Table 2 Smart technologies definition... | Emerald Publishing

Table 2

Smart technologies definition and diffusion in literature

Technology	Definition	Year	#Papers	Main references
RFId (Radio frequency identification)	Technology that uses radio waves to passively identify a tagged object and enables real-time item tracking. It allows to associate a univocal code to every handled unit, and to detect it from a greater distance	2005	26	Rekik et al. (2008), Thiesse et al. (2009), Hardgrave et al. (2013), De Marco et al. (2012), Condea et al. (2012), Zhou and Piramuthu (2013), Landmark and Sjøbakk (2017)
Augmented reality	Interactive experience of a real-world environment where the objects that reside in the real world are enhanced by computer-generated perceptual information	2017	18	Poushneh and Vasquez-Parraga (2017), Dacko (2017), Rejeb et al. (2023)
Self-service technologies	Technological interface that allows to provide customers with services, without the involvement of the employee (e.g. self-checkout)	2007	15	Weijters et al. (2007), Kaushik and Rahman (2015), Lee (2015), Demoulin and Djelassi (2016), Fernandes and Pedroso (2017)
Artificial intelligence	Systems that can perceive the surrounding environment and take actions that maximise the chance of achieving a goal. In the retail context, it allows retailers to connect with their customers and to operate more efficiently	2019	11	Chopra (2019), Pillai et al. (2020), Cao (2021), Guha et al. (2021)
Mobile device	Portable devices that can be carried by the user moving across the store that enable a series of activities allowing customers to get more informed decisions while shopping (e.g. searching for online reviews, getting personalised suggestions, making payments)	2016	10	Taylor (2016), Hoehle et al. (2018), Fiestas and Tuzovic (2021)
Interactive display	Display that exhibits digital images, videos, or texts, and allows customer interaction	2017	9	Roy et al. (2017), Willems et al. (2017), van Giesen and Leenheer (2019), van de Sanden et al. (2022)
Internet of things device	Devices and sensors able to gather a great amount of data, which can be then exploited for different purposes	2017	7	Balaji and Roy (2017), Caro and Sadr (2019), Fagerstrøm et al. (2020)
Robot	Machine that autonomously perform routine tasks (e.g. inventory tracking, locating of items) traditionally in charge of employees	2019	5	Morenza-Cinos et al. (2019), Moore et al. (2022), Song and Kim (2022)
Smart mirror	Two-way mirror with an inbuilt display behind the glass that can superpose things (clothing or make-up) on customers’ image	2018	5	Ogunjimi et al. (2021), Schultz and Gorlas (2023)
Virtual reality	Decentralised computing landscape based on a digital world, which displays 3D virtual products and store components	2019	4	Xi and Hamari (2021), Ben Mimoun et al. (2022)
Near field communication	Device that communicates with a shopper’s smartphone using short-range radio waves. The communication, which allows to exchange information between each other at a short distance, must be initiated by customer	2017	4	Roy et al. (2017, 2018)
Beacon	Device that communicates with a shopper’s smartphone to push contents using Bluetooth technology (e.g. ads, coupons, supplementary product information)	2019	3	van de Sanden et al., 2019, Lin (2022)
Sensor	Device that detects and responds to specific kinds of input from the physical environment (e.g. count the number of shoppers in a store)	2017	3	Epstein et al. (2021)
Smart shelf	Shelf furnished with electronic labels and sensors interacting with the consumers to guide them in the selection and provide information on stock in real time	2017	2	Inman and Nikolova (2017), Boden et al. (2020)
Smart fitting rooms	Fitting rooms equipped with interactive touch-screen mirror connected to an RFId reader and a motion sensor. They sense when customers enter it and what items they have brought in by reading their tags	2012	2	Wong et al. (2012)
Smart shopping cart	Shopping cart whose position is tracked through appropriated geo-localisation technologies. Moreover, they can automatically recognise items as they are placed in the cart, enable self-payments and display advertisement	2017	2	Roy et al. (2017), Inman and Nikolova (2017)

