RTIH runs through this week's coolest retail technology plays
RTIH Editor, Scott Thompson, brings you his top ‘future of retail systems’ deployments from the past week, including crypto at the movies, robotics powered fulfilment centres, and the fight against fashion waste.
boohoo group
Fast fashion giant boohoo group has adopted the Aiimi Insight Engine platform, with an initial focus on data subject access requests (DSAR) and deletion of data for customers and employees.
The pureplay says that it will be able to proactively monitor and manage high risk data stored in unstructured repositories, such as SharePoint and OneDrive, and interconnect all information across the organisation.
Streamlining processes with the platform will, it adds, save the business substantial manual hours when dealing with DSAR and deletion tasks and remove more than 10 systems from involvement in their completion.
BionicHIVE
BionicHIVE, an Israeli firm which specialises in supply chain workplace-based robotics technology, has received an undisclosed amount of funding from the newly announced Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund.
BionicHIVE has developed SqUID, a solution which can be deployed in a range of supply chain facilities utilising existing shelving racks and boxes and is capable of pick and put-away from floor to ceiling.
Harvey Nichols
Amazon
In its latest move to compete with FedEx and UPS, Amazon has announced Buy with Prime, which extends Prime shopping to online stores beyond Amazon.com.
Buy with Prime will initially be available by invitation only for merchants using Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) and will roll-out through 2022 as merchants are allowed to take par,, including those not selling on Amazon or using FBA.
The service will allow US-based Prime members to shop directly from merchants’ online stores and take advantage of fast, free delivery, and free returns on eligible orders.
Prime members will see the Prime logo and delivery promise on eligible products in merchants’ online stores.
eBay UK
eBay UK has launched Imperfects, pitched as the fashion equivalent to supermarkets' wonky veg initiative.
The product range offers clothes, shoes and accessories which are considered new, but with defects, from over 100 high street and high-end designers including North Face, Off White, Puma, Fila, and Timberland at up to 60% off.
Imperfect items may include defects such as a small scuff or mark, a button missing or a loose thread that may have been from the factory or are ex-display which means they can’t be sold at full price as they did not meet the manufacturer’s quality standards.
The initiative launched this week to mark Earth Day (22nd April).
AMC Theatres
American cinema giant AMC Theatres has updated its mobile app to accept Dogecoin, Shibu Inu and other cryptocurrencies as payment across the USA.
The company first started accepting crypto payments last year, enabling customers to purchase movie tickets online using Bitcoin, Ether, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin.
Earlier this year, Adam Aron, CEO at AMC Theatres, promised the addition of DOGE and SHIB by March.
So, a little bit late, but we’re sure all you crypto fanboys and girls out there aren’t complaining.
UBS Arena
For the first time, Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology is being used at a sports and entertainment venue in New York.
UBS Arena, home of the NHL’s New York Islanders, now has two food and beverage stores equipped with the checkout-free stores solution.
Amazon Canada
Amazon Canada has opened its newest robotics powered fulfilment centre, YHM1, in Hamilton, Ontario.
“This new facility is the company’s most advanced one in our network today, and it’s the 1,500 employees that really make this place spectacular,” says Vibhore Arora Regional Director, Canada Customer Fulfilment, Amazon Canada.
“Robotics technology helps extend the reach and capability of our team in a manner that makes tasks easier and more efficient, and make our fulfilment centres safer and more collaborative.”
Farmstead
US-based online grocer Farmstead has launched a new feature that aims to reduce food waste by reminding customers what’s in their refrigerator.
Farmstead says it is the first online only grocer to have precise sell by date inventory control and automated procurement systems for perishables.
As a result, most products are sourced closer to customers, and keep fresh at home longer than comparables from supermarkets.
Instacart and Grocery Outlet
Instacart has expanded its US partnership with value retailer Grocery Outlet to offer same-day delivery (in as fast as an hour) from nearly 400 stores in California, Oregon, Washington and Pennsylvania.
This builds on Instacart bringing Grocery Outlet onto its app last year, making online shopping and delivery available to the latter’s customers for the first time.
The initial pilot ran for six months across nearly 70 Grocery Outlet stores in California.
