RTIH Innovation Awards: Best UK Retailer/Tech Supplier Relationship shortlist announced
Reiss, Retail247, Ribble, Go Instore, Thought and Clekt are among the nominees in the Best UK Retailer/Tech Supplier Relationship category at the 2021 RTIH Innovation Awards.
This award recognises a successful partnership between a global retailer and a technology supplier, with an emphasis on the last 12 months and how said partnership has gone from strength to strength during that period.
Shortlist as follows:
Boulevard/eDesk
With the help of the eDesk platform, online retailer Boulevard is now answering customer queries up to five times faster than before.
Piglet in Bed/Wunderkind
Piglet in Bed recognised the value of owning its audience, but prior to working with Wunderkind, two of its key challenges were maximising consumer data capture, and using this data in the right way once collected.
The integration of Wunderkind’s solution has helped the bedding brand increase email attributed revenue, grow its addressable marketing lists, and introduce sophisticated automation to email engagement to improve customer experience (CX) in buying journeys.
Reiss/Retail247
Reiss was one of Retail247’s first customers, making the relationship over half a decade long.
The engagement began with consultancy and now covers projects, infrastructure and key solutions.
Ribble/Go Instore
Ribble, the built to order bike retailer, saw the opportunity during the Covid-19 outbreak to take advantage of its limited physical presence to provide an improved journey for its online customers, and decided to partner with Go Instore.
Ribble wanted to offer personalised consultations to those customers who weren’t close to its showrooms.
Seizing the chance before lockdowns in 2020, it integrated Go Instore into its long-term digital strategy, dedicating an entire team to answering video calls and giving online shoppers the same exclusive experience in-store customers receive.
Seasalt/Klevu
Covid has accelerated Seasalt’s digital transformation strategy.
It recently replatformed to Magento 2 on all three websites, UK, Ireland and rest of world, and launched with Klevu’s Discovery Suite including Smart Search and Smart Category Merchandising in mid-July 2021.
Thought/Clekt
Thought embarked on an aggressive digital transformation programme in short timescales to facilitate its growth, and looked for a partner, Clekt, to support it with a data first approach.
What’s next?
We will now ask our judging panel to cast their votes and provide their feedback. The winner will be revealed on 8th December at a roundtable discussion/networking event in central London.
Our thanks to the following retail leaders for offering their assistance and expertise this year.
Mike Cadden, IT Director (Sales, Marketing and Customer Services), Office Depot
Hayley Meenan-Wilkin, E-Commerce Manager, Fishpools
Martin Newman, Founder, The Customer First Group
Paula Bobbett, E-Commerce Director, Boots UK
Tiffany Lung, Retail Analyst
Nadine Neatrour, Marketing Director, Selfridges
Simon Curtis, Sales and Marketing Director, PMC Retail
Christine Russo, Digital and Physical Retail Consultant
Gerald Dawson, Business Consultant and Finance Director, The iOutlet and HANX
Sharon Peters, Head Of Technology - Marks and Spencer, HR, Finance, Corporate Services and M&S Bank
Luke Phillips, Head of IT Delivery, Studio Retail
Matt Taylor, Technology Transformation Leader at EY, Retail and Consumer Products
Third time around
Now into their third year, the awards are sponsored by PMC, StoreSpace, Critizr, Marxent, QVALON and Selazar.
“PMC is delighted to again support the RTIH Innovation Awards as headline sponsor. These unique awards recognise achievements across a wide range of retailers and retail categories, from global players to startups,” says Simon Curtis, Sales and Marketing Director, PMC.
“Post-2020, innovation in retail is more critical than ever, with consumers looking for the same personalised, engaging and safe shopping experience in-store as they enjoy online.”
He adds: “Innovation and technology together play a critical role in the success of retailing and we look forward to recognising standout examples though these RTIH Awards.”
