will become the new standard for internet use. But they are known to learn quickly: anyone who wants to follow the progress live can apply to be a test person on the Google DeepMind website. And the way companies sell or advertise online is also likely to change fundamentally once smart AI agents become a standard on billions of browsers.

Artificial Intelligence is just one of the hot topics at EuroCIS – click here for other focal themes at the retail technology trade fair.

For the EuroCIS stage program with AI related lectures: visit here.

For further information on visiting or exhibiting at EuroCIS 2025, contact Messe Düsseldorf North America; Telephone: (312) 781-5180; E-mail: [email protected]; Visit eurocis-tradefair.com and mdna.com. Follow us here.

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