Including Sensei, Freedompay, and TrueLayer: RTIH presents last week’s biggest retail technology plays at a glance
RTIH rounds up the stand out retail systems deals, launches, deployments and pilots from the past seven days. Including Waitrose, bp, Amazon Fresh UK, Pennies, DFS, Maplin, MATCHES, German Doner Kebab, Flying Tiger Copenhagen, and Pinterest.
Sensei
Portuguese startup Sensei has announced its entry into Italy with the opening of the country’s first autonomous supermarket.
Located in Verona, the Tuday Prendi & Vai location was inaugurated on Wednesday 8th November, offering a shopping experience with no queues, or self-scanning or checkout processes.
Sensei, whose autonomous stores can also be found in Europe and South America, has partnered with the DAO cooperative, which has been operating in the retail sector for over 60 years and is present in the provinces of Trento, Bolzano, Vicenza, and Verona, where it manages the Conad brand.
Tuday Prendi & Go (in English, Grab & Go) in Verona allows customers to enter without any barriers, pick up the products they want, and leave without the need to go to a checkout counter and/or wait in line to pay.
It also marks the debut of technological developments made by Sensei to enhance the user experience.
In addition to eliminating barriers to entry into the store, it offers people the opportunity to review their shopping cart, updated in real-time, before leaving the store. At the payment terminal, after accessing their cart, customers can choose from different payment methods and pay by card or using the Tuday - Prendi & Vai app.
Amazon Fresh UK
Amazon UK will open a Just Walk Out technology powered Amazon Fresh store in Notting Hill Gate on 29th November.
This will be its 20th in the UK market and 19th in London, with the non-London location situated in Sevenoaks, Kent.
It will include an Amazon collect and returns counter and follows the launch of new stores in Liverpool Street earlier this year and Moorgate in August.
In an interview with RTIH, Amazon Fresh UK Director Matt Birch said it would have the latest in Amazon Fresh thinking both in terms of the range and also its payment options. Tackling the issue of payments for Amazon Fresh has been a necessary focus with many blaming the slower than expected store roll-out on the limited ways in which customers pay.
The original target had been a portfolio of more than 200 stores by the end of 2025. Previously the ability to pay had been restricted to payment by QR code. That has now changed.
“We’ve been thinking very much about the way customers can pay in our stores. Instead of just paying with the QR code, which a load of our customers love, you can also just tap a credit card to pay and that’s in response to listening to customers and how they want to experience our stores,” said Birch.
Herman Miller and Design Within Reach
Herman Miller and Design Within Reach (DWR) have worked with 3D Cloud by Marxent on the launch of 3D product configurators for several products on their North American retail websites.
After a launch in the contract space, Marxent’s 3D product configurators have been rolled out on store.hermanmiller.com and DWR.com for top performance seating products.
Configurators are available for the following products with more on the way: Aeron Chair, Aeron Gaming Chair, Cosm Chair, Embody Chair, Embody Gaming Chair, Lino Chair, Mirra 2 Chair, Sayl Chair, Sayl Gaming Chair, Setu Chair, and Verus Chair.
Freedompay and Pennies
FinTech firm Freedompay has announced a strategic partnership with Pennies, the micro-donation charity.
This will see it integrate Pennies into its technology stack.
Alison Hutchinson, CEO at Pennies, says: “We’re delighted to be partnering with FreedomPay, whose innovation, growth and purpose-led mission has the potential to unlock millions more micro-donation opportunities.”
“FreedomPay’s values align with our own commitment to making giving simple, every day – ensuring customers have affordable ways to donate and enabling brands to generate real social impact.”
“We look forward to working with FreedomPay and their merchants, using tech for social good and raising millions for charity.”
Maplin and TrueLayer
FinTech firm, TrueLayer, reports that its new payments app is now live in the Shopify App Store, allowing UK and EU merchants to add open banking payments to their checkout.
Electronics retailer Maplin has gone live with the app, with further partners to be announced soon.
The move enables Shopify merchants to add instant bank payments to their website in a matter of hours.
As a result, TrueLayer says they can quickly benefit from a faster, more secure payment option at a fraction of the cost of cards or PayPal.
TrueLayer’s Open Banking payments are digitally native and require no manual data entry. Customers’ details auto-populate directly from their bank account. Payments leverage biometric authentication to verify customers’ identity.
German Doner Kebab
German Doner Kebab (GDK) is now offering customers delivery from its restaurants across the UK, through its own app, in partnership with Uber Direct, Uber’s white label delivery product.
Customers can now download the German Doner Kebab app, place an order for delivery from their local restaurant, and have the order delivered by couriers who use the Uber Eats app to earn.
The GDK app uses Uber’s technology to provide customers with real-time tracking and 24/7 customer support. The launch, which covers German Doner Kebab’s over 130 UK wide restaurants, follows a trial period at selected sites earlier in the year.
MATCHES
Buy now pay later specialist, Clearpay, has announced a partnership with London-based luxury clothing brand MATCHES.
The retailer now offers online customers an interest free, pay in four payment option.
MATCHES CEO, Nick Beighton, says: “We are pleased to pioneer customer innovation here at MATCHES and by working with Clearpay, we are able to offer flexibility to our customers by giving them autonomy on their payment choices.”
“We are delighted to offer this option across our platforms and hope this will empower the customer to make the payment decision best suited to their lifestyle.”
The Bicester Collection
The Bicester Collection, a family of 11 luxury shopping destinations in Europe and China, is introducing a new virtual retail experience, bringing its village environment to audiences worldwide, and showcasing its curation of the world’s leading luxury fashion and lifestyle brands backed up by five-star hospitality and services.
