Last week’s most read RTIH retail technology articles

These are the retail systems articles that caught your fancy during the past seven days, including Tesco, Carrefour, Klarna, Ocado Group/Alcampo and PayPoint/Snappy Group.

Tony Hoggett quits Tesco for Amazon physical stores role

Tony Hoggett is stepping down from the role of Tesco Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer to head up Amazon’s international stores arm.

He will move to Amazon’s HQ in Seattle, Washington and become Senior VP of Physical Stores in January 2022.

FinTech unicorn Klarna snaps up social shopping venture HERO

Buy now pay later big hitter Klarna has acquired social shopping platform HERO. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In a press release, Klarna says it will “introduce HERO to its 250,000 retail partners, allowing their in-store teams to become content creators instantly, offering reviews, real-time advice and richer, more engaging and informative content around products to bring the best of in-store shopping to the online experience for consumers.”

Carrefour announces Fortnite and Pickup partnerships

Carrefour has launched a Healthy Map on Fortnite, enabling players to heal themselves and gain more energy by eating fruit, vegetables and fish.

This places them in an eco-friendly Carrefour store of the future: a supermarket with an electric recharging station, trucks running on biomethane, a responsible fishing zone, fields of organic fruit and fresh vegetables, and a farm respecting animal welfare.

Meanwhile, under its partnership with Pickup, a subsidiary of La Poste group, Carrefour has announced that more than 400 automatic parcel lockers are to be rolled out across France.

Customers will find these, starting in September, in three Carrefour store formats (hypermarkets, Market stores and convenience stores).

PayPoint makes £6.6 million investment in Snappy Group

PayPoint has announced a £6.6 million investment in the Snappy Group home delivery business.

The deal will see PayPoint acquire a stake in the Dundee-based firm with PayPoint Group’s CEO, Nick Wiles, taking a seat on the board of Snappy Group, which is formed of two businesses: Snappy Shopper and Hungrrr.

It comes on the heels of former Sainsbury’s CEO Justin King taking a “significant” stake in the company and also joining the board following the launch of a Series A funding round, which went on to raise £19.4 million.

Tesco picks High Holborn London store for autonomous retail push

Tesco is gearing up to deploy its Trigo powered version of Amazon’s Just Walk Out offering in a second UK location.

Tapping AI and computer vision technology, the Easyout solution enables shoppers to walk into a store, check in via a QR code, select items for purchase and leave without having to bother with pesky checkouts.

Ocado Group inks online deal with Spanish retailer Alcampo

Ocado Solutions has teamed with Auchan Retail owned Spanish grocer Alcampo to develop the latter’s online business using the Ocado Smart Platform (OSP).

The pair will initially build a customer fulfilment centre (CFC) to serve the Madrid region from 2024, with additional CFCs to be announced at future dates.

Alcampo will also leverage Ocado’s In-Store Fulfilment (ISF) software across its hypermarkets nationwide to enable more efficient picking from stores.

Ten retail technology investments that should be on your radar

These companies are leading the way in providing innovative retail systems powered customer experiences, including Carrefour, Tesco, X5 Group and Casino Group.

Retailers invest heavily in self-checkout tech amid Covid-19 outbreak

2020 saw a record year of investment in self-checkout technology, with shipments increasing by 25% globally, according to research from RBR.

The Covid-19 pandemic further accelerated retailers’ spend in this area, helping reduce close interaction between customers and store associates.

Casino Group pens tech deal with Accenture and Google Cloud

Casino Group has announced a digital strategy acceleration partnership with Accenture and Google Cloud.

The aim here is to enhance the retailer’s customer experience and operational capabilities through the development and implementation of data analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning based solutions.

It is also looking to support the growth of its B2B activities, in particular RelevanC, the Group's retail media property, with technological and commercial back up from the partners.

DPD and ENSO test out eco-friendly electric vehicle tyres

Parcel delivery firm DPD has teamed with ENSO to conduct full road trials of a new tyre for commercial EVs, that are designed to reduce air and microplastic pollution.

This is a part of Transport for London's FreightLab Innovation Challenge, which is encouraging innovations that will tackle London's air pollution and road congestion due to increased freight movement in the Greater London area.