Audi City, the virtual showroom concept in London run by the German manufacturer and Synter, has won the Store Technology Award in the BT Retail Week Technology Awards.

Judges presiding over the 12 category awards included IT and commercial directors from retail organisations, including John Lewis, House of Fraser, Jacques Vert and Net-a-Porter. The Store Technology Award is new to the category list for 2013.

Jason Cranswick, head of customer quality and network development for Audi UK, said: “The Audi City bucks trends, embraces the future and employs leading edge technology to make life easier for our customers.

“It also helps to bring us closer to them, both geographically and in terms of the personalisation of our service.”

Rebecca Thomson, insight editor at Retail Week, said: "Retail technologists don't have an easy job - they are dealing with structural changes that are unprecedented, and working to ready the industry for a shopping environment that will rely almost entirely on technology.”

The Audi City format has a customer interaction area on the entry floor of the showroom which uses ceiling to floor digital screens to let customers create their own Audi using motion gestures.

The second floor features private sales rooms where customers can further customise their cars and discuss buying. AM visited the showroom last year and wrote a blog on the experience.

More than 20 Audi City stores are expected to be in place in key locations worldwide by 2015.