August 2021: top 10 most clicked retail technology articles
These are the RTIH retail systems articles that caught your fancy during August, including Deliveroo, Sainsbury’s, Instacart, M&S Tech and Gopuff.
Amazon veteran Devesh Mishra joins Deliveroo as Chief Product and Technology Officer
Deliveroo has announced the appointment of Devesh Mishra as Chief Product and Technology Officer.
He joins from Amazon, where he has spent the past 16 years.
Most recently, Mishra was Vice President, Global Supply Chain at the e-commerce giant, overseeing a team of thousands made up of engineers, data scientists and product managers, operating a supply chain spanning 185 markets.
Before that, he was Director for Amazon’s WW Inventory Buying and Sourcing, where he was responsible for over 200 product lines in nine countries, supporting +$40 billion of revenue.
Silent Sainsbury's falls victim to Led By Donkeys PR stunt over GB News ads
#SilentSainsburys was trending on Twitter last month as the grocery giant came under increasing pressure to stop advertising during Nigel Farage’s new show on GB News.
Retail technology solutions that could rejuvenate physical experiences
These are tough times for high streets, shopping centres and retail parks.
The e-commerce space has been thriving amid the Covid pandemic, while one in seven UK shops remain shuttered, with vacancy rates rising across all retail locations.
But all hope is not lost. In this article, RTIH takes a look at retail technologies that could save bricks and mortar experiences.
Facebook wannabe Instacart should rethink MFCs move
US grocery delivery venture Instacart has been making a series of interesting moves as it prepares to launch an IPO later in 2021 or early 2022.
This includes naming Fidji Simo, a high ranking executive at Facebook, as CEO. In turn, Simo recently chose Facebook veteran Carolyn Everson to be Instacart's President.
“I like the changes as it provides Instacart with a more experienced executive team to run the company,” former Amazon exec and supply chain consultant Brittain Ladd said in a LinkedIn post.
Instacart also recently partnered with Fabric to open micro-fulfilment centres, although Ladd is less impressed with this initiative.
PMC’s Paul Mason wins at Retail Systems Awards 2021
PMC Founder and Chairman, Paul Mason, has picked up the Outstanding Individual Achievement award at the Retail Systems Awards 2021.
Grubhub and Yandex launch robot food delivery at Ohio State University
Grubhub and Yandex Self-Driving Group are rolling out food delivery via Yandex’s robots at The Ohio State University (OSU).
The two companies announced a tie up in July and this is the first US college campus to go live with their service.
M&S Tech goes on software engineer recruitment drive
Marks and Spencer has kicked off a drive to recruit 70 software engineers over the next year as the retailer looks to boost its digital transformation push.
In support of this, it has launched a new bespoke careers page on its website called M&OS.
Gopuff announces mega Series H funding round
Rapid grocery delivery startup, Gopuff, has raised $1 billion in a Series H round that values the US-based venture at $15 billion.
It was last valued at $8.9 billion after a March funding round pulled in $1.15 billion.
Startup interview: Shopflix co-founders Matt Matros and Lindsey Kilbride
RTIH gets the lowdown on Shopflix, which launched in June and is pitched as Netflix meets Peloton meets QVC.
DPD names Oxford as its first all electric city
Oxford has become delivery firm DPD's first electric vehicles only city, with nine further UK locations set to be confirmed this year.
Vision 25 is DPD's pledge to deliver ‘green' to 25 major UK towns and cities, covering 25% of the UK population by 2025, and is backed by a £111 million investment in electric vehicles.
