September: top ten coolest retail technology reveals
RTIH Editor, Scott Thompson, brings you his stand out ‘future of retail’ systems deployments from the past month, including Shop.com, Albertsons Companies, Shopify and Walmart.
Shop.com
US-based e-commerce platform Shop.com is getting into the cryptocurrency payments game.
The company, which is owned by Market America, has partnered with BitPay, enabling it to accept payments in several cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Dogecoin, Ethereum and Litecoin, as well as five USD pegged stablecoins.
The BitPay integration is available in all the countries where Market America operates, which includes the US, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, UK, Singapore and Malaysia.
Albertsons Companies
Shoppertainment platform venture, Firework, has announced a new partnership with Albertsons Companies.
The food and drug giant is the first US grocer to utilise the Firework platform, bringing online shoppers shoppable, short-form and livestream video experiences.
Jerome’s Furniture
US retailer Jerome’s Furniture has announced the launch of WebAR on Jeromes.com, extending its augmented reality furniture shopping experience to all smartphone shoppers.
The retailer first implemented AR in 2016 and already offers Marxent powered AR apps for both iPhone and Android.
Powered by the Marxent 3D Cloud, the new WebAR experience allows users shopping on smartphones to launch 3D AR products directly from jeromes.com. Over 1,000 Jerome’s product SKUs are WebAR enabled.
Walmart
Walmart has worked with Argo AI and Ford to launch an autonomous vehicle delivery service in Austin, Miami and Washington D.C.
This will use Ford self-driving test vehicles equipped with the Argo AI Self-Driving System to deliver Walmart orders to customers.
The service will be available within defined service areas of the three markets and will expand over time, with initial integration testing slated to begin later this year.
Majid Al Futtaim
Majid Al Futtaim, which owns and operates shopping malls, retail, and leisure establishments in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, has announced the launch of checkout free store, Carrefour City+.
A first for Carrefour worldwide and opening this week in Mall of the Emirates, this taps AiFi powered artificial intelligence technology.
Store access and shopping payment is enabled via the MAF Carrefour app. Once inside Carrefour City+, every item picked up by customers is automatically added to a digital shopping basket and the purchase is completed by walking out.
Nisa
Jisp has launched an augmented reality vouchering system, Scan & Save, for brands, independent retailers and their customers.
The solution will initially be deployed in 12 Nisa stores across the UK and will allow customers to exclusively save up to 60% on more than 65 products from the likes of Mondelez, PepsiCo, Kelloggs, Molson Coors and Nomad Foods.
Asda
Asda has partnered with startup Wayve to test out autonomous vans as part of the grocery giant’s last mile operation.
The trial will begin in early 2022 and Asda will be the first to commercially test the solution, using Wayve’s deep learning expertise to help navigate complex delivery routes in London.
The vans will operate under the supervision of a Wayve safety driver throughout the 12-month trial.
Shopify
Canadian e-commerce platform giant Shopify has built an internal game that aims to make virtual hangouts more fun.
Shopify Party is pitched as an investment and experimentation in the future of remote work.
Daniel Beauchamp, Principal AR/VR Engineer, tweeted last week: “There are many tools for virtual hangouts, but most focus on using video chat to recreate the office experience.”
“We wanted to give people a break from video fatigue, and make a space designed for social play and being silly.”
Hy-Vee
US retailer Hy-Vee has partnered with Simbe Robotics to roll-out its autonomous inventory management and retail intelligence solution, Tally, to five stores across Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri.
Laybuy
Illusionist Ryan Tricks has teamed up with buy now, pay later provider Laybuy for an, erm, magical publicity stunt.
He has been conjuring up prizes out of nowhere for passers by, including a QR code. When scanned, a shopper was told they had won £1,000.
Other prizes included one person finding freshly dropped Nike trainers appearing in an empty box with their name and correct shoes size, while another who had said they had always wanted to visit Iceland was rewarded with tickets from Lastminute.com.
