Check out this week's coolest retail technology reveals
RTIH Editor, Scott Thompson, brings you his top ‘future of retail systems’ deployments from the past seven days, including shoppable livestream events, Bitcoin rewards platforms, mobile checkout solutions, and grocery deliveries via drones.
Ikea
Ikea is launching its new Mobile Checkout solution in Australia.
This aims to give customers a faster and more convenient checkout experience in-store, with Ikea claiming that the roll-out is a first for home furnishing retailers down under.
Going live ahead of the Christmas shopping period, customers shopping at Ikea Logan and North Lakes in Queensland will be the first to experience the feature, which can be activated via the retailer’s app, or by scanning a QR code in-store.
Carrefour
Carrefour opened a Flash 10/10 concept store in Paris on 24th November.
The convenience store – developed in collaboration with US startup AiFi – is pitched as the first of its kind in France, and is located at 11 avenue Parmentier, in the capital’s eleventh arrondissement.
Flash 10/10 ("10 seconds to shop and 10 seconds to pay”) features a shopping journey that does not involve having to scan any products and quick payment.
Customers don't need to take items out of their bags. They can enter and exit the store without having to pass through a gateway. There is no need to download an app or register beforehand. And they can view their total spend in real-time.
Rituals
BrightSign players are powering an interactive perfume display at House of Rituals, the new flagship store for Rituals on Kalverstraat, Amsterdam.
To launch the Talisman perfume collection, a new market for House of Rituals, and to mark the brand’s 20th anniversary, Dutch audiovisual company First Impression built a scent display controlled by BrightSign players.
Once a perfume is selected based on the customer’s inputs on an iPad, an LED light underneath the bottle is illuminated. If the customer picks up the glass pipette from the bottle, a video plays describing the perfume.
B&Q
Hullabalook's technology is now live on B&Q’s website.
“We're powering B&Q paint product discovery experience online. 2,000+ shades, available online, mixed to order and ready for you to buy,” Abena Osei, Global Account Manager at Hullabalook, said in a LinkedIn post.
“This is the first time B&Q’s huge range of Valspar mixed to order paints have been available to purchase online.”
Osei added: “Our Colour Technology has mapped all 2.000+ shades onto an interactive grid. Choose any colour and we will automatically render it onto a lifestyle image - so you can visualise how it’ll look at home. Shade selected? Click through to the product page and purchase instantly.”
“There's a new, revolutionary way to buy paint and Hullabalook is paving the way. We're are so excited about this partnership!”
Reebok
Reebok has partnered with Bitcoin rewards startup Lolli.
“That means you can now earn up to 6% back on premium clothing and footwear for your active lifestyle, whether you’re hitting the gym or the streets,” Lolli says in a blog post.
“To start earning with Reebok, download Lolli for your browser extension or app store for iOS. Activate Reebok on our site and start shopping to earn free Bitcoin on your order.”
AGORA
London-based, social and live shopping platform AGORA has launched a beauty marketplace, powered by SaaS platform Mirakl.
The AGORA app allows beauty fans to monetise their talent by creating and sharing live and recorded video content that links directly to products from their favourite brands.
In November, the venture will host around 200 shows, with plans to continue growing its offering so as to have a constant stream of hosts going live.
Walmart
This Sunday, 28th November, Walmart is kicking off Cyber Week with a shoppable livestream event featuring Jason Derulo.
This will be beta testing Twitter’s shoppable livestream function, allowing customers to shop products straight from the platform.
“This will be the first time a brand in the US has leveraged this capability on Twitter and I’m excited to bring customers incredible deals on a platform they already love during the most joyful shopping season of the year,” says William White, Chief Marketing Officer, Walmart U.S.
“Twitter is a platform where we consistently see high return across top-and middle-of-funnel content, so it’s a natural next step for us to explore this new functionality.”
Paradies Lagardère
Paradies Lagardère, a retailer and restaurateur in North America, has expanded its deployment of MishiPay’s Scan, Pay & Go mobile self-checkout technology to 20 additional airports across the US and Canada.
During a pilot in the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and the Charlotte Douglas International Airport, Paradies Lagardère says that, by enabling shoppers to scan and pay for their desired products using their own devices, store associates were able to repurpose a portion of their shift from manning a cash register to other tasks such as restocking, sanitising high traffic sections, and assisting customers.
Additionally, the Scan, Pay & Go programme provides another payment option for customers, complementing existing choices such as self-checkout stations and Fast Pay apps, and has also generated a higher items-per-transaction ratio when compared to transactions performed through standard registers.
Macy’s
The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade celebrates its 95th anniversary this year with a drop of 9,500 free NFT artwork, featuring balloons from past events in support of Make-A-Wish.
A charitable auction of 10 NFTs began on Friday, 19th November. Limited edition free Macy’s Parade NFTs launched on Thursday, 25th November.
These are designed by REOMETRY, a digital agency led by NFT artists REO and Seth Brown.
Kroger
The Kroger Co. has teamed with Drone Express, part of TELEGRID Technologies, for a pilot involving grocery delivery via drones.
Drone Express commenced test flights earlier this year, with the Kroger Marketplace in Centerville, Ohio acting as a pilot site.
Starting this month, drone deliveries are being expanded to within two miles of the store (it had previously been one mile away or less).
Orders are placed through a designated website that displays hundreds of items. As long as the total weight is under five pounds, items can be included in one drone delivery.
Orders arrive within one hour, and sometimes as fast as 15 minutes.
