Last one of the year: the six biggest retail technology news stories of the week
It’s Thursday, Christmas 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 Trendio, Uber Eats, Cartken, Walmart, and Amazon.
1. E-commerce startup Trendio looks to ‘reinvent shopping entertainment for a new generation’
Former Vice President of US Prime Video Alex Perez-Tenessa and entrepreneur David Olmos have launched Trendio, a video shopping app that lets users view personalised shoppable content.
The startup has also brought in former Amazon Live employee Julie Novak and former Glossier executive Leah Grubb to shape the platform.
With seed round investment from venture capital firm Madrona, an early backer of Amazon, the Trendio team compiled an advisory board including former Member of the Board of QVC Michael Zeisser, founder of Amazon Live Munira Rahemtulla, and former CEO of Zulily Jeff Yurcisin.
"We're reinventing shopping entertainment for a new generation," says Perez-Tenessa.
"We launched Trendio because traditional e-commerce wasn't working for customers who wanted to discover new beauty brands and products in a way that felt personal and that they could trust.”
“Our technology roadmap not only enhances the shopping journey, it reinvents how people experience video altogether - we are creating the first ever personalised video experience."
2. Uber Eats and Cartken bring robot food delivery to Miami, Florida
Uber Eats and Cartken have announced a partnership for food deliveries via the latter’s self-driving robots in Miami, Florida.
The pair have begun operating with select merchants in the Dadeland area of Miami-Dade County with plans to expand in Miami-Dade and to additional cities in 2023.
Uber Eats is Cartken’s first formal partnership with a global on-demand delivery app beyond college campuses.
3. Walmart’s retail technology incubator Store No8 launches Text to Shop functionality
Walmart has announced a free Text to Shop functionality for iOS and Android users.
The retailer tested out the feature last year.
In an online post, Dominique Essig, Vice President, Conversational Commerce, Store No8, Walmart’s retail tech incubator, said: “Text to Shop is seamlessly connected to your Walmart account, so we know your usual ordered items.”
“Simply text the items you need, and they get added to your cart. Choose from the full selection of Walmart’s products, including items from your local store and from Walmart.com. Text “reorder” to quickly review and add your frequently ordered items to your cart.”
4. Grocery giant Morrisons expands parcel lockers partnership with InPost UK
Automated parcel machine service provider, InPost, has announced the expansion of its partnership with Morrisons.
Morrisons is InPost’s longest standing supermarket partner, hosting over 290 lockers across the UK since 2014.
Now that figure is set to rise to approximately 390 by the end of January, ensuring that nearly 80% of all its stores in the UK host a locker as an additional service.
Prominent new locations include Croydon, Bradford, Glastonbury, Dumfries and Newport.
In addition, several of InPost’s existing lockers will be extended so that they can cater to high customer demand.
5. TalkShopLive and JLo Beauty team with Vogue and Jennifer Lopez for video shopping experience
Live commerce platform TalkShopLive and JLo Beauty have launched their first ever shoppable video in partnership with Vogue’s Beauty Secrets video series.
This is hosted by Vogue’s December cover star Jennifer Lopez who shares her beauty regimen featuring JLo Beauty, and also exclusively debuts two new JLo Body products which are available for purchase within the TalkShopLive video player.
“No one creates more compelling content than Conde Nast and TalkShopLive is thrilled to be part of Vogue’s first ever shoppable Beauty Secrets episode with Jennifer Lopez,” says TalkShopLive Co-Founder and CEO Bryan Moore.
“We’re committed to connecting the retail landscape through engaging content via our embeddable player and point of sale which serves as the ultimate live commerce solution for brands, publishers, creators and consumers."
“We not only strive for innovation in our products, but also in how we connect with our consumers, and we feel strongly that shoppable, authentic content is the next generation of e-commerce,” says JLo Beauty & Lifestyle Founder Lisa Sequino.
6. Amazon’s Tony Hoggett discusses 2022 in-store and rapid delivery innovations
As he approaches completion of his first year working on Amazon’s physical stores, grocery, and specialty fulfilment businesses, Tony Hoggett has taken to LinkedIn to reflect on the e-commerce giant’s accomplishments in this space.
Hoggett departed Tesco to join Amazon in January of this year, leading the teams responsible for Amazon Fresh, Amazon Go, Amazon Style, Whole Foods Market, and the firm’s ultrafast delivery services.
In a LInkedIn post, he said: “One of the things that excited me most about joining Amazon is the company’s customer obsessed mindset. When you start with the customer and work backward, every decision, every new idea, every invention has a purpose – to make the customer experience better.”
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