The five biggest retail tech news stories of the week
It’s Friday, the week is nearly done, so let’s kick back and reflect on another eventful week for the retail systems space. Here's your briefing on the most important stories from the past five days, including Amazon, Instacart, Ocado Group and Wayve and boohoo and Debenhams.
1. boohoo taps Mirakl tech for Debenhams online marketplace push
Fashion retailer, boohoo group, has launched a Debenhams online marketplace, powered by Mirakl technology.
Earlier this year, pureplay boohoo bought the Debenhams brand and website for £55 million and decided not to take on any of the firm's high street stores or its workforce.
It says that, with this latest move, it is looking to create the UK’s largest marketplace across fashion, beauty, sport and homeware.
Debenhams has thus far made around 200 new brands available through the new offering, and new suppliers and brands are joining weekly.
2. Ocado Group and Wayve agree autonomous grocery delivery tie up
Ocado Group has announced a partnership with and £10 million investment in startup Wayve as it looks to accelerate the development of autonomous grocery deliveries for complex urban environments.
This closely follows Asda’s tie up with Wayve.
The collaboration includes an autonomous delivery trial that will see Wayve’s deep learning and camera-based technology technology fitted onto a selection of Ocado vans and tested out on urban routes for 12 months.
A portion of Ocado’s existing delivery fleet will also be outfitted with Wayve’s data collection devices to provide data for training and validating Wayve’s technology.
3. Mercaux omnichannel research shows changing role of physical stores
A new report from Mercaux explores the changing role of the store and flags up the importance of capturing customer behaviours, now perceived as just as vital as selling products in bricks and mortar retail.
Research was carried out across 200 retailers (by Censuswide) and 2,000 UK consumers.
“It’s clear from our report that the retail industry is still in its infancy of digital transformation, but I'm buoyed by the progress that has been made in such a short period of time since stores reopened to the public,” says Olga Kotsur, CEO and Co-Founder, Mercaux.
4. Instacart snaps up catering software venture FoodStorm
Instacart has announced the acquisition of FoodStorm, a SaaS order management system that powers end-to-end order-ahead and catering experiences for grocery retailers.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
FoodStorm was founded 14 years ago and has developed partnerships with a number of Instacart’s retail partners including Albertsons Companies banners Balducci’s and Kings Food Markets, as well as Bi-Rite Market, Mollie Stone’s Markets, Uncle Giuseppe’s and Roche Brothers Supermarkets.
Instacart, which earlier this year was valued at $39 billion after a mega funding round, will now make its technology available to more retailers by integrating it into its enterprise grocery e-commerce solutions.
5. Amazon picks Bluewater for first Amazon 4-star store outside USA
Amazon has opened the doors to the first Amazon 4-star store outside of the US.
Situated in Bluewater, this offers a range of products that are rated four stars and above, are top sellers, or are trending on Amazon’s UK site, including consumer electronics, toys, games, books, kitchen, and home.
Customers can purchase online and collect orders at the store as soon as the next day. It also offers parcel free, label free returns for items purchased both in store and online.
Digital price tags are located alongside each product with the item price, average star rating, and the number of customer reviews.
Amazon account holders will pay the price as they would on the UK site. Prime members will receive exclusive perks and deals throughout the store.
