Here’s what happened in the retail technology space during August
RTIH takes a look back at an eventful month for the retail systems sector, including Amazon, Walmart, Co-op, Uber Eats, Gopuff, Waitrose, and Pinterest.
Good month for…
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.
Smart grocery shopping cart startup, Shopic, announced a $35 million Series B investment round led by Qualcomm Ventures, bringing its total funding raised to $56 million.
According to ABI Research, worldwide commercial robot revenue in retail stores will have a CAGR of over 25% from 2022 to 2030 and exceed $8.4 billion by 2030.
Afresh, a startup whose technology helps grocery stores reduce food waste, raised $115 million in new funding.
The Series B round was led by Spark Capital.
Insight Partners and VMG Partners also participated, along with Walter Robb, a senior executive at S2G Ventures and the former Co-CEO at Whole Foods Market.
The company’s total funding has now reached $148 million.
Lily AI closed a $25 million Series B financing round with participation from the likes of Canaan Partners, Conductive Ventures, Sorenson Ventures and NEA.
The company has developed an AI powered platform that connects a retailer’s or brand’s shoppers with products they might be looking to buy.
With clients including Bloomingdale’s, The Gap, Macy’s, and thredUP, it will use the new funding to further expand into mid-market retail e-commerce brands across home, beauty and fashion.
The company also plans to extend its solution to further applications within the retail stack.
Bad month for…
Amazon put the brakes on the expansion of its checkout-free convenience stores, due to sales falling short of expectations and fit out costs being multiple times higher than with a standard location.
According to a report by The Sunday Times, the US giant is understood to have walked away from talks on dozens of sites for Amazon Fresh stores, and has stopped its search for more locations.
There will still be a handful of openings this year at sites where Amazon had already committed to a lease.
In a LinkedIn post, Martin Heubel, an Amazon strategy consultant, said: “Not a major surprise amid the current economic climate. It’s expensive to get into retail and even more expensive to remain.”
“With inflation at all time highs, customers are prioritising to save money. Even the most advanced self-checkout technology won’t revert this trend in the short-term. It seems, Amazon has come to realise this, too.”
The next UK Prime Minister needs to urgently address the cost of living and energy crises and their impact upon pubs, bars, restaurants, says James Watt, BrewDog CEO and Co-Founder.
The beer big hitter recently celebrated the opening of its biggest ever bar, in Waterloo, London.
At the same time, however, it is closing six pubs due to soaring energy costs.
In a LinkedIn post, Watt said: “Waterloo was amazing, but reality is biting – Liz Truss/Rishi Sunak (both of whom are currently battling it out to be the next PM) please stop the charade.”
Buy now, pay later firm, Klarna, reported an operating loss of 6.17billion Swedish crowns (£497 million) for the first half of 2022, compared to 1.76billion crowns in the same period last year.
The FinTech blamed this on rapid international expansion, higher credit losses in new markets, and rising staff costs.
Klarna last reported a profit four years ago before embarking on a period of rapid international expansion.
However, it has been hit by a slowdown in consumer spending amid soaring rates of inflation, while facing a looming regulation of buy now, pay later products.
Also this month…
Co-op and Uber Eats 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 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.
Japan’s Cainz Corporation, a home improvement chain with 230 stores, 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.
Peters joins from Woolworths Supermarkets where she served as Managing Director.
Her CV also includes a stint as Chief Operating Officer at Tesco Stores.
Bowrey, meanwhile, worked for Tesco for over 30 years across various functions and internationally.
Most recently, he was Retail Director at Boots.
In a LinkedIn post, Tony Hoggett, SVP Worldwide Physical Stores & Speciality Fulfilment, Amazon, said: “I’m excited to announce Claire and Peter are joining our growing Amazon Physical Stores leadership team.”
“Both Claire and Pete will join Amazon in early 2023, bringing decades of grocery, international and multi-channel retail experience.”
He added: “I’m inspired by the Amazon Physical Stores and Speciality Fulfilment leadership team we have in place, and we’re all looking forward to growing the business together with our two new members.”
Pinterest 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.
Starbucks said it would unveil a Web3 initiative at September’s Investor Day event.
This was first flagged up in early 2022.
During its fiscal Q2 2022 earnings call, the coffee giant said that NFTs can help Starbucks extend its concept of the “third place”, that is, a place between home and work where people can feel a sense of belonging over coffee.
The.company has brought in Adam Brotman, the architect of its Mobile Order & Pay system and the Starbucks app, to help serve as a special advisor on the project.
Gopuff Co-founder and Co-CEO Rafael Ilishayev took to LinkedIn to defend his company’s business model.
Rapid delivery firms flourished during the Covid-19 outbreak as restrictions and lockdowns forced many physical locations to close.
But since then, growth has dried up, and businesses in the space have begun to cut jobs and pull back from new markets.
A recent article by The Information claimed that Gopuff had shelved business initiatives, lost top executives, and lots of cash.
In a LinkedIn post, Ilishayev said: “Since Yakir Gola and I started Gopuff nearly nine years ago, we’ve come across scepticism on the space and business model - and I understand why. So here is my point of view on the industry and why we believe in it as much today as we did nine years ago.”
He continued: “Often, we have investors, analysts and the media asking us: why do people need ice cream in 15 minutes? Truth is - they don’t. Nobody needs ice cream in 15 minutes. Our business is far beyond that - it’s about serving the changing trend in commerce.”
Walmart+ will soon be available for members with a Paramount+ Essential subscription at no extra cost.
This starts in September.
Walmart+ costs $98 a year or $12.95 a month. In the US, Paramount+ Essential clocks in at $4.99/month.
The move by Walmart is intended to make its service, which launched in September 2020, more competitive with Amazon Prime.
