The retail technology space during the Covid pandemic

Retail Technology Innovation Hub rounds up the key retail systems related Covid-19 developments from last week, including Instacart, Co-op, Adyen and the 2021 RTIH Innovation Awards.

US discounter Grocery Outlet has partnered with Instacart, marking the first time that the company will offer an e-commerce solution to its customers.

Half of UK retailers anticipate a spike in fraud attacks on their businesses in the Q4 shopping period, according to research commissioned by Adyen.

Delivery platform venture, Sorted, has announced Carmen Carey as its new CEO.

Carey, who has been a Non-Executive Director on Sorted’s board of directors for the past two years, joins from city-based commodity trading and risk management software solutions provider Brady Technologies (where she held the position of CEO).

She was previously CEO at Big Data Partnership, Apica and ControlCircle.

Co-op is currently working on the next iteration of its rapid grocery delivery service.

This includes recruiting a lead UX designer to join the Co-op Digital team.

It's going to be a MASSIVE year for the Co-op Food Experience team next year. Rapid delivery is an ever changing, massively competitive market - come help us design the next iteration of our service.

We're hiring a 12 month Lead Design cover role, RT's appreciated. https://t.co/xj0kBHwYyn
— Adam Hopwood (@AHopwood) October 18, 2021

US online holiday sales will hit $207 billion from 1st November to 31st December, setting a new record, according to research from Adobe. This represents a 10% increase from 2020.

The e-commerce space has remained buoyant, despite normal life resuming, with online sales up 24% and referrals up 15% compared to pre-pandemic levels.

That’s according to new research from referral engineering platform Mention Me, which has analysed online retail sales over Q3 2021.

The Body Shop and Instacart have announced a partnership that offers customers same-day delivery from all 165 The Body Shop retail locations in the US and Canada on the latter’s Marketplace offering.

Natural Baby Shower has partnered with Go Instore to add one to one live video retail to its website.

Customers can now speak to a nursery specialist in-store in order to get advice and see products.

They can also access this through an appointment service, powered by Appointedd, a cloud-based online booking platform.

RTIH has announced Critizr as sponsor of the Best Coronavirus Innovation category at the 2021 RTIH Innovation Awards.

The pandemic has had a major impact on the way that we shop and the way that retailers operate.

This award will go to the company who has best turned to technology to solve the challenges presented by the Covid-19 era, improving in-store and/or online experiences for both staff and customers.

Last year, Ocucon emerged triumphant, impressing our judging panel with Occupi by Ocucon, an intelligent occupancy management system that allows retailers to remotely monitor and manage the flow of shoppers in and out of their stores – coordinated via signage, CCTV and door entry and closing systems.

To be in with a chance of joining them in our hall of fame, click here.

Featured