Looking back: RTIH pulls together the retail technology news you might have missed last week
Failed to 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 Ikea, Ingka Group, Therabody, Outform, Amazon, Absolute Collagen, Pinterest, Costa Coffee, Sook, and Liverpool ONE.
Ikea stores owner Ingka Group makes commitment to the ethical and responsible use of AI
Ingka Group, the largest Ikea retailer operating in 31 countries, has introduced a Digital Ethics and Al Stance.
Central to this is the establishment of an AI Task Force, which is made up of experts from various backgrounds, including ethics, people and culture, and technology.
The aim is to ensure that every AI initiative aligns with ethical guidelines and along with the Responsible Ethics team, who put forward the organisation’s first Digital Ethics Policy in 2022, focuses on transparency, privacy and fairness principles.
Collaborative robot arms startup Niryo raises €10 million to continue international expansion push
Niryo, a French startup specialising in the design of compact collaborative robotic arms, has announced a €6.4 million round of financing.
The Series A round was led by the BPI Digital Venture investment fund, the Innovacom investment fund, and IRD, Finorpa, NFA and Go Capital.
It is backed by €3.6 million in loans provided by a banking pool.
The cash will be used to continue the firm’s international expansion and address new use cases.
Companies that have adopted Niryo’s cobots include Airbus, Deutsch Bahn, Siemens, Solvay, Coca-Cola and Texas Instrument.
Costa Coffee brings in Vista Technology Support as its new retail stores break-fix provider
Vista Technology Support has announced a partnership with Costa Coffee.
The tech support company will apply its Continuous Service Improvement (CSI) philosophy with the aim of reducing the occurrence of system faults and outages, and to maintain maximum operational time in over 1,500 Costa Coffee stores across the UK.
When unable to predict a likely outage or interruption through CSI, the Vista Field Services Team of more than 130 engineers around the UK will be mobilised to repair and resolve any issues.
Harrods Tech Month sees wellness brand Therabody enlist Outform for interactive window experience
Wellness brand Therabody has created an interactive window experience as part of Harrods Tech Month.
The concept was designed, produced and installed by Outform. The result is an experience that passers-by can control from their phone to discover more about Therabody’s wellness universe and product range.
Its display takes up an entire window along Harrods’ Brompton Road frontage. A QR controlled interactive screen sits at its centre and a use of LED lighting ensures that it delivers a night time impact.
It showcases four hero Therabody products, including the brand’s newest entrant into the beauty tech space, its TheraFace Mask, an at home LED therapy mask that couples red and blue light with vibration therapy.
Shoppers can choose one of three “stories”, in line with Therabody’s three product categories which trigger corresponding content on the large LED screen.
As they watch the content, the relevant product categories light up in the window display - red for beauty, white for wellness, blue for performance - accompanied by a mobile landing page which links to the Harrods online store and a call to action to visit the brand concession on Harrods’ fifth floor and trial the product range.
Amazon flags check-out free Just Walk Out technology milestone as it hits 100 third party stores
Last weekend, Amazon opened its 100th third party store powered by Just Walk Out technology.
In a LinkedIn post, Ritu Subash, Principal PM - Physical Stores Tech - Just Walk Out at Amazon, said:
“Milestones like these make the work we do worth it! On to the next 100.”
The tech can be found in airports, stadiums, schools, grocery and convenience stores around the world.
Further details here.
JUXTA Nomad autonomous micro-stores make their debut Stateside as first retail partners announced
JUXTA, a technology and micro convenience company that launched in August, reports rapid take up with businesses in the EV value chain and multiple retail partners ready to adopt its offering across the USA.
The first customers to experience its inaugural product, Nomad, were Renewal 2023 festival goers in Buena Vista, Colorado, last month. The Nomad’s ability to travel and cater to high demand yet remote locations was on display as it served thousands of revellers 24-hours a day during the event.
Renewal 2023 launched a new partnership for JUXTA with Choice Market, a retailer headquartered in Denver, Colorado with outlets across the state. The first Choice Market Nomad micro-store will open in Denver, making it Colorado’s first portable, autonomous, convenience outlet.
A further retail partnership has been formed with Golden Pantry Food Stores, a group headquartered in Watkinsville, Georgia. Golden Pantry’s first Nomad store will open in Wire Park, Watkinsville, GA.
This mixed use development, which is an amalgamation of apartments, offices, restaurants, micro-brewery, and a multi-faceted events space, has been crafted from a repurposed factory.
