The six biggest retail technology news stories of the week
It’s Friday, the weekend is almost upon us, so let’s kick back and reflect on another eventful week for the retail systems space. Here's your briefing on the most important stories from the past five days, including Tesco, Trigo, Shopify, Amazon, NASCAR, Muffato, and Sensei.
1. Tesco opens second Trigo powered autonomous store and preps two more
Tesco has announced an expansion of its GetGo autonomous stores trial, with Chiswell Street Express now open in central London.
There will also be another location in London and one in Birmingham, allowing customers to shop and pay without scanning a product or using a checkout.
Like Chiswell Street, these will also offer the option of using a self-service or attended checkout if preferred.
The sites in Fulham Reach Express in Parrs Way, London, and Aston University Express in Aston, Birmingham are due to open over the next few months.
Tesco launched its first GetGo store in High Holborn in October 2021, which will continue to offer a purely checkout-free model.
Shoppers need to download the Tesco app and select the GetGo option. They can then walk in and pick their shopping, before scanning their app as they walk out.
Continuing Tesco's partnership with Trigo, a combination of cameras and weight sensors will establish what customers have picked up and charge them for products directly through the app when they leave the store.
2. NASCAR taps Amazon Just Walk Out and Amazon One tech for checkout free experience
NASCAR is to open its first concession using Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology and Amazon One offering during NASCAR Championship Weekend (4th-6th November).
Fans at Phoenix Raceway will be able to purchase snacks and beverages without waiting in line at a checkout. This marks the first time Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology and Amazon One are being used at a professional racetrack.
The new store is located in the Section 151 Pit Stop.
The checkout free experience is made possible by the same types of technologies used in self-driving cars: computer vision, sensor fusion, and deep learning.
Guests can insert their credit card or hover their palm over an Amazon One device at the entry gate. They can grab what they need from the assortment of products, and then leave.
The credit card they inserted or linked to their Amazon One ID will be charged for the items they took after they leave the store.
They can enrol in Amazon One at kiosks located outside the store. They can also sign up where Amazon One already exists, such as select Amazon Go, Whole Foods Market, and Amazon Fresh stores.
3. Shopify boss Harley Finkelstein discusses where physical retail is headed
Physical retail and department stores aren’t going away. What’s going away is intermediaries that don’t add any value.
That’s the view of Harley Finkelstein, President at e-commerce giant Shopify.
In a LinkedIn post, he said: “It is no longer enough for an intermediary to simply justify their profit margin on the basis that they have a physical store; they can’t rest on the strategy that their only value add is local distribution.”
According to Finkelstein, we will see the following in physical retail over the five to ten years:
1. It will be an extension of all other channels.
2. There will be a return to authenticity - what is core to the brand will be physically manifested in the store.
3. Physical stores will act as showrooms.
4. Physical stores will be a place for customers to spend time, experience the brand, and immerse themselves in the brand identity.
5. The industry will stop looking at online and offline as two different P&L’s - it will just be one single business.
4. Coles Group expands drone delivery pilot programme Down Under
Off the back of a pilot in Canberra, Australia earlier this year, Coles Group is expanding its drone delivery programme with operator Wing to its Gold Coast customers.
It says that it will be the first major supermarket to launch a store to door drone delivery concept in Australia.
From this week, customers in the Gold Coast suburbs of Ormeau, Ormeau Hills, and Yatala will be able to the try out the new model, directly from the Coles store at Ormeau Village Shopping Centre.
The service will gradually expand to include other nearby suburbs, delivering 500 of the most popular Coles grocery items including bread, fresh produce, convenience meals, snacks, health care items, and household essentials.
These will be delivered to customers’ home within 10 minutes on average.
Coles team members will process and pack orders, and Wing staff will load the drones and oversee operation of the delivery service.
5. Ocado Solutions and Lotte Shopping agree online grocery shopping tie up
Ocado Solutions and Lotte Shopping have announced a partnership to develop the latter’s online business in South Korea with the Ocado Smart Platform (OSP).
The pair will develop a network of customer fulfilment centres (CFCs) across the market, underpinned by the end-to-end capabilities of the OSP. Ocado's in-store fulfilment (ISF) solution will also be rolled out across Lotte's store estate.
6. Muffato and Sensei partner on Brazil's first autonomous supermarket
Sensei reports that Muffato has adopted its AI platform for what is pitched as Brazil's first autonomous supermarket.
The Muffato Go store, which opens today and is situated in Curitiba, Paraná, comes without queues, self-scanning or any form of physical checkout, and is the first deployment of Portugal-based Sensei's technology outside of Europe.
Shoppers download Muffato’s app, which generates a QR code that enables them to enter the store, pick up their items and leave.
A network of sensors provides the input Sensei's AI needs to keep track of the items each customer selects and returns throughout the 250 square metre location.
Continue reading…