This week's coolest retail technology reveals
RTIH Editor, Scott Thompson, brings you his top ten ‘future of retail systems’ deployments from the past seven days, including McDonald’s, Yango Deli, Kroger/Ocado Group and Marks and Spencer.
McDonald’s
McDonald's has released a set of 188 non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to celebrate its 31st anniversary in the Chinese market.
THG Ingenuity and Mode
UK-based FinTech venture Mode has launched its Open Banking payments and Bitcoin rewards solution with The Hut Group’s THG Ingenuity tech platform.
The integration can now be found on all 30+ THG brands at checkout, including Lookfantastic, Myprotein and The Hut.
Kroger/Ocado Group
America's largest grocery retailer, Kroger, is set to offer more people Kroger Delivery through the addition of five new customer fulfilment centres powered by Ocado Group.
It is planning to enter the northeast market and expand in California and Florida.
Glenfiddich
Glenfiddich has partnered with BlockBar to launch a series of 15 limited edition liquor NFTs.
Each one corresponds to a physical bottle of a 1973 46 year old Armagnac cask finish Single Malt Scotch Whisky that is sold by Glenfiddich.
The tokens are offered exclusively through BlockBar’s NFT platform, which enables Glenfiddich to digitise and sell exclusive spirits products as NFTs directly to consumers, whether for personal consumption, collecting, or investment purposes.
Marks and Spencer
X5 Retail
Russian food retailer X5 Group has opened a new Vprok.ru Perekrestok dark store with a total area of 37,000 sq m.
Located in Salaryevo, Novomoskovsky District, it is the online hypermarket's third such facility in Moscow and the fifth and largest in Russia. The dark store has increased Vprok.ru Perekrestok's total capacity in the Moscow region by 40%.
Instacart and 99 Cents Only Stores
Instacart has partnered with discount retailer 99 Cents Only Stores to deliver from more than 300 store locations across California, Arizona, Nevada and Texas.
This builds on a 23 store pilot launched in May.
Alongside the Marketplace expansion, Instacart has also launched a new white label storefront for the 99, built and powered by its enterprise technology.
Boots
Standard AI and Circle K
US-based autonomous checkout solution provider, Standard AI (formerly known as Standard Cognition) has worked with Circle K to open its offering in a store in Arizona.
Using AI powered cameras throughout the store, the system identifies the products shoppers pick up and automatically records the purchases on the Circle K mobile app, eliminating time spent at traditional checkout areas.
Yango Deli
Yango Deli, the rapid grocery delivery arm of Russian tech giant Yandex, has launched in the UK.
It is opening four dark stores across London and promising to deliver groceries in around 15 minutes.
The move builds on a network of more than 400 locations, operated by Yango Deli in France and Israel and by Yandex.Lavka in Russia.