The integration of JUXTA’s autonomous store aims to cater to the diverse footfall ranging from local residents to a plethora of daily visitors, 24-hours a day and without the need to staff the store.
E-commerce inventory platform startup Centro launches with close of $2m pre-seed funding round
Centro, an automated inventory control centre for e-commerce brands, has secured a $2 million in a pre-seed funding led by Ripple Ventures and 2048VC, with participation from Valia Ventures and Comma Capital. Centro’s angels and advisors including individuals from WeMakeWebsites, Canada Goose, and Uber.
The cash will help the startup expand its selection of offerings to include forecasting and procurement automation features to kick off new marketing initiatives throughout North America.
“Prior to founding Centro with Jamyang, I was leading inventory operations at SSENSE, an online luxury multi-brand retailer with a worldwide customer base. When the global pandemic hit, I experienced firsthand how delicate the global supply chain truly was,” says Centro Co-Founder, Andrew Liu.
“While trying to adapt to rapid change across supply and demand, I found there was an inherent lack of inventory tools for modern brands. Jamyang, who was working as a strategist at Shopify at the time, validated this same narrative at other large scale companies so we set out to shake up the inventory ops space.”
Invafresh adds Whywaste food waste reduction tools to its Fresh Retail Platform
Fresh grocery platform, Invafresh, has acquired Whywaste, a provider of end-of-life product solutions for grocery retailers and convenience stores, including Asda, Tesco One Stop, SPAR International, and Coop Sweden, to help reduce food waste, maintain regulatory compliance and increase profitability.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“I’m excited to welcome Whywaste as part of the Invafresh team and look forward to working with them to expand the global footprint of our combined Fresh Retail platform offering,” says Tim Spencer, Chief Executive Officer at Invafresh.
“Throughout the due diligence process, I was impressed by both the calibre of talent at Whywaste and the quality of their products. That talent and product quality has allowed Whywaste to establish themselves at the forefront of the rapidly growing sustainability movement by enabling grocery retailers to profitably reduce food waste.”
American Girl teams with Obsess for virtual experience involving 2024 Girl of the Year Lila Monetti
American Girl has unveiled its 2024 Girl of the Year, Lila Monetti.
As part of the launch, the brand will reveal Lila’s own room in its virtual museum experience this October through a partnership with immersive e-commerce platform Obsess. This will let people explore more of Lila’s life and personality, including her love of horseback riding and gymnastics.
“We know our fans will flip for our newest Girl of the Year, Lila Monetti, who arrives just in time for the holidays,” says Jamie Cygielman, General Manager at American Girl.
“As with all our beloved characters, Lila will inspire kids to face new challenges with purpose and positivity and find the joy and strength that comes from unexpected friendships.”
First Class Vending, Mars Wrigley, Aramark open Frictionless Market at Uni of Nevada Las Vegas, powered by Zippin
First Class Vending, in collaboration with Mars Wrigley and Aramark, has opened an unattended Frictionless Market at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV).
Powered by Zippin's platform, this lets customers grab items, and exit, eliminating the need for traditional checkouts.
"We are excited to introduce the Frictionless Market to the UNLV community," says Matthew Marsh, CEO at First Class Vending.
"This innovative concept aligns perfectly with our commitment to providing cutting-edge vending solutions that enhance convenience and efficiency. With Zippin's advanced technology and Mars Wrigley's support, we are confident that this market will exceed expectations and become a hub of convenience for the UNLV campus."
Absolute Collagen taps new Pinterest Premiere Spotlight offering for product launch and brand recognition campaign
Absolute Collagen has chosen Pinterest and its new Premiere Spotlight ad format to raise awareness of its new Deep Lift skincare range.
With Premiere Spotlight, brands can secure premium placements on the social media platform for a selected period of time to promote high visibility campaigns to users.
This format showcases videos in locations such as the search page and the user’s home page, allowing brands to reserve their placement and dominate the screen, occupying approximately 50% of the mobile device space on the Pinterest search page.
Absolute Collagen is one of the first beauty and wellbeing brands to tap Premiere Spotlight for a product launch and brand recognition campaign.
Democratisation key as global e-commerce market set to hit $9.3 trillion by 2027, GlobalData says
The global e-commerce market is being democratised by e-commerce as a service companies, like Shopify, and marketplaces, like Amazon and Alibaba, that allow anyone to become a merchant.
