Run it back: RTIH pulls together the retail technology news you might have missed last week
Didn’t keep up with the breaking retail technology news last week? Then have no fear as RTIH has you covered. Here are the major stories that you need to know about. Includes Starship Technologies, AiFi, Żabka Polska, Zippin, Dublin Airport, Shoptalk Europe 2024, and the 2023 RTIH Innovation Awards.
Shein has California on its mind as online retailer taps QR codes for pop-up in Forever 21 store
This past weekend in California, Chinese fast fashion giant Shein hosted its first pop-up within a Forever 21 store.
A section of the latter’s permanent storefront was transformed into a shop for apparel, beauty products and accessories sold by Shein, complete with its own employees and checkout counter.
Shoppers needed to scan a QR code to make an appointment to enter.
Four years in the making: Dyson notches up physical milestone with new Demo Store in Berlin, Germany
Dyson, which designs and manufactures household appliances such as vacuum cleaners, air purifiers, hand dryers, heaters, hair dryers, and lights, has opened its largest store in the world.
This can be found in Berlin, Germany, and offers shoppers the chance to learn about the company’s products and try them out.
In a LinkedIn post, Matt Shapiro, Global Retail Development Director at Dyson, said: “The wait is over. Berlin we’re here! After four years in the making, Dyson’s largest store in the world is now open. It was a tremendous effort from all teams involved.”
He added: “Our Demo Stores serve as a showcase of Dyson’s latest technology where customers can learn about our machines from highly trained experts or get hands on with our innovative demo experiences.”
2023 RTIH Innovation Awards to be held at the Barbican Centre in London on Wednesday, 29th November
We’re pleased to announce that the 2023 RTIH Innovation Awards, sponsored by PMC, FreedomPay, CADS, 3D Cloud by Marxent, Goodays, and Vista Technology Support, will take place at the Barbican Centre in central London.
The event will be held on Wednesday, 29th November, maintaining its popular evening format, with a drinks reception in the stunning Conservatory, followed by a Christmas themed three course meal, and awards ceremony in the Garden Room presided over by comedian Ian Moore.
2023 RTIH INNOVATION AWARDS RUN TIMES
6.30-7.30pm: Drinks reception
7.30-9.15pm: Dinner is served
9.30-11pm: Awards presentation with our host Ian Moore
11pm-1am: After party featuring DJ
1am: Event ends
“I am delighted that we will be able to host the 2023 RTIH Innovation Awards at the Barbican Centre,” says Scott Thompson, Editor and Founder, RTIH.
“And what better way to kick things off than a drinks reception in the spectacular Conservatory, a hidden tropical oasis in the heart of the city which is home to exotic fish and over 2,000 species of tropical plants and trees.”
“Since we launched the awards in 2019, they have gone from strength to strength and holding them at the Barbican Centre, a much loved, internationally acclaimed venue, is going to be a tough one to top.”
Handmade cosmetics brand Lush returns to Covent Garden, London with new store after ten year absence
Lush will open a new Covent Garden store on Friday, 3rd November, after ten years away from the shopping and entertainment hub in London's West End.
This will initially open as an exclusive festive pop-up store with a retail space of 255 sqm and in spring 2024 an expansion of an additional 176 sqm will follow to include the retailer’s Lush Spa offering.
“We're thrilled to be returning to the historic market and now vibrant retail hub of Covent Garden,” says Ellen Peters, Lush UK&I Property Director.
“In keeping with the market's heritage when flowers, fruits, vegetables, roots and herbs would have been sold, we'll bring our local, handmade, products made from fresh ingredients.”
“Our new store, set in a fantastic listed building with entrances from both Long Acre and Floral Street, will give our customers the unique shopping experience that they want and deserve.”
“We're excited to accommodate our Lush Spa concept within this space and look forward to providing an oasis of calm within central London where our customers can slow down to speed up.”
At the forefront of innovation in the equestrian industry: LeMieux rolls out digital outfit builder
Equestrian brand, LeMieux, has launched a digital outfit builder.
