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In the search for differentiation it is not enough to attend to the selling environment, equal attention must be directed towards the customers and what they want to buy. This article, which is confined to a handful of retailers and concentrates on the non‐food side only, tries to examine how far they can determine the design of their products and what role independent designers are playing.

The trend towards fewer and larger retail outlets, with the organisation centre often far away from the selling points; the doubling of the number of products sold in the last 10 years; the stagnation in turnover — all these have been the main forces behind the development of electronic data processing (and scanning in particular) in the retail trade. Europe hasn't been as quick off the mark as the USA in establishing itself in the scanning field, but all this is now changing. 1982 was the watershed, with Germany leading the way with 660 scanner PoS terminals in 73 self‐service stores. France comes next with 48 installations, followed by the UK with 42, Belgium with 39, 36 in the Netherlands, and 20 in Sweden. During 1982, too, almost 50% of the total number of systems now in place were installed. And in West Germany at least there's been no let up in 1983, with installations increasing by 71, to 144, and the number of scanner PoS terminals rising by 622, to 1,280. However, it wasn't just the large space users which were responsible for this surge forward: 35 of the 71 new installations were in supermarkets having a maximum of four checkouts. One computer company busy raking in the Deutschmarks, as well as Swiss Francs, pounds sterling, and some Scandinavian currencies, is the German based Nixdorf Computer. At a two‐day conference in Zurich, Axel Hass, Nixdorf's person in charge of sales for trade, restaurants and hotels, pointed out how, having made its name in the banking world from its inception in the 1950s, Nixdorf can now claim to be West Germany's market leader in laser‐scanning PoS systems, with 34% market share (equal to IBM here). Its number of installations worldwide has soared from 500 in 1975 to 14,000 in 1983, and in 1984 Nixdorf is confident this number will reach 25,000. Users now include German department and variety store groups, such as Karstadt, Dyckhoff and Kaufhof, the Spar voluntary chain, co‐ops, and Migros in Switzerland. But so far Nixdorf's push into the UK has been limited to a 50‐terminal system at the Calor Gas organisation, and an order for a non‐scanning system for a Scottish‐based retail chain. However, Nixdorf is obviously keen to make a deeper thrust into the UK and has set up a special group over here. The following two articles are based on papers presented at the Zurich conference. The first is a description of Nixdorf's first scanning exercise, for the German Rewe Group, which serves 7,930 independent outlets through 29 affiliated wholesalers. The second is a quite different and much smaller operation, for Mackay's whose headquarters are in Paisley in the west of Scotland. Nixdorf is providing a non‐scanning system for the company's 140 outlets scattered throughout the UK. Both the above operate out of retail units averaging under 3,000 sq m and demonstrate Nixdorf's flexibility, with its 8812/10 terminal system, to cater for the smaller as well as the larger retailer.

On 25 January Tesco, carrying the beacon for others to follow, opened its first “live” scanning store, in Edmonton, and 15 more are planned to open over the next year. Other groups are still at the trial stage, and RDM heard about their progress during the Article Numbering Association's annual conference held in Wembley, London, on 22 and 23 March. The whole conference was headed “Article Numbering — can you afford to ignore it?” and the first session looked at some of the teething troubles the UK groups were facing, for instance whether to barcode in store and how to tackle the problem of transition from price‐marking to bar‐coding. The data that can be retrieved from scanning makes it “one of the most important management tools in our industry today,” according to Chuck Gramlich of Ralphs Grocery Co which is based in Los Angeles. He showed how this group, which was the second in the States to go 100% scanning, used the data to reduce shrinkage, improve cashier productivity, reduce energy costs, examine customer buying patterns, and test new products.

The veteran superstore group Asda have been quick to respond to critics of their recent lack‐lustre performance. A new design is being rolled out which will make the stores and their products more easily understandable. Added to which Asda are sharpening up their attitude to the merchandise itself, and a much larger own label input should return them eventually to their erstwhile strong position in the retailing stakes.

As the International Year of Disabled People draws to an end what has been happening in the high street? What changes have been made in attitudes and design policies to accommodate the needs of so‐called disabled people? In a wide‐ranging review RDM discovered that there's little or no legislation to tie the hands of the planners, developers, designers and shop owners, and that while there was an air of optimism among disabled groups, only in exceptional cases was there contact between such groups and shop owners.

‘One store for all’ has long ago been dismissed as an outdated retailing formula. However, here we describe two retailers who challenge the new convention that adults (and children) must be addressed as definable market segments; and a third who takes the unusual route of pursuing the habitually neglected and unfashionable customer group — the poor. These three papers were between them presented earlier this year at HAY/MSL's Retailing Event, and the Institute for International Research's second annual retailing conference.

Retail analysts Tony MacNeary and John Richards of stockbrokers Capel Cure Myers are engaged in a study focussed on retail designers, but it inevitably took them beyond this relatively narrow field to examine UK design generally. For the most part design in this country has been sluggish, but one gratifying exception has been retail design, which has really taken off in the last 10 years. RDM asked the analysts about their findings and where they thought the future of retail designers lay.

Storing and distributing Argos' toys from the company's recently acquired Welwyn warehouse is being successfully carried out through third party operators. Fulfilling this task are National Carriers Contract Services (NCCS) in conjunction with GKN Chep, wellknown in the field for hiring out materials handling equipment. However, the smooth‐running of the operation can only be assured if certain standards of co‐operation and reliability are met, and here we relate how a confident dependency has been established.

It's a pleasure to find that retail outlets designed for grown‐ups can be fun. Claude Gill bookshops, which have been around for well over 35 years, came under new management in 1982 and soon after plans were underway to update the chain. Isherwood & Co's new design has given the units a light, fresh feel, but most of all they've added a touch of humour.

Technological advances exploited by designers have resulted in some artful uses of retail lighting. But this medium is far from static and managements are urged to take responsibility for its ongoing creative use. Here we outline some of the developments that have taken place in the last decade and point to ways in which a lighting project can he approached.