Technology	Definition	Year	#Papers	Main references
RFId (Radio frequency identification)	Technology that uses radio waves to passively identify a tagged object and enables real-time item tracking. It allows to associate a univocal code to every handled unit, and to detect it from a greater distance	2005	26	Rekik et al. (2008), Thiesse et al. (2009), Hardgrave et al. (2013), De Marco et al. (2012), Condea et al. (2012), Zhou and Piramuthu (2013), Landmark and Sjøbakk (2017)
Augmented reality	Interactive experience of a real-world environment where the objects that reside in the real world are enhanced by computer-generated perceptual information	2017	18	Poushneh and Vasquez-Parraga (2017), Dacko (2017), Rejeb et al. (2023)
Self-service technologies	Technological interface that allows to provide customers with services, without the involvement of the employee (e.g. self-checkout)	2007	15	Weijters et al. (2007), Kaushik and Rahman (2015), Lee (2015), Demoulin and Djelassi (2016), Fernandes and Pedroso (2017)
Artificial intelligence	Systems that can perceive the surrounding environment and take actions that maximise the chance of achieving a goal. In the retail context, it allows retailers to connect with their customers and to operate more efficiently	2019	11	Chopra (2019), Pillai et al. (2020), Cao (2021), Guha et al. (2021)
Mobile device	Portable devices that can be carried by the user moving across the store that enable a series of activities allowing customers to get more informed decisions while shopping (e.g. searching for online reviews, getting personalised suggestions, making payments)	2016	10	Taylor (2016), Hoehle et al. (2018), Fiestas and Tuzovic (2021)
Interactive display	Display that exhibits digital images, videos, or texts, and allows customer interaction	2017	9	Roy et al. (2017), Willems et al. (2017), van Giesen and Leenheer (2019), van de Sanden et al. (2022)
Internet of things device	Devices and sensors able to gather a great amount of data, which can be then exploited for different purposes	2017	7	Balaji and Roy (2017), Caro and Sadr (2019), Fagerstrøm et al. (2020)
Robot	Machine that autonomously perform routine tasks (e.g. inventory tracking, locating of items) traditionally in charge of employees	2019	5	Morenza-Cinos et al. (2019), Moore et al. (2022), Song and Kim (2022)
Smart mirror	Two-way mirror with an inbuilt display behind the glass that can superpose things (clothing or make-up) on customers’ image	2018	5	Ogunjimi et al. (2021), Schultz and Gorlas (2023)
Virtual reality	Decentralised computing landscape based on a digital world, which displays 3D virtual products and store components	2019	4	Xi and Hamari (2021), Ben Mimoun et al. (2022)
Near field communication	Device that communicates with a shopper’s smartphone using short-range radio waves. The communication, which allows to exchange information between each other at a short distance, must be initiated by customer	2017	4	Roy et al. (2017, 2018)
Beacon	Device that communicates with a shopper’s smartphone to push contents using Bluetooth technology (e.g. ads, coupons, supplementary product information)	2019	3	van de Sanden et al., 2019, Lin (2022)
Sensor	Device that detects and responds to specific kinds of input from the physical environment (e.g. count the number of shoppers in a store)	2017	3	Epstein et al. (2021)
Smart shelf	Shelf furnished with electronic labels and sensors interacting with the consumers to guide them in the selection and provide information on stock in real time	2017	2	Inman and Nikolova (2017), Boden et al. (2020)
Smart fitting rooms	Fitting rooms equipped with interactive touch-screen mirror connected to an RFId reader and a motion sensor. They sense when customers enter it and what items they have brought in by reading their tags	2012	2	Wong et al. (2012)
Smart shopping cart	Shopping cart whose position is tracked through appropriated geo-localisation technologies. Moreover, they can automatically recognise items as they are placed in the cart, enable self-payments and display advertisement	2017	2	Roy et al. (2017), Inman and Nikolova (2017)

Source(s): Authors’ own work