Alongside this, improved technology, new delivery services, and wider internet adoption will help the global value of e-commerce transactions hit $9.3 trillion by 2027, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.5% from 2022, according to GlobalData.
Retail247 Archean stock solution deployed in Crew Clothing stores as part of omnichannel push
Retail247 has announced the deployment of Archean, its stock solution, at Crew Clothing stores.
This consists of a central engine (Archean Core), and is supported by a series of transaction providing solutions.
As part of Crew Clothing’s three-year technology strategy to enable efficient omnichannel retailing, the brand needed a platform to become its single repository of stock information.
Having established a strong partnership with Retail247, it chose to build on this existing foundation and selected Archean as its stock engine in March 2022, including the module Archean Move.
This is designed to be deployed in stores, Archean Move can be the store’s single portal for stock activity.
Transactions in Archean Move can have multiple states and can also trigger activity to other solutions, meaning that Archean can seamlessly maintain the integrity of legacy solutions where required.
Product development specialist Trinetix bags $10 million investment to drive expansion into Latam market
Trinetix has secured $10 million in funding from the investment fund Hypra.
With a foothold in Europe and the United States, the firm has attracted such customers as Coca-Cola, P&G, ExxonMobil, Credit Agricole, Dutchie, and McDonald’s.
The funding will enable Trinetix to open an office in Latin America, which will facilitate new strategic partnerships and potential acquisitions.
“With 12 years of market experience, we have built a diverse list of industry leading clients. We’ve achieved this by providing a quality service led by our team of more than 850 industry experts,” says Sasha Strozhemin, pictured below, Co-Founder and CEO at Trinetix.
“We have committed to strengthening our partners’ bottom lines over growing our own balance sheets, with over 80% of our workforce made up of senior level talent.”
McDonald's Egypt selects Roboost AI powered solution to automate fast food giant’s delivery operations
Roboost has announced a partnership with McDonald's Egypt.
With Roboost's AI powered solution, the fast food giant says it is poised to fully automate its last mile delivery cycle, optimising operations before delivery starts, and reducing manual actions.
"We are excited to partner with McDonald's Egypt and help them continue to deliver on their famed promise of the fastest delivery in Egypt," says Mohamed Gessraha, CEO at Roboost.
"With our AI powered solution, they can fully automate their home delivery operations, optimise their routes even without digital locations, and improve their delivery times, all while offering their customers a consistently superior delivery experience.”
“We are confident that our partnership will set new standards in the delivery market across the region."
“An immersive and opulent shopping experience”: Goldsmiths opens double storey showroom in Liverpool
Luxury watch, and jewellery retailer, Goldsmiths, has announced the opening of the largest showroom in its portfolio, located in Liverpool.
Spanning two floors and situated at Liverpool ONE, on Paradise Street, this has undertaken an extensive expansion and refurbishment.
There is a dedicated entrance for the new Rolex area which aims to exude “a sense of luxury, craftsmanship and sophistication”.
The other entrance into the main showroom, showcases the interior features of the Goldsmiths Luxury concept, providing, according to a press release, “an immersive and opulent shopping experience for watch and jewellery enthusiasts”.
Sook preps new digital pop-up space at Liverpool ONE shopping, residential, and leisure complex
Sook, which takes vacant retail spaces and gives them a modular, digital fit-out which can be rented by the hour, is launching a new space at the Liverpool ONE shopping, residential, and leisure complex.
The 1,250 sq ft space will offer leases ranging from three days to a months and comes fitted out with digital display boards, screens and fixtures.
Sook supplies brands with a range of data analytics and digital planning tools, giving tenants information on how best to use the space and operate with optimum efficiency.
The space will be used for a variety of uses including music, artists, workshops, fitness classes, experiential brand campaigns and traditional retailers.
Pet food and supplies specialist Fressnapf | Maxi Zoo selects RELEX Solutions supply chain tech
Fressnapf | Maxi Zoo, a European specialty retailer for pet food and accessories, is partnering with RELEX Solutions on a project involving its supply chain.
The aim here is to improve the accuracy of Fressnapf’s order proposals and forecasts at the DC level and provide it with transparent insight into the performance of its retail and wholesale operations.
Fressnapf Group operates the largest chain of pet food and accessory stores in Europe, with 1,900 stores under the Fressnapf and Maxi Zoo brands and 11 distribution centres (DCs) in 13 countries, from Germany to France and Denmark.
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