January: top ten coolest retail technology plays
RTIH Editor, Scott Thompson, brings you his stand out ‘future of retail’ systems deployments from last month, including checkout free stores, retailers in the metaverse, and artificial intelligence powered salad bars.
Aldi UK
Discount retailer Aldi UK has launched its first checkout-free location.
The Aldi Shop&Go concept store in Greenwich, London opened in January for public testing, having been tested by staff members in recent months.
Situated on Greenwich High Street, it enables customers to complete their shop without scanning a single product, or having to go through a checkout.
They can download the Aldi Shop&Go app, which will allow them to enter the store, pick up their items, and then walk out when they have completed their shop.
Once a customer leaves the store they will then be automatically charged via their selected payment method and a receipt will appear in the app.
The system, provided by AiFi, uses specially positioned cameras.
Those people wishing to buy alcohol, or other Challenge 25 products, will be able to use facial age estimation technology, provided by Yoti, to authorise their purchase.
Nourish + Bloom Market
Autonomous grocery store Nourish + Bloom Market has opened to the public in Fayetteville, Georgia, USA.
Nourish + Bloom Market is the first store of its kind with robotic delivery in the United States and the first African American owned autonomous grocery location in the world.
Husband and wife entrepreneurs Jamie and Jilea Hemmings started the venture to offer over 1,000 locally sourced, healthy food products, including produce, meats, baked goods, dairy and prepared meals.
The new store features Shekel's solutions for real-time identification of shelf products. Shekel's technology will combine with Hitachi's consumer tracking technology.
Customers will use a N+B app, developed by UST, make their purchases, and be charged via their payment systems, eliminating the need for checkouts. An e-receipt will be sent to the app.
Cartken and Mitsubishi Electric
San Francisco-based Cartken’s Model C robots have been chosen by Mitsubishi Electric for a pilot project at AEON MALL Tokoname, Japan.
The latter will oversee a pilot where customers can use the Starbucks app to select their food and beverage order. A Cartken robot will meet the customer at one of the delivery points inside or outside the mall.
Mitsubishi Electric is also looking at other use cases.
Amazon
Amazon will open its first ever physical fashion store later this year, and it will be tech centric (natch).
"We wouldn't do anything in physical retail unless we felt we could significantly improve the customer experience," says Simoina Vasen, a Managing Director.
The 30,000 square feet Amazon Style store will be situated at The Americana at Brand, a shopping destination in greater Los Angeles.
Using the Amazon Shopping app, customers can send items to a fitting room, where they can use a touchscreen to browse more options, rate items, and request more sizes or styles that are delivered to the room.
Machine learning algorithms, meanwhile, produce tailored, real-time recommendations for each customer as they shop.
Wakefern Food Corp.
Israel-based computer vision startup Trigo has announced a partnership with Wakefern Food Corp., the largest retailer owned cooperative in the US which owns and operates 257 supermarkets under the ShopRite and PriceRite banner.
In a LinkedIn post, Trigo says: “This year we will help Wakefern convert and develop hi-tech store formats that are exclusive to their brands, accelerate their growth, and pave the way for frictionless shopping at US customers’ favourite supermarket brands across the eastern US seaboard.”
It adds: “Through this partnership, US-based independent retailers can compete with multinational retailers and global tech giants alike on cutting-edge shopping experiences.”
Cust2Mate
A2Z Smart Technologies Corp. has introduced its Cust2Mate smart cart platform in the US and Israel.
Cust2Mate is installing carts in the New York City chain Morton Williams Supermarkets.
And a chain in Israel, Yochananof, has also deployed a number of carts. Evergreen, with stores in New York and New Jersey, will conduct a pilot beginning in February.
Other pilots by different companies will be announced throughout 2022.
Walmart
Walmart has launched a new consumer shopping tool, Shop By Diet, which helps in-store or online shoppers with allergies or dietary constraints determine what to purchase via a website or QR code.
This is powered by Sifter technology, with roll out starting in January.
Albertsons
Albertsons is piloting artificial intelligence powered salad bars in six US East Coast supermarkets via a partnership with Picadeli.
It has added the internet linked self-service counters, which stock foods supplied by Picadeli using a platform that optimises assortment by analysing consumption patterns, to Safeway, Acme and Kings Food Market stores in Washington, D.C., Maryland and New Jersey.
Albertsons is the first US grocer to deploy the technology.
Carrefour
Carrefour has bought land in The Sandbox, a virtual gaming world where players can build, own, and monetise their experiences.
Elodie Perthuisot, Chief E-Commerce, Digital Transformation and Data Officer and EXCOM member at Carrefour, said in a LinkedIn post: “This is our first move in the metaverse on The Sandbox. A virtual field and above all a field of innovation for Carrefour, in line with our digital transformation strategy.”
“The field will be at the heart of our metaverse activities, as we experiment, to understand the evolutions of retail and consumption that will come. Concrete projects will follow soon.”
Missfresh
Online grocery delivery venture Missfresh has inked agreements with more than 20 regional supermarket chains to equip 150+ stores in 19 cities in China with the company’s suite of proprietary SaaS tools and AI driven capabilities.
The deal includes such retailers as Shandong Aodelong Supermarket, Chongqing Jiameijia Department Store, and Changchun Yatai Supermarket.
