Top 10: last week’s most essential retail technology articles

These are the RTIH articles that caught your fancy last week, including Aldi Nord, Trigo, Carrefour, Procter & Gamble, Boots UK, TCS, and XY Retail.

dunnhumby and VST launch Planogram Publisher following beta test

VST and dunnhumby have announced the launch of Planogram Publisher - software that makes retailer planogram data accessible to CPG brands.

Planogram data has become increasingly complex as retailers provide more differentiation by store, which means tracking what’s actually happening in stores has become almost impossible for brands.

Whilst brands would have previously made numerous store visits to photograph and analyse what’s in-store, the pandemic stopped this time-consuming and difficult process.

Planogram Publisher will make this data available across more than 3,500 UK stores.

Aldi Nord tests out Trigo powered autonomous store in Utrecht

Aldi Nord has opened an Aldi Shop & Go store in the Dutch city of Utrecht.

This is a 370㎡ (3,982 square feet) AI powered location where shoppers can walk in, select their items, and walk out without having to queue at the checkout lane or scan any items.

In its largest store format to date, Trigo applies its algorithms to shelf sensors and ceiling mounted cameras which analyse anonymised shoppers' movements and product choices.

Payments and receipts are settled digitally.

Carrefour and Procter & Gamble team up in the metaverse

Carrefour has partnered with Procter & Gamble for what is pitched as “the first joint retail/FMCG brand experience in the metaverse”.

This involves the latter’s Mr. Clean brand.

In a LinkedIn post, Elodie Perthuisot, Chief E Commerce, Digital Transformation and Data Officer & EXCOM member at Carrefour, said: “Thanks to their Lab, we are both offering Carrefour customers a marketing activation of a new style, between gamification, immersion, Web3, all with a Mr. Clean as you have never seen it before.”

She added: “This is a test to renew the classic advertisements and activations, create a link between the metaverse and e-commerce, and especially receive feedback from our customers to evolve this experience.” 

Boots INNOVATE launches in partnership with TCS and focuses on emerging tech

Boots UK has launched a new INNOVATE workspace in partnership with TCS at its site in Nottingham.

The aim is to encourage and nurture a startup culture. INNOVATE has been designed to be an agile incubator combining creative space with top talent and evolving technology.

Check out RTIH’s most popular retail technology articles on LinkedIn

Here at RTIH, we’re big fans of LinkedIn and are busy building an amazing community of retail tech enthusiasts on the social media platform.

These are the articles that are currently on their radars, including Co-op, Starship Technologies, Studenac Market, Wolt, Aldi Nord, Trigo, Morrisons, and Worldline.

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 week. Featuring Boots UK, Kroger, Walmart, Amazon, Sephora, Hot Topic, Co-op, and Marks and Spencer.

Startup Stories interview: XY Retail CEO and Founder Susan Jeffers

RTIH gets the lowdown on PoS and omnichannel commerce solution startup XY Retail, which recently closed a $4 million seed round led by Monta Vista Capital with participation from Stage 1 Ventures.

Waitrose ramps up Deliveroo rapid grocery delivery partnership

Waitrose has more than doubled its range on Deliveroo with over 2,000 lines now available.

Five retail technology questions for True Fit’s Sarah Curran

RTIH asks major players in the retail technology space for their thoughts on the sector, and throws in a random question to keep them on their toes.

This time around, our five questions go to Sarah Curran, NED at French Connection and MD EMEA at True Fit.

Pets at Home expands same-day delivery service with Stuart and OneStock

Following the introduction of same-day delivery for Pets at Home customers at the end of last year, the offer is being expanded to more stores including several in Scotland, across Edinburgh and Glasgow, as well as York, Coventry and Bath, taking the total number to 128.

Stuart is handling the delivery side of things, typically within two hours.

The service enables Pets at Home customers to place their orders directly through the website, as they would usually do.

Once the product is selected, OneStock’s order management system displays Stuart’s same-day service as one of Pets at Home’s delivery options, if the postcode is within the coverage of the store.