Merging the Physical and Digital Worlds: Retail Refined

In a (bring your own device) retail world, the lines between the physical and digital worlds continue to merge thanks to the possibilities of computer vision. In this episode with guest Christian Floerkemeier, CTO and co-founder of Scandit, learn how Scandit is helping retailers automate end-to-end retail operations by moving routine processes and tasks onto mobile devices powered by high-performance barcode scanning software. From consumer self-scanning apps for self-checkout and Scan-and-Go shopping to augmented reality for access to real-time information, they are redefining retail one scan at a time via intelligent text and object recognition capturing customer imagination and reducing operational costs.

About the Guest

Christian Floerkemeier: CTO, VP Product, and co-founder of Scandit
As CTO and VP Product, Scandit co-founder Christian Floerkemeier is responsible for Scandit’s product strategy and roadmap and is the technical lead behind Scandit’s patented Barcode Scanner technology.

Before founding Scandit, Christian was the Associate Director of the Auto-ID Lab at MIT and a member of the MIT research team that developed the RFID technology which is today in use in major supply chains. Christian also co-founded Fosstrak, the leading open-source RFID software platform that implements the EPC Network specification. He was the technical program chair of the Internet of Things Conference in 2008 and IEEE RFID 2009 and general chair of IEEE RFID 2011.

Christian received a PhD in Computer Science from ETH Zurich and a Bachelor and MEng degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Cambridge.

About the Company

Scandit enables businesses and consumers to interact with everyday objects by blending the physical and digital worlds using computer vision. Scandit technology is a unique machine learning platform combining leading-edge barcode scanning, text recognition (OCR), object recognition and augmented reality (AR) for use on any camera-equipped smart device, from smartphones to drones, wearables and robots.

Many of the world’s most successful companies use Scandit as part of their digital transformation, including 7-Eleven, Alaska Airlines, Carrefour, Hermes, La Poste, Levi Strauss & Co, Sephora and Toyota.

What Melissa Asked

  • How does Scandit blend the physical and digital worlds using computer vision?
  • Why did you start the company and how has your vision evolved since then?
  • How do you see changing behaviors due to COVID accelerating adoption for in-store technology integration?
  • How does Scandit take costs out of operational costs?
  • How long does it take you to get a store up and running, and optimized?
  • Are there a couple of retail use cases/success story examples you can share?

Listen To Previous Episodes of Retail Refined Right Here!

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Image

Latest

TGR Foundation
Tiger Woods’ TGR Foundation Is Reimagining Educational Access Through STEAM, AI, and Community Partnerships
May 19, 2026

As schools across the United States continue grappling with post-pandemic learning loss, declining student engagement, and shrinking emergency funding, nonprofit organizations are increasingly stepping in to fill critical gaps. Recent national studies on literacy recovery, student engagement, and career-connected learning show that educators are facing significant post-pandemic challenges in keeping students connected to pathways that…

Read More
Talent
Higher Ed Must Build a Talent Supply Chain to Fix Workforce Readiness
May 18, 2026

The traditional pathway from college to career is starting to break down—and both universities and employers are feeling the strain. Higher education is under mounting pressure to prove career outcomes as employers question graduate readiness and internships decline. In fact, many institutions are reporting shrinking internship pipelines even as employers continue to prioritize prior…

Read More
healthcare
The Healthcare Talent Fix: Build Pipelines Early, Use Data, and Get the Experience Right
May 18, 2026

There’s a growing tension inside healthcare right now—between the people leaving the workforce and the patients still arriving every day. It’s a dynamic that leaders can no longer afford to ignore. The numbers make that clear: the Association of American Medical Colleges estimates that the U.S. could be short of as many as 86,000 physicians…

Read More
education
Just Thinking… About Federal Funds, Student Support, and the Future of Education with Eric Reaves
May 15, 2026

As conversations around the future of the U.S. Department of Education continue to intensify, educators and federal program leaders are facing mounting uncertainty about how federal funds will be managed, distributed, and regulated. At the same time, schools serving historically underserved students remain heavily reliant on programs like Title I and other federally supported initiatives…

Read More