This new offering is powered by Emperia.
Designed to represent each of the villages’ physical environments, the experience brings together Bicester Village (UK), La Roca Village (Spain), La Vallée Village (France) and Fidenza Village (Italy).
Guests around the world can wander and navigate around each virtual village and prepare for an upcoming in-person visit.
bp
bp has inked an agreement with RELEX Solutions to implement its forecasting and replenishment capabilities in its UK convenience retail business.
With over half of customers to bp’s UK retail stores now visiting on a food only basis, rather than for fuel only or food and fuel, product availability is key.
The RELEX platform leverages AI to provide forecasting and analytics to anticipate and meet fluctuations in customer demand and will support supply chain planning across bp’s 300 company owned retail sites and Wild Bean Cafes in the UK.
Flying Tiger Copenhagen
Flying Tiger Copenhagen has announced the deployment of MishiPay's suite of transaction solutions across 56 UK stores.
Since the end of September, the chain has been operating exclusively on MishiPay for all transactions.
Already a user of MishiPay's Scan & Go solution, Flying Tiger Copenhagen has expanded its partnership to include cash desk and self-checkout kiosks. It has further plans to introduce the company’s mobile Point of Sale (mPOS) solution to its roster.
DFS and Pinterest
Pinterest has announced a global first creative campaign with retailer DFS and Shuffles.
Shuffles, a standalone app by Pinterest, which made its debutlast year, provides a way to create collages and digital art, allowing users to express ideas and unleash creativity on their phones.
It enables users to cut, overlap and add elements and animations to images from their camera roll or from Pinterest Pins to visualise their inspiration all in one place.
Now furniture retailer DFS is the first brand globally to harness both Shuffles and Pinterest in a partnership to support its latest brand campaign What's Your Thing?.
Over the next four weeks, DFS is inviting home enthusiasts to express their interiors ‘thing’ in Shuffles using DFS sofas and beds for a chance to win the content of their shuffle by publishing their creation on Shuffles, Pinterest and Instagram using the hashtag #MyDFSThing.
The campaign is running on channels including Pinterest. It will be encouraging Pinterest users to head to Shuffles and take part in the competition.
Waitrose
Waitrose has partnered with CitrusAd to roll-out relevant, targeted advertising across its online site.
The retailer, which is part of the John Lewis Partnership, says that its suppliers can now maximise their online presence through sponsored search and category product ads, as well as sponsored offers and checkout ad campaigns.
The move replaces static advertising - where all customers were served the same adverts - with a targeted model, in which shoppers are given updates from brands based on the product searches or areas they browse online.
It also gives suppliers the flexibility to change or boost their campaigns, rather than being tied into long-term fixed tenancy slots, allowing them to take advantage of events and seasonal changes.
With access to performance-based metrics and reporting, brands can measure the impact of their adverts, and return on ad spend (ROAS) down to the individual product level and by search term.
TalkShopLive and Bass Pro Shops
TalkShopLive and Bass Pro Shops have streamed Inside Studio G as a live shopping event with American country singer and songwriter Garth Brooks.
The livestream event took place on 6th November at 7 p.m. ET during Brooks’ weekly series and featured Bass Pro Shops Founder Johnny Morris in conversation with Brooks, discussing his new album, Time Traveler, available only in The Limited Series boxed set available at Bass Pro Shops across North America and globally through this event.
JD.com
JD Worldwide, JD.com’s cross-border e-commerce platform, has announced the roll-out of enhanced authentication processes, named JD Smart Check, for imported goods.
The initiative focuses on three areas: expediting quality inspections for cosmetics, incorporating blockchain technology for comprehensive anti-counterfeiting solutions, and providing on-demand authenticity inspections for products shipped via direct mail.
JD Worldwide has implemented x-ray fluorescence analysis, developed in partnership with the Cosmetics Technology Center of China Inspection and Quarantine Science Institute, for rapid on-site assessment of cosmetics and personal care products at JD’s logistic centres.
Sprouts Farmers Market
Sprouts Farmers Market, a specialty retailer of fresh, natural, and organic food in the United States, and Instacart have announced a new partnership to launch FoodStorm, the latter’s order management system (OMS), across all of Sprouts’ 400+ locations.
Sprouts is now accepting pre-orders for the holiday season through its website, app and in-store with FoodStorm’s OMS.
It is known for its online holiday catering options, and the addition of FoodStorm's technology makes it easier for team members to process orders for turkeys, meats, fully prepared meals, party platters and more.
Towson University
Towson University has announced the opening of Tiger Express, a checkout-free store located in West Village Commons made possible through a partnership between Zippin and Atrium.
Open 24/7, this stocks a variety of essentials, including snacks, drinks, packaged meals and personal care products.
“The convenience offered by Tiger Express makes it easier for our students to purchase what they need, when they need it,” says Vernon Hurte, Vice President of Student Affairs. “The unique shopping experience will cut down on long lines and wait times that students typically faced.”
Riverside Greetings
Riverside Greetings, a supplier of greeting card solutions, has developed RFID and AI technology for the independent convenience retail and forecourt sectors.
The company has created an automated inventory and category management system that marries AI with RFID to analyse and increase the greeting card category performance, whilst improving the productivity and effectiveness of its merchandising service.
Riverside’s patent pending tech is being piloted in several test stores in England.
The company claims that merchandisers will be able to complete a full stock count of hundreds of cards by design in less than two minutes, with 100% accuracy versus the current manual counting system which can take 30 to 45 minutes.
This will enable each store’s range to be automatically analysed and improved by the merchandiser. Aggregated sales data by design will show trends and patterns and create best practice ranges automatically.
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