Top 10: last week’s most read retail technology articles
These are the RTIH articles that caught your fancy last week, including Gopuff, Karakuri, Amazon, Wegmans, Aldi, and The Honest Company.
Karakuri raids Kraft Heinz for Kevin Garry appointment
Food robotics company, Karakuri, has announced the appointment of Kevin Garry as its new Director of Global Business Development.
Garry will be pivotal to the firm’s focus on the global QSR market through the development of commercial partnerships for its latest range of kitchen robotics innovation.
He previously held the role of UK Channel Lead for QSR and Leisure at Kraft Heinz, as well as foodservice roles with Kerry Group and McDonalds UK.
Jessica Alba’s The Honest Company hits China via Alibaba Tmall Global platform
Jessica Alba’s The Honest Company brand has launched in China and opened a flagship store on Tmall Global, Alibaba Group’s cross-border e-commerce platform.
Based in Los Angeles, Honest will sell skin care and colour cosmetics products from its Honest Beauty line to Chinese consumers.
The Honest Company has been expanding overseas since 2019. It already has third-party manufacturers located in the world’s second largest economy.
Gopuff implements GoStock Equity Programme in UK
Rapid delivery firm Gopuff reports that its GoStock Equity Programme is currently rolling out in the UK.
Details of the initiative were shared via an internal memo issued last week.
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 Colgate, Trigo, Shufersal, Lowe’s, Instacart, Uber, and Nuro.
A2Z preps Cust2Mate smart carts pilot with Thailand’s The Mall Group
A2Z Smart Technologies Corp. has announced a pilot programme for its Cust2Mate smart carts with Thailand’s The Mall Group.
This will take place in the Gourmet Market area and for the first time involve integration with the Fujitsu PoS system. It will be run in five stores and the integration process will start in the coming weeks.
The smart carts recognise every purchased item and enable in-cart payment so that shoppers can skip lines, while also allowing retail grocers to direct shoppers to discounted products and in-store promotions.
Amazon snaps up supply chain technology firm Cloostermans
Amazon continues to build out its robotics business with the acquisition of Cloostermans, a Belgium-based company that specialises in mechatronics.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The pair began working together in 2019.
Gopuff hires Amazon veteran Patrick Bigatel as Vice President of Grocery
Patrick Bigatel has joined Gopuff as Vice President of Grocery.
He was previously Vice President Of New Business Development at Booster.
Prior to that, he spent almost 15 years at Amazon, holding such positions as General Manager, Amazon Heavy-Bulky, Home Services and Local Selling.
Wegmans flags losses as it bins in-store scan and go mobile app
American supermarket chain, Wegmans, is pulling its in-store scan and go app this Sunday, 18th September.
The company told customers about the move in an email.
“SCAN users have told us they love the app and the convenience it offers. We love it too and have tried many adjustments to keep it,” said CEO Colleen Wegman.
“Unfortunately, the losses we are experiencing from this programme prevent us from continuing to make it available in its current state.”
“We’ve learned a lot and we will continue to introduce new digital solutions to streamline your shopping experience for the future.”
Aldi agrees parcelLab operations experience management tie up
Aldi, which recently overtook Morrisons to become the UK’s fourth largest supermarket, has announced a partnership with delivery operations experience management firm parcelLab.
It will use parcelLab’s platform for its pre-dispatch and outbound communications.
parcelLab’s technology ensures customers will receive Aldi branded communications about deliveries and returns direct from the retailer for non-grocery related online purchases.
In turn, Aldi will be able to use these messages to surface more of its range to customers, while using delivery data to improve overall order efficiency.
Six retail technology appointments you need to know about
After the latest retail tech appointments news? Then, fear not, dear readers, because RTIH has you covered.
