Last week’s biggest retail technology plays at a glance
RTIH rounds up the stand out retail systems deals, deployments and pilots from the past seven days. Featuring Domino’s, Netflix, Clarks, Uber Eats, Gap, and Albertsons Companies.
Domino’s is teaming with Netflix to launch an immersive mind ordering app experience which places “test subjects” inside Hawkins National Lab in Hawkins, Indiana – transporting them to the centre of the hit show Stranger Things in 1986.
The app uses facial recognition and eye tracking technology to allow test subjects to use their “powers” to order pizza by making certain facial expressions and head movements.
British shoe brand Clarks has partnered with Roblox on the release of CICAVERSE, a sports tournament style experience created by MELON.
When stepping inside the Clarks Stadium, fans can put the Clarks CICA shoe through its paces as they battle it out with their friends to see who can grab the highest scores – from showing off their slickest BMX tricks and breakdance skills, to racing to the Parkour finish line with a little help from the real life young athletes who have helped Clarks create the newly designed CICA collection.
In addition to sports, users will be able to visit a virtual Clarks store where they can purchase all the accessories needed to make their avatars stand out from the crowd and be crowned champion of the CICAVERSE.
Uber Eats is launching two autonomous delivery pilots in Los Angeles with Serve Robotics and Motional.
Both of the pilots will initially deliver food from only a few merchants.
Serve’s part of the initiative will focus on shorter trips in West Hollywood. Motional’s will handle longer distance deliveries in Santa Monica.
Customers who place food orders via the Uber Eats app can opt to have their order delivered by a robot.
They will see a confirmation screen, receive app notifications and be able to track the robot’s location as their order approaches. Once it arrives, they can use the Uber Eats app to open the robot and retrieve their order.
Food delivery robots are taking to the streets of Cambourne, UK, as part of a pilot organised between Cambridgeshire County Council and Starship Technologies, in partnership with the Co-op.
A2Z Smart Technologies Corp. has announced a pilot programme for its Cust2Mate smart carts with NTUC FairPrice Co-Operative, the largest supermarket chain in Singapore.
The first carts will arrive at a new FairPrice located in a shopping mall in the centre of Singapore on 15th July.
They will be available on a limited basis beginning 1st August and then for all shoppers beginning 1st September.
Veeve has announced an agreement with Albertsons Companies that later this year will make its smart carts available to customers at a few dozen stores across the US.
Shoppers can use them to skip checkout lines.
“Veeve smart carts offer a sophisticated, yet simple self-checkout experience for people who value flexibility and time savings,” says Alyse Wuson, Senior Director of Omni Experiences at Albertsons Cos.
“Our goal is to enhance the grocery experience no matter how our guests choose to shop, and Veeve’s technology brings the ease and integration of e-commerce right to the grocery cart.”
Gap is launching a purchase free experience in Club Roblox, a role playing, user-generated world built on the Roblox gaming platform.
A collaboration with SuperAwesome Gaming, the Club Roblox Boutique resembles a Gap Teen store and includes a fashion show mini-game called Style Stage, juice bar and photo booth.
The game takes inspiration from the retailer’s summer campaign.
Perfect Corp. has launched a Top Gun: Maverick interactive augmented reality movie experience in its YouCam Makeup app and photo editing app YouCam Perfect.
This features exclusive Top Gun themed looks and animated effects that bring elements from the film to life, like stepping on to the flight deck at dawn, and a chance to get into pilot mode with Tom Cruise’s classic Maverick aviators, powered by Perfect Corp.’s AI virtual eyewear try-on technology.
The interactive AR filters and effects are available now, leading up to the launch of Top Gun: Maverick, coming to cinema’s across the globe from 27th May.
Future Workforce has been appointed by Liberty London to support the roll-out of robotic process automation.
The pair are partnering on business critical tasks, which allow the e-commerce teams to more quickly launch products on the website.
Robots have been deployed to gather images from brands, search for product codes in a database and rename the image ready for publishing on the Liberty site.
The solution took three weeks to implement and is currently processing thousands of images within the beauty category. It will soon be extended to include other categories including fashion and home.
