In a wide-ranging address on the role of automation in life and business, he told World Retail Congress delegates in Madrid on Thursday: “Tech is what brings everything together. The notion is that much of it [technology] has yet to really enter the consumer household. It will someday, just not yet.”

He said that the shift is from macro data to personalised data. “AI algorithms will determine what we do next. We are moving from a world of periodic data to real time data. We will also see increasingly complex learning by technology, which we are seeing with the work of companies like Kroger.”

O'Connor insisted that it is no longer a question of  'or' but that we are moving to an “And world”.

He concluded: “The new generation of retailers are moving to the notion of retail as a service.”