Dodgy deliveries and digital discounters: Last week’s most read RTIH retail technology articles

These are the RTIH articles that caught your fancy last week, including rapid grocery delivery firms, checkout free stores, Black Friday deals, and retail tech innovation awards.

L’Oréal opts for payfree and Avery Dennison tech at German pop-up store

L’Oréal has deployed grab and go technology from payfree in a pop-up store in Düsseldorf, Germany.

It is also using RFID tags from Avery Dennison. Customers pass their shopping bag with beauty products through a u shaped scanning unit at the exit.

The payfree Bag Fast Track solution automatically identifies the items in the shopping bag because a RFID tag is attached to eachj one. Customers then pay via contactless using a card or digital wallet.

Rapid grocery delivery firms struggle as funding stagnates and cost-of-living crisis escalates

NTT DATA has conducted analysis on the rapid grocery delivery space, the long-term financial viability of which has always been in question, the company believes.

Last year, various startups were receiving heavy investment from VCs, and 12 months on, it appears their days are numbers, with consumer use dwindling, according to NTT DATA.

2022 RTIH Innovation Awards: shortlists announced, winners revealed next month

Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve been announcing the shortlists for the 2022 RTIH Innovation Awards. And now we’re pleased to bring them all together in one place.

Check them out here.

NFTs, robots, and first mile automation: Last week’s biggest retail technology plays at a glance

RTIH rounds up the stand out retail systems deals, deployments and pilots from the past week. Featuring Charlotte Tilbury, Obsess, Giant Tiger, Shopify, Sainsbury’s, adidas Originals, Fiserv Forum, and Amazon.

Asos promotes Black Friday deals with pop-up in Liverpool, London, Nottingham, Manchester

Fast fashion big hitter Asos kicked off its Black Friday promotions with an experiential mobile pop-up visiting Liverpool, London, Nottingham, and Manchester.

Visitors were able to play a claw grabber arcade game to win exclusive prizes, ranging from one of four £1,000 Asos gift cards to branded merchandise, Asos DESIGN clothing and selected face and body products.

The event was free to the public, and everyone who took part received a branded tote bag, as well as a free coffee for those with the retailer’s app installed.

All eyes on Fulham as Tesco opens another Trigo powered London checkout free store

Tesco has announced the opening of a fourth Trigo powered store in London.

The hybrid autonomous store is located in the Fulham Reach real estate development.

While still in the capital, it has shoppers with different needs than the on the go shopper which is typical of

Tesco’s other Trigo powered locations in Central London High Holborn and Chiswell.

The grocery giant says that it is catering to a new subset of customers who use the location for their weekly shopping trips, with larger basket sizes. 

Former Gophr exec Patrick Eve joins last mile delivery platform Nash

Last mile delivery specialist Nash has appointed Patrick Eve as Head of UK - Sales.

In a LinkedIn post, Eve said: “New beginnings! I am really excited to start my new role at Nash. I will be launching its UK operations after a very successful launch in the US amd Canada 18 months ago.”

He added: “Nash is already live in over 95 cities in the US, Canada and Australia with more than 200 carrier partners available on the platform, helping businesses of all types to offer local and reliable same-day delivery services to their customers.

“Thanks to Co-fouder and CEO Mahmoud Ghulman and all the team for the warm welcome and I am looking forward to getting started!”

Aldi Nord digitises discount retail as it enters strategic partnership with Trigo

Aldi Nord has announced a partnership with Trigo (yep, them again).

This builds on a tie up in Utrecht with Aldi Nederland where the pair are working on a checkout-free test store, Aldi Shop & Go.

"To successfully lead discount retail into the future, technology and business must go hand in hand," says Sinanudin Omerhodzic, Chief Technology Officer at Aldi Nord.

"Our close partnership with Trigo unites exactly that and brings together two true experts in their field.”

“The cooperation in Utrecht has shown that we share the right values and that together we can develop quick solutions with an eye for essentials, always focusing on customer benefits."

Omerhodzic adds: "We don't have final reports yet, but the initial results of Aldi Shop & Go are promising.”

Back Market interview: Saving the planet and money during Black Friday 2022

RTIH talks Black Friday 2022 and providing the best deals and discounts on refurbished electronics for people to save money and reduce e-waste, with online marketplace Back Market.

Evri underperforms again as Citizens Advice research flags dodgy online deliveries problem

All of the UK’s major parcel firms are continuing to let down online shoppers, according to research from Citizens Advice.

Opinium Research conducted a survey between 10th and 31st October of 8,421 Brits who have received a parcel in the last month from Royal Mail, DPD, Yodel, Amazon Logistics or Evri.

Four out of five of them failed to secure even a three-star overall rating out of five after being scored against criteria including customer service, parcel problems and accessibility needs, such as people needing longer to answer the door.

Evri, formerly known as Hermes, came last for a second year running, despite overall improvement, with 1.75 stars out of a possible five.