The tool allows customers to try on an outfit for both horse and rider, using 3D renders of their AW23 product.
In a bid to make sure the outfit builder accurately reflects its customer base, LeMieux chose its own model Amy as its first character.
Since this is a pilot programme, Amy has been designed to reflect the average gender, age, size, and height of the typical LeMieux customer.
However, the aim is to represent all customers in the outfit builder and make it a truly inclusive tool.
Starship Technologies launches autonomous delivery service at The University of Akron
The University of Akron has rolled out a robot food delivery service, covering its campus building and residence halls.
This is the result of a partnership between Starship Technologies, creator of the robots, Aramark, and The University of Akron.
Starship’s fleet of autonomous, on-demand robots will deliver from several campus eateries including: Starbucks, Qdoba, Panda Express, Auntie Anne’s and Freshens.
Students, faculty and staff can now use the firm’s app to order food and drinks from local retailers to be delivered for a fee. The service works in conjunction with the student meal plan, or individuals can pay by credit card on the app.
Starship is providing services to other campuses across the US, including Purdue University, James Madison University, University of Mississippi and Arizona State University.
Croatian retailer Konzum opens first SMART store in Southeast Europe, powered by AiFi technology
Konzum, a Croatian supermarket chain, has opened its first SMART store in Southeast Europe with AiFi’s AI powered autonomous store technology.
"This is just another step forward in the digitalisation of our business. The technology used for this concept of the store is based on computer vision for recognition,” says Jozo Džakula, Director of the Field of Informatics at Konzum.
“And the space is covered with 150 cameras thanks to which we can track which items the customer took from the shelf and charge only those that they took with them from the store. The goal was to provide customers with faster and easier purchases.”
Darwinium raises $18 million to accelerate adoption of digital security and fraud prevention platform
Digital security and fraud prevention platform, Darwinium, has raised $18 million in Series A financing led by U.S. Venture Partners (USVP), with participation from seed investors: Blackbird, Airtree Ventures and Accomplice.
This brings total investment to $26 million and enables Darwinium to scale its edge-based solution across global geographies, where it is gaining traction across multiple vertical industries including FinTech, e-commerce, financial services and gaming/gambling.
Żabka Polska taps AiFi autonomous technology to boldly go where traditional retail stores can’t go
Żabka Polska has announced new autonomous stores, powered by AiFi technology, at the campus of Medical University of Warsaw, the campus of Warsaw University for Life Sciences, and student dormitories at Basecamp Student.
In a LinkedIn post, Patryk Powierża, Head of Żabka Nano Growth, said: “We truly believe that autonomous stores can bring more convenience to the lives of our customers.”
“Thanks to this autonomous technology we can open our store in locations where traditional stores can’t appear.”
Glenn Faulkner, Solutions Architect at AiFi, said: “Żabka continues to showcase the flexibility and innovation that can be achieved with autonomous stores. Making sure to meet the customer where they are and when they need it.”
Zippin scores a first as it brings checkout-free shopping to those passing through Dublin Airport
A new Dublin Town To Go store, powered by Zippin technology, has opened in T1 Arrivals at Dublin Airport.
People scan their payment card to enter and a combination of cameras and weight sensored shelving then detects what they’re buying and charges their card when they walk out.
The store, the first of its kind to open to the general public in Ireland, sells a range of goods to meet the needs of both departing and arriving passengers and also those waiting to welcome people in Arrivals, including coffee, pastries, sandwiches, salads, sweets, cereal, milk and toiletries.
QuoteMachine closes $3.7 million seed funding round to accelerate high value sales for SMBs
QuoteMachine has closed $3.7 million in seed funding led by Manresa Ventures with additional investments from Clocktower Technology Ventures and Precursor Ventures.
The startup, whose retail software platform enables SMBs to scale their big ticket sales and tailored sales experiences involving human interactions, has raised $4.6 million to date.
