Last week’s biggest retail technology deals at a glance
RTIH rounds up the stand out retail systems deals, deployments and pilots from the past seven days. Featuring boohoo, Reiss, Carrefour, WHSmith and Amazon.
Online fashion retailer boohoo has teamed up with entrepreneur and realty TV star Paris Hilton for her virtual Fashion Week, which will be held in Paris World (an island built in Roblox).
boohoo has worked with MilkMoney, a marketplace for out-of-home (OOH) media buying, to secure billboard inventory.
It is the first brand to advertise in the metaverse during Fashion Week.
UK coach operator, National Express, has partnered with buy now pay later specialist Clearpay (known as Afterpay outside the UK and Europe).
Customers can now select Clearpay to pay for their travel in four instalments over six weeks, interest free.
National Express joins over 6,000 merchants partnering with Clearpay, and is the first company in the UK travel sector to offer the FinTech venture’s service.
British fashion retailer Reiss has launched a new look e-commerce site, following its transition to the Next Total platform.
This includes a series of upgrades, such as: cut-off for next day delivery extended to 11pm; improved stock availability thanks to new store fulfilment technology; delivery points extended from 50 to 600 nationwide; and immediate refunds in-store for online orders.
A new iOS app is coming soon.
Ocado Group has signed a memorandum of understanding with French partner, Groupe Casino, enabling it to offer its technology to other grocers in France.
The former previously had an exclusivity agreement to work only with Groupe Casino in France.
Ireland’s first completely frictionless store, Market x Flutter, officially opened last week at Flutter Entertainment’s newly renovated global headquarters in Clonskeagh, Dublin.
Compass Group UK & Ireland, part of foodservice business Compass Group, developed the store for Flutter, using AI powered computer vision technology from AiFi. allowing shoppers to purchase items without having to wait in line or stop to scan or pay.
It stocks fresh meals, including a selection of hot and chilled dishes to-go, as well as drinks and confectionery.
Grabango has partnered with MAPCO, a convenience store chain with stores throughout the Southeastern region of the US, to add checkout-free operation to its locations, beginning in Tennessee.
A2Z Smart Technologies Corp. is deploying its Cust2Mate smart carts as part of a pilot with Evergreen, a US-based supermarket chain with locations in New York and New Jersey.
The pilot has begun at Evergreen's Monsey, New York location.
A2Z's Cust2Mate solution recognises every purchased item and enables in-cart payment so that shoppers skip lines, while also allowing grocers to direct people to discounted products and in-store promotions.
WHSmith has opened its first ever checkout-free store at LaGuardia Airport, New York.
It’s the first WHSmith to open in the US (as opposed to the retailer’s other fascias such as InMotion and MRG) and taps Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology, which was pioneered at the Amazon Go offering.
British womenswear brand Hobbs has partnered with Segura.
Segura’s platform allows Hobbs, which is part of the TFG London group, to contain all supplier processes within one system.
The aim here is to “enrich supplier data and track updates in real-time, enhancing how purchase orders are issued, embedding traceability into the linked trims and labelling requirements, and hosting a compliance suite that enables audits, corrective action plans, policy requirements and communications to be streamlined and automated”.
Carrefour has made its hypermarkets and supermarkets available on the Everli same-day grocery delivery platform in 10 French cities: Lille, Lyon, Nice, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Montpellier, Nantes, Grenoble, Rennes, Paris and their surrounding suburbs.
The San Jose State University (SJSU) Ginger Market in the US has been transformed into an autonomous retail experience, enabling students, faculty, and staff to purchase items, without having to scan anything or wait in line to pay.
The university worked with Chartwells Higher Education and Standard AI to retrofit the market without ceasing store operations or altering its layout. Standard AI was able to integrate fully with retail operations, including inventory management systems and visual merchandising.
Using AI powered computer vision systems mounted throughout the store, the system identifies the products shoppers select and automatically records the purchases on the SJSJ Boost mobile app, eliminating time spent at traditional checkout areas.
London restaurant, The River Café, has announced a partnership with same-day courier Gophr.
This comes as it expands its delivery service, following a trial with Gophr that kicked off in November and peaked at 180 orders delivered across three days in the week before Christmas.
Russian health foods brand and food tech company, VkusVill, has opened its first cashierless store in Moscow.
Located at 1 Testovskaya Street, the micro-mart has an area of 52 sqm.
It offers around 220 SKUs, including a range of prepared meals and sandwiches, groceries, pre-packed fruits and vegetables, drinks, desserts and dairy products.
The store was developed in partnership with AI-based technologies venture Neurus. It has no store assistants or cashiers – an employee only visits the store in the morning to stock the shelves with fresh products.
