April: top ten coolest retail technology plays
RTIH Editor, Scott Thompson, brings you his stand out ‘future of retail’ systems deployments from last month, including NFT collections, checkout-free stores, and TikTok shopping events.
Wakefern Food Corp.
Wakefern Food Corp., the largest retailer owned cooperative in the US, has announced a pilot with Simbe Robotics to deploy its business intelligence solution, Tally, at stores.
Tally autonomously roams store aisles up to three times per day, leveraging computer vision technology to collect shelf data that ensures products are in-stock, in the correct location, and accurately priced on the sales floor.
Selfridges, Paco Rabanne and Victor Vasarely
A first of its kind collaborative Web3 project with Paco Rabanne and Victor Vasarely, and powered by Selfridges, launched this month.
An NFT collection brings Paco's archive of haute-couture dresses and Vasarely's op-art artworks into the metaverse.
“Paco Rabanne likes to explore worlds where disciplines cross and meet,” says the brand’s new Managing Director, Nadia Dhouib.
“These 12 opulent NFTs are a way to show our fashion know-how and celebrate the creativity from the archives in modern grammar.”
“It’s our role to cherish and to inspire the new generation. Selling archive pieces as NFTs to cherish the past feels very natural, almost like a virtuous circle.”
Snap
Snap has announced a number of new augmented reality capabilities for brands. Further details here.
boohoo
Fast fashion big hitter boohoo has announced the launch of its first NFT collection.
Phase one of the brand’s move into this space included the launch of NFT education and community building platform @boohooverse on Twitter and Discord, which aims to onboard the female fashion community into Web3 ahead of the first drop.
boohoo ran a competition to support a second phase. This recruited artists in the NFT space to be part of what is pitched as “the biggest female led NFT collection yet”.
adidas Originals
To promote the arrival of its latest Ozworld collection, adidas Originals is launching what is pitched as the world's first personality-based AI generated avatar creation platform with Ready Player Me.
Users can design an avatar through the online Ozworld experience and use it throughout over 1,500 metaverse apps and games, letting them explore virtual worlds with a consistent identity.
Circle K
Standard AI has announced the opening of an autonomous store in partnership with Circle K.
This builds on another checkout-free tie up from last year.
Customers walk in the Phoenix, Arizona store, shop as normal, and tap the Circle K Innovation app at Standard AI’s tablet-based stations when they’re ready to leave. Receipts are sent to their phones within minutes.
Westfield UK and TikTok
Westfield UK hosted a live two-hour shopping event, Summer Styled, on its newly launched UK TikTok account on 29th April.
This made it the first physical retail destination to engage in a live shopping event on TikTok Shop in the UK.
Filmed live from a Westfield London studio between 4pm and 6pm, the event was part of Westfield’s spring/summer fashion campaign.
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.
Amazon and Houston Astros
For the first time, Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology is live in a Major League Baseball stadium.
Two food and beverage stores, powered by the checkout-free technology, have opened in Minute Maid Park, home of the Houston Astros, ahead of their first home game of the season.
Both offer a selection of snacks, soda, candy, and alcoholic beverages. One also offers pre-packaged salads, wine bottles, and souvenirs.
Unilever
Unilever has partnered with Perch to launch an in-store product engagement platform at Giant Food supermarkets in the Washington DC area.
Interactive end caps in the beauty section incorporate a digital screen that automatically senses what products shoppers touch to respond with videos and information, without having to scan a QR code, touch a screen, download an app etc.
Using Perch’s “lift-and-learn” technology, shoppers can get more information about Unilever skincare products by touching them.