It intends to use the capital to launch new payment solutions, offer new inventory management capabilities to better empower salespeople and grow its go to market teams.
“Our goal is to emerge as the main sales software powering SMB commerce that places the human touch at the heart of their sales experience,” says JD Rocheteau, CEO at QuoteMachine.
“SMB retailers are uniquely positioned to fulfil their customer's desire for personalisation. Our team understands this and will empower retailers to deliver a new standard of excellence in customer experience at scale.”
Creative Force bags $8.9 million in Series A funding to reshape e-commerce content creation landscape
Creative Force, an end-to-end creative operations workflow platform for e-commerce retailers and brands, has raised $8.9 million in Series A funding from Export and Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO) and Hearst Ventures, the venture capital division of Hearst.
This brings its total funding to $17.9 million.
Creative Force will use the cash to scale its Danish headquarters and new US office in Boston and integrate generative artificial intelligence (AI) into its platform.
Bayer Consumer Health UK works with Zappar to launch first accessible QR code in healthcare space
Bayer Consumer Health UK, in partnership with Zappar, has introduced a new Accessible QR code (AQR) on its Canescool Soothing Gel Cream product packaging to help those who are blind or partially sighted.
Canescool is the world’s first women’s intimate health brand to adopt AQR codes on its product packaging.
Mike Knowland, Cluster Lead Northern Europe including the UK & Ireland, comments: “This digitally inclusive transformation is a major step change for us as well as the whole healthcare category.”
“The enhanced QR code improves access to important product information for consumers during their shopping journey.”
“It is the start of our ambition to add Accessible QR codes onto more of our product packaging across the consumer health portfolio, so that we continue to meet our company vision of ‘health for all’ and empower more people to find it easier to self-care – a vital societal sustainability pillar of ours.”
Shoptalk Europe 2004 officially launches with various retail big hitters joining its Advisory Board
Shoptalk Europe returns to Fira Gran Via, Barcelona from 3rd to 5th June 2024.
The event officially launches this week, with a look at the Shoptalk Europe Advisory Board.
In a LinkedIn post, Ben Miller, Content Director at Shoptalk Europe, said: “Our Advisory Board is comprised of retailer and brand leaders from across Europe who steer our agenda to help us ensure we cover the most important trends in retail innovation and digital transformation.”
“Our aim is to create the most dynamic and progressive community in retail for all of Europe, and our Advisory Board steers us to ensure the industry's priority conversations are covered.”
Archive brings Maje Secondhand resale platform to the US, both online and in-store
Maje has introduced an in-house peer-to-peer resale platform, Maje Secondhand, in the USA.
In partnership with Archive, this gives customers the ability to list their preloved Maje pieces alongside past season clothing. Clients can either receive Maje credit to use online, or cash, in return for their archive pieces.
The brand will also sell a curated selection of pre-loved clothing in its flagship store in New York City for a limited period of time as part of the launch.
“We are thrilled to be launching Maje Secondhand in the United States, following the European launch last year,” says Paul Griffin, CEO and President at SMCP North America.
“This comes after the release of Maje Forward, our rental platform, and the Fairly Made global traceability programme. Circular fashion is ingrained in our DNA, and we look forward to Maje Secondhand being a part of our Dream Tomorrow commitment.”
New TalkShopLive Studio app empowers creators and brands to be successful in live shopping arena
Live commerce platform specialist, TalkShopLive, has announced the launch of its new Studio app.
This gives creators, entrepreneurs, brands, retailers, and publishers the ability to host live shopping shows from their mobile devices in HD.
The app features a built in broadcast studio that enables sellers to have a producer manage up to four participants simultaneously during a live show.
Sellers can highlight different products within the live shows, mirroring the same technology of the desktop platform. Those using the app can create shows and manage products, connect to their existing Shopify store, and view their show metrics whenever they choose.
Additionally, they can connect it to their Facebook accounts to simulcast their show using TalkShopLive’s Shoppable Simulcast technology.
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