Top 10: last week’s most popular retail technology articles
These are the RTIH retail systems articles that caught your fancy last week, including Adyen, LEON, Klarna, Harrods, 7-Eleven, Nuro, and the 2021 RTIH Innovation Awards.
2021 RTIH Innovation Awards: winners announced
Metapack, Asda, Carrefour UAE, Situ Live, Starbucks, Oracle, Go Instore and Halla were among the companies who emerged victorious at RTIH’s 2021 retail technology awards.
The awards, sponsored by PMC, StoreSpace, Critizr, Marxent, QVALON and Selazar, celebrate global tech innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.
We received a record number of submissions this year across 14 categories (you can find a full rundown of the 2021 shortlists here).
Our winners and highly commended companies were announced during an exclusive event that took place in central London last week and was attended by retailers, members of our judging panel, and sponsors.
Check out the latest entrants into the RTIH Innovation Awards hall of fame here.
LEON boosts charitable efforts through Adyen tie up
Payments big hitter Adyen has announced the extension of its partnership with fast food brand LEON to include Adyen Giving.
This enables customers to donate directly to LEON’s chosen charity when making payments on digital kiosks in-store.
Top trends in retail technology during 2021
RTIH runs through the hottest retail tech trends from the past 12 months, including rapid delivery, checkout free stores, augmented reality, and non-fungible token (NFTs).
Dopamine dressing, anyone? Pinterest predicts top 2022 fashion trends
Pinterest has released a report covering the 170+ fashion trends to watch in 2022.
These include dopamine dressing, aka dressing loud is the new dressing down.
Harrods agrees buy now pay later tie up with Klarna
Klarna has announced a partnership with Harrods, offering customers buy now, pay later options throughout the retailer’s Knightsbridge store, H beauty locations in Essex (Lakeside) and Milton Keynes, and Harrods.com.
Further departments are set to roll-out Klarna’s Pay in 3 service in the coming months.
The Stem and Stuart announce rapid Christmas tree delivery service
Online garden centre The Stem has partnered with Stuart to launch a service that will see over 4,000 Christmas trees delivered (within the M25) to customers over the festive period.
Deliveries are dispatched from Stuart’s delivery hub in East London and powered by its fleet of 100% electric vans. The former has also committed to planting ten new trees for every Christmas tree sold.
Sorted announces Series C round and Clicksit acquisition
Sorted, a UK-based startup that specialises in software for online checkouts, warehouses and shipping, has closed a $40 million Series C funding round and acquired Clicksit, an automated returns company.
Asda trials indoor map service for blind and visually impaired
Asda is testing out new technology which aims to make it easier for blind and partially sighted customers to navigate their way around its Stevenage store.
7-Eleven and Nuro test out autonomous delivery service in California
7-Eleven has teamed with Nuro to pilot a commercial delivery service using autonomous vehicles in Mountain View, California.
Customers can access this through the convenience store giant’s 7NOW delivery app.
The pilot will initially use Nuro’s self-driving Priuses before moving on to its R2 delivery vehicles.
ICA Gruppen opens Ocado powered automated online groceries warehouse
ICA Gruppen has gone live with an automated warehouse in Brunna, outside Stockholm, powered by Ocado Group technology.
ICA says that it is the first retailer in Sweden to open a facility that features an automated solution for online groceries.
The warehouse has a total area of 32,000 square metres. An e-commerce operation in Jordbro will be gradually transferred to the new facility.
