The latest from Amazon, Walmart, and H&M: 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 Amazon, Carrefour UAE, Walmart, H&M, Morrisons, Uber Eats, and Cartken.
H&M
H&M has debuted an Innovation Metaverse Design Story collection in select stores and online.
According to a press release, the physical collection is “inspired by the immersive potential of the metaverse, as well as the tactile beauty of the physical world. Self-expression and an exploration of sustainability is showcased in three formats, with sustainable materials, rental services in select countries, and a digital collection.”
"The increasingly virtual dimension of fashion creates exciting future opportunities for H&M, allowing us to create vibrant, bold and daring virtual counterparts to our physical collections.”
“In addition to the endless creative possibilities, it also allows us to propose a more sustainable and inclusive fashion vision that can be accessed by anyone, anywhere in the world," says Ann-Sofie Johansson, Creative Advisor at H&M.”
FedEx Express
FedEx Express has expanded the testing of electric carts to five New York City locations as it aims to improve deliveries in major metropolitan areas.
The BrightDrop Trace e-carts are helping FedEx couriers make deliveries in the Diamond District, Theatre District, Midtown, Midtown East, and Brooklyn Heights, expanding upon an initial test site in the Diamond District during 2021.
The routes in the pilot cover more than seven walking miles.
Amazon
Amazon has started to deliver orders by drones in California and Texas.
This is currently operating in Lockeford, California and College Station, Texas.
Once onboarded, customers will see Prime Air eligible items on Amazon. They will purchase items as per normal and receive an estimated arrival time with a status tracker for their order.
“Our aim is to safely introduce our drones to the skies. We are starting in these communities and will gradually expand deliveries to more customers over time,” says Amazon Air spokesperson Natalie Banke.
American Girl
Mattel brand American Girl has unveiled its 2023 Girl of the Year, Kavi Sharma, and as part of the launch has partnered with Obsess to create a free virtual museum experience.
This allows fans to tour Kavi’s room and learn more about her Indian culture and love of performing, play games and learn more about each American Girl character.
Majid Al Futtaim and Carrefour UAE
Morrisons
Automated parcel machine service provider, InPost, has announced the expansion of its partnership with Morrisons.
Morrisons is InPost’s longest standing supermarket partner, hosting over 290 lockers across the UK since 2014.
Now that figure is set to rise to approximately 390 by the end of January, ensuring that nearly 80% of all its stores in the UK host a locker as an additional service.
Prominent new locations include Croydon, Bradford, Glastonbury, Dumfries and Newport.
In addition, several of InPost’s existing lockers will be extended so that they can cater to high customer demand.
Filco Supermarkets
Nine Filco Supermarkets branded convenience stores in the UK have had new EDGEPoS systems installed under a partnership with Henderson Technology.
This involved installation of the EDGEPoS platform at each of Filco’s stores and EDGEPoS Head Office at Llantwjit Major to allow full control of all nine stores from one central location.
The 36-lane project, including head office and central warehousing, took seven weeks to complete between October and November.
Yoti
The UK Home Office reports that trials of digital age verification at supermarket self-checkouts have now ended.
Yoti, whose technology was tested out by the likes of Morrisons, Tesco, Co-op, and Asda, has shared its initial key takeaways from the initiative.
During the trials, shoppers in participating stores could try two new ways to prove their age.
Facial age estimation technology: those purchasing alcohol looked at a camera on the self-checkout and technology estimated their age.
It didn’t require any personal details or ID documents, and all images were instantly deleted once someone received their estimated age. If the system detected they looked younger than the set age threshold, customers were asked to use an alternative method.
Digital ID app: shoppers could use the free Yoti or Post Office EasyID app to scan a QR code on the checkout screen and share a verified age attribute.
Those who did not wish to use digital age verification had the option to ask a staff member to come and approve them and if required show their ID to a colleague instead.
Uber Eats and Cartken
Uber Eats and Cartken have announced a partnership for food deliveries via the latter’s self-driving robots in Miami, Florida.
The pair have begun operating with select merchants in the Dadeland area of Miami-Dade County with plans to expand in Miami-Dade and to additional cities in 2023.
Uber Eats is Cartken’s first formal partnership with a global on-demand delivery app beyond college campuses.
Walmart
Walmart has announced a free Text to Shop functionality for iOS and Android users.
The retailer tested out the feature last year.
In an online post, Dominique Essig, Vice President, Conversational Commerce, Store No8, Walmart’s retail tech incubator, said: “Text to Shop is seamlessly connected to your Walmart account, so we know your usual ordered items.”
“Simply text the items you need, and they get added to your cart. Choose from the full selection of Walmart’s products, including items from your local store and from Walmart.com. Text “reorder” to quickly review and add your frequently ordered items to your cart.”
Continue reading…