August 2022: retail technology deals and deployments at a glance
RTIH rounds up the stand out retail systems deals, deployments and pilots from August, including Nike, AiFi, Co-op, Uber Eats, Deliveroo, Boots, Amazon, DoorDash, Waitrose, and Pinterest.
Standard AI and Chartwells Higher Education, a division of Compass Group, have announced an expanded partnership that will bring 100 autonomous retail experiences to higher education institutions in the US.
In 2020, Chartwells Higher Education was the first company to retrofit an existing retail environment using Standard AI’s autonomous platform, enabling university students to walk in, select their items, and go on their way without having to wait in a checkout line or scan barcodes.
Co-op and Uber Eats have teamed-up as part of the convenience retailer’s plans to expand its on-demand online home delivery service.
Through the partnership, shoppers will be able to order via the Uber Eats app from around 1,000 Co-op food stores by the end of the year, with groceries delivered in as little as 30 minutes.
With the phased roll-out underway from this week, customers can use the Uber Eats app to choose from over 6,000 products stocked in local Co-op stores.
With products picked fresh in local stores, the service is available for a full grocery shop as well as on-demand top-up and forgotten items, meal ideas and treats for evenings in at home.
Boots has expanded its partnership with Deliveroo to 125 stores across the UK.
Customers will now have access, via the Deliveroo app, to an expanded range of 750 products delivered to their door in minutes, following a 14 store trial.
Boots is now available via Deliveroo for the first time to customers in cities including Manchester, Glasgow, Belfast, Bristol, Sheffield, Coventry, Plymouth, Exeter, Middlesbrough, York, Aberdeen and Inverness.
More stores are also offering the service in existing regions, including London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Leeds and Edinburgh.
In celebration of Nike’s 50th anniversary, BUCK has partnered with the company’s Global Brand Experience team to bring its past, present, and future to life through a WebAR experience.
Powered by Zappar’s ZapWorks platform, this provides a portal into the Department of Nike Archives for visitors to Nike stores.
RELEX Solutions and DoorDash have announced a partnership to implement the former’s AI driven supply chain planning solution to service the latter’s DashMart locations.
RELEX uses machine learning to create accurate forecasts that will optimise product availability at DashMart locations.
3D Cloud by Marxent, a specialist in 3D e-commerce for furniture and home improvement, has announced a partnership with design company MillerKnoll.
The pair are launching a new, code free system for building and maintaining consumer facing, web-based 3D product configurators for furniture e-commerce, powered by 3D Cloud.
Earlier this year, 3D product configurators built with the app were launched in select Herman Miller retail stores.
These are now available via the Herman Miller contract website in the US and are expected to roll-out to the firm’s websites serving consumers and international markets in mid-2023.
Interior designers and trade professionals now have the ability to customise designs such as the Aeron chair in real-time and then buy their final configuration online.
The apps allow shoppers to visualise every possible combination, get accurate pricing as they design, download images at any stage in the process, and share them with friends and family.
Al Meera Consumer Goods Company has announced a partnership with checkout-free technology firm Zippin.
The Qatar-based company says that it will soon open fully autonomous stores, powered by Zippin’s AI tech, in strategic locations to provide visitors with snacks, beverages, grab-and-go meals and other essential items in “a seamless and cashier-less process”.
Pinterest has launched Waitrose’s latest campaign on its platform, showcasing its “colourful variety in food choices for this year’s summer dishes”.
Raising awareness of its “high quality products and everyday food range”, the retailer is looking to inspire Pinners to prepare tasty meals, utilising Pinterest’s immersive ad format, the Pin Extension, for the first time.
Waitrose’s campaign features an interactive look book allowing Pinners to select from one of four different summer food options including dishes from around the world ‘World Eating’, dishes ‘Made for Sharing’, ‘Perfect Picnics’ and ‘Brilliant BBQs’.
They will then be shown a selection of dishes and recipes, including tips and tricks on how to perfect each one, with a shopping list specifically for that recipe that the user can have to hand ahead of their next grocery shop.
Amazon One palm scanner payment technology is set to launch at over 65 Whole Foods stores in California.
This is the biggest roll-out to date, with stores in Malibu, Montana Avenue, Santa Monica, Los Angeles, Orange County, Sacramento, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Santa Cruz included in the initiative.
Amazon One was initially available in Amazon Go stores, with an eventual expansion to Whole Foods stores in Austin, Seattle, Los Angeles, and New York City.
Customers can also try out the tech at the Amazon Style fashion store in Glendale, California, along with select Fresh and Go stores.
Japan’s Cainz Corporation, a home improvement chain with 230 stores, has announced a new autonomous location, called Cainz Mobile Store, on the first floor of its HQ in Honjo City, Saitama.
The computer vision technology implemented into the store, powered by US-based AiFi, will allow customers to shop for Cainz brand household products and snack items without having to go through a cash register or self-checkout.
This will open in the near future and may expand to other locations in the future.
The Very Group, which operates digital retailer Very, has announced a new partnership with product experience management (PXM) vendor Akeneo.
This is part of a tech transformation project, the aim of which is to optimise the customer experience and modernise its tech stack.
Using Akeneo’s PXM platform, Very will provide customers with the likes of digital media, technical specifications and enhanced product details.
Customers will be helped in their buying decisions by tailored and category specific product information, for example highlighting different features for beauty products than for electrical goods.
The platform will allow new products to be added to site in less than a minute.
The move follows partnerships with commercetools, True Fit and Amplience.
