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 Walmart, Forage, Jisp, Swiftly, Aldi, and Bold Commerce.
Kristina Herrmann departs Amazon for startup life at Forage
Forage, which makes it easier for grocers to accept SNAP EBT (previously known as food stamps) payments online, has announced that Kristina Herrmann is joining the company in the new role of Chief Business Officer.
Herrmann was previously at Amazon, where she spent nearly 16 years, most recently building out and leading the e-commerce giant’s Underserved Populations team as its Founder and General Manager.
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.
Grocery retail technology startup Swiftly bags unicorn status
Swiftly has announced a $100 million Series C funding round led by BRV Capital Management, bringing the company's total valuation to more than $1 billion.
This marks Swiftly’s second $100 million financing round in less than six months.
The startup provides bricks and mortar grocers with branded phone apps designed to help retailers gather highly customer data and earn advertising dollars, while shoppers can find what they’re looking for in the aisles, recall past purchases and skip lines by scanning products and paying with their phones.
*shopt bosss Jemma Blaylock joins Jisp advisory board
Retail marketing and grocery shopping app, Jisp, has appointed Jemma Blaylock to its advisory board.
With over 20 years of consumer goods, retail and digital experience, her background includes senior positions in leading FMCG organisations and advising early stage startups on market entry, growth and investment.
Jisp says that, in her latest role as Managing Director at *shopt, she is well placed to advise on growing digital apps in retail across multiple global markets.
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 Shopify, Walmart, Starbucks, Aldi, ASICS, Bloomingdale’s, and JCPenney.
Bold Commerce Curb Up brings upsell opps to curbside and in-store pickup
Bold Commerce, which powers checkout and subscription experiences for retailers and DTC brands, has announced a new curbside and in-store pick up feature for bricks and mortar and omnichannel companies.
Bold Commerce says that the new technology was designed to “reimagine the experience of last minute product discovery in the checkout area of stores, only it occurs on a shopper’s mobile device.”
Using Checkout from Bold Commerce, retailers can already make recommendations for add-on items before, during and after checkout online.
Now, with Curb Up, they can extend this functionality to the orders that will be completed at curbside or picked up in-store.
Celia Van Wickel departs Kantar for Mars Wrigley Confectionery
Celia Van Wickel has taken on the role of Global Director and Head of Omnichannel Analytics at Mars Wrigley Confectionery.
She joins from Kantar where she served as Senior Director, Digital Commerce.
Prior to that, she was Senior Manager, DTC & E-commerce Shopper Insights at The Coca-Cola Company.
RTIH presents this week's coolest retail technology plays
RTIH Editor, Scott Thompson, brings you his top ‘future of retail’ systems launches and deployments from the past week, including Web3 technology firsts, virtual stores, Bitcoin rewards, and digitally connected clothing technology.
Walmart taps virtual try-on technology for Be Your Own Model launch
Walmart is expanding its use of AI powered virtual try-on technology for online shoppers.
This hails from the retailer’s 2021 acquisition of the startup Zeekit.
Earlier this year, it introduced the first implementation of the tech, Choose My Model, enabling Walmart.com customers to select from various models to find one who best looks like them in order to see how clothing would likely look on their own body, and with their own skin tone, across a range of apparel items.
Now, Walmart is launching Be Your Own Model, which lets people use their own photos to see how clothing looks on them, instead of choosing one of the existing fashion models.
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.
