Starring dunnhumby, Superdrug, and Kingfisher: Check out October’s most clicked RTIH retail technology articles
These are the RTIH retail systems articles that caught your fancy during October, including GroupM, Amazon Ads, Manhattan Associates, Żabka Polska, AiFi, Amazon Fresh, and Shopify.
Calling all retail technology trailblazers! 2023 RTIH Innovation Awards entry deadline fast approaching
There are just three days left to submit your entries for he 2023 RTIH Innovation Awards.
The awards, sponsored by PMC, FreedomPay, Worldpay from FIS, CADS, 3D Cloud by Marxent, Goodays, and Vista Technology Support, celebrate global tech innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world,
The event culminates in a fantastic ceremony, complete with a drinks reception and Christmas themed three-course meal at the Barbican Arts Centre on Wednesday 29th November.
Deadline for 2023 submissions is Friday, 3rd November.
Click here for further information on the 2023 RTIH Innovation Awards.
dunnhumby powered Tesco Media and Insight Platform expands connected store and digital offering
Tesco Media and Insight Platform, powered by dunnhumby, has unveiled a range of new onsite and in-store media channels.
At an Upfront event in London, updates were announced including Scan as You Shop media, new in-store digital screens and new onsite digital performance ads.
“Tesco are leading the way in retail media, giving brands and agencies the power to truly shape what Britain buys, with Tesco Media now standing shoulder to shoulder with the established media houses,” says Nick Ashley, MD, Tesco Media & Insight Platform.
“This scale, combined with our advanced closed-loop measurement and cutting-edge data science, allows brands partnering with Tesco Media to connect with shoppers like never before.”
GroupM and Amazon Ads team up to deliver creator content directly in the online shopping experience
GroupM (via its influencer marketing agency Goat) and Amazon Ads have partnered to introduce creator led shoppable content to the Amazon advertising suite of services available to its clients.
The tie up gives GroupM clients the ability to amplify creator content within the Amazon DSP and in Amazon Sponsored Brand placements.
There are several bespoke formats available, but one example includes the ability to upload creator content onto Product Pages and Brand Stores, with the aim of increasing conversion rates and helping to turn Brand Pages on Amazon into "inspiration hubs" for consumers.
Samantha Bukowski, Global Head of Commerce, GroupM Nexus, says: “The development of this new capability is an important step we’re taking to better connect the creativity and engagement of creator marketing with the scale and sophistication of GroupM Nexus’s commerce capabilities.”
“We’re excited to continue this collaboration with Amazon to further integrate inspirational content in commerce advertising in ways that deliver value for clients and Amazon’s consumers.”
At the coal face of major industry change: Superdrug announces arrival of Optimo retail media network
Superdrug has launched its own retail media network in the UK.
In a LinkedIn post, Paul Stafford, Head Of Digital Marketing, Retail Media & Online Brand at Superdrug, said:
“This week, I had the pleasure of announcing the arrival of Superdrug’s own retail media network, Optimo, at our annual supplier conference.”
He added: “This has been a huge piece of work covering A.S. Watson Group (the owner of Superdrug) BU’s across Hong Kong, Milan, Paris, Amsterdam and London. From a personal point of view, it’s been an incredible journey to work on a project that is at the coal face of major industry change.”
“I can’t wait now to start working with our suppliers to deliver on their briefs.”
“Obviously this has been a massive team effort and couldn't be done without the support of Dan Jarvis (Chief Digital Officer, Europe at A.S. Watson Group), Andrea Zoboli (eLab Technology Director (Europe) at A.S. Watson Group, Mariëlle Slenders, (Head of Media & Performance Benelux at A.S. Watson Group), Matt Walburn, (Customer and Marketing Director at Superdrug), Nicholas Queally, Marketing Manager - Promotions and Pricing at Superdrug), and many, many more.”
Kingfisher introduces Athena to boost testing and learning with AI and machine learning technologies
Group Head of Data Science, Mohsen Ghasempour, discussed how the retailer is harnessing these innovations to improve the customer experience and power growth.
