Five retail tech things we learned last week
RTIH takes a not always serious look back at another eventful week for the retail technology space.
1. Over to you, Bernie
2. Asda is turning itself into a mini department store
3. Boots, meanwhile, is turning into a total bin fire of a shop
Responding to the above tweet, Uncrowd’s Richard Hammond said: “I got told I was scaremongering when I warned that the sell-out to Wallgreens would produce exactly this outcome.”
“Not that Wallgreens are bad, they aren't, but that Boots would end up as a simple P&L entry, not a real community retailer with a beating human heart.”
4. Retailers need to trust their social media teams
“Trust your social media team to know their audience and know an opportunity, and great things happen.”
So said Catherine Storey, Lead Social Manager at Co-op, as the retailer struck gold with its Aldi UK 30th birthday content.
5. Ocado should buy AutoStore and banish its legal blues
We recently reported that Ocado was being sued by Norwegian robotics firm AutoStore.
The latter has filed lawsuits in the UK High Court and the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, claiming Ocado’s grocery picking robots infringe on its automated designs.
So, what is the best option available to Ocado in this situation? Buy AutoStore and run it as a separate company, because an acquisition would eliminate the lawsuit, according to Brittain Ladd, a supply chain consultant and former Amazon exec.