He introduced Athena, an AI orchestration framework which will manage how Kingfisher prompts and interacts with AI language models, as well as other AI tools developed in-house.
This is designed with advanced controls to ensure security and provide protection against sensitive or inappropriate content.
Tom Betts, Group Data Director at Kingfisher, says: “Athena will help us test and learn with these technologies even faster.”
Manhattan Associates research flags changing face of the store and progress on seamless omnichannel experiences
New research from Manhattan Associates highlights how retailers are increasingly digitising their in-store offering in efforts to improve customer experiences and maintain market share, at a time where cost-of-living challenges have affected the shopping habits of 89% of consumers.
6,000 consumers were asked about their sentiments and attitudes towards the role of the physical store and store associates, innovative fulfilment options, sustainability, inventory visibility, convenience, consistency across channels and the shift in commerce.
And 1,150 management or senior level officers in Tier 1 retail organisations (generating more than $100 million in annual revenue) were surveyed about their technology-based investment plans to support e-commerce, reduce customer friction and increase fulfilment options.
54% of retailers reported that their customers could buy in-store and return online (50% in 2022), and if the product was out of stock in-store, 48% provided buy online and return in store options (46% in 2022).
However, retailers also commented that on average they only had an accurate indication of inventory across their entire operations 70% of the time (down from 74% in 2022).
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.”
‘Simply unacceptable’: UK retailers tell government to put its words into action as retail crime soars
88 UK retailers, including Tesco, Boots, John Lewis Partnership, and Marks & Spencer, have signed a letter to the Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, demanding action over rising rates of retail crime.
The 2023 BRC Crime Survey showed that incidents of violence and abuse towards retail colleagues had almost doubled on pre-pandemic levels to 867 incidents every day in 2021/22.
It also put the scale of retail theft at £953 million, despite over £700 million in crime prevention spending by retailers. This meant the total cost of retail crime stood at £1.76 billion for the 12-month period to April.
A separate BRC survey of members in 2023, meanwhile, found that levels of shoplifting in ten major cities had risen by an average of 27%. This is not to mention the cascade of recent press stories detailing the wave of theft and violence currently impacting shops across the UK.
London shoppers at Amazon Fresh convenience store in Monument get self-checkout option
Amazon Fresh customers can now pay at self-checkouts in the Monument, London store, in addition to using a Just Walk Out technology powered checkout-free option.
In a LinkedIn post, Charlie Mills, Head of In-Store & Local Marketing at Amazon Fresh, said: “Customers get the choice of scanning and paying for items using the self-checkout and they can still checkout at the gates using our Just Walk Out technology.”
“The Amazon Fresh in-store shopping experience is made possible by the same types of technologies used in self-driving cars: computer vision, sensor fusion, and deep learning.”
“Our Just Walk Out Technology automatically detects when products are taken from or returned to the shelves, and keeps track of them in a virtual basket. Using the self-checkout adds another convenient way to shop. Pretty cool.”
The ultimate aim here is alleviating some of the friction associated with Just Walk Out technology.
Shopify research: many shoppers planning to splash out during Black Friday Cyber Monday 2023
Shoppers around the world expect to maintain or increase both their online and bricks and mortar spending this Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) weekend. However, they are looking for particular deals and are planning to use AI to discover new brands as well as products – and are willing to switch brands to get them.
This is according to a Shopify survey of more than 2,000 consumers and 1,000 SMBs in the UK, which is part of a research study surveying 12,000 consumers and almost 5,000 businesses in six countries.
Deann Evans, Managing Director, EMEA at Shopify, comments: “Despite many studies predicting a challenging period for retailers as consumers look to tighten their purse strings, our data indicates that this could be a key revenue moment for those that embrace BFCM.”
“In fact, shoppers have recently cut back so they are ready to spend during BFCM to get more for their money. Brands need to embrace this opportunity by offering competitive deals and higher quality products as if they don’t, consumers may move away to another.”
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