Featuring Boots UK, Best Buy, and Monoprix: 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 TalkShopLive, Emperia, Klarna, AiFi, Better Cotton, Brightpearl by Sage, Snappy Shopper, and Polytag.
Boots UK
Boots UK is deploying Ocula Technologies’ Ocula Boost solution.
The AI platform addresses abandoned shopping carts by analysing sites to: identify actions to improve the customer experience, accessibility and performance; rank insights based on predicted value and effort; and ensure teams focus on the right areas.
In a LinkedIn post, Ocula Technologies said: “We could not be happier to be working with Boots UK, the UK’s leading health & beauty retailer.”
It added: “Ocula Boost will be aiming to further contribute to their incredible success: Boots.com recently posted a 28.9% sales increase over quarter and it was the retailer’s tenth consecutive quarter of market share growth.”
"Ocula Boost is about ensuring the Boots.com experience continues to be best in class and relevant for our customers. The AI capabilities it provides ensure we are making use of the latest technologies to stay ahead,” commented Paula Bobbett, Chief Digital Officer at Boots.
HaStok
A2Z Smart Technologies Corp. reports that HaStok, a specialist in Israel's home design and household essentials retail sector, has reached an agreement with A2Z Cust2Mate to order an additional 1,000 smart carts.
This will take HaStok's total smart cart deployment to 2,000 units.
The agreement encompasses an initial upfront payment, a guaranteed monthly subscription fee, and a revenue sharing agreement, primarily revolving around value added solutions, including advertising services.
Better Cotton
Sustainability initiative, Better Cotton, has officially launched what is pitched as a first of its kind traceability solution for the fashion and textile sectors.
This has been developed over three years and will provide visibility of cotton’s journey through the supply chain by logging stakeholder input on the Better Cotton platform.
The organisation has worked with a network of member retailers and brands, including H&M Group, Marks & Spencer, Walmart, Target, Bestseller, Gap and C&A, to ensure that fashion companies can accurately trace and disclose the origin of raw materials, and comply with emerging regulations.
Walmart de Mexico y Centroamerica
Navori Labs has deployed a unified digital signage software and AI-based camera analytics solution for Walmart Connect, the omnichannel retail media business of Walmart de Mexico y Centroamerica.
This is now live across all 173 Walmart Supercenters in Mexico and 180 of 200 in-country Sam’s Club locations, with the remaining 20 stores to follow.
The Navori Labs QL digital signage and Aquaji analytics solution allows Walmart de Mexico y Centroamerica to gather customer engagement metrics and offer analytics, including shopper demographics, to DOOH advertising partners that advertise their brands across its in-store digital media networks.
Georgia Southern University
Georgia Southern University has opened a newly renovated Gus Mart convenience store – now featuring Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology – in the Fielding D. Russell Union on its Statesboro campus.
Georgia Southern is the first university in its state to feature the Just Walk Out offering. The store will operate with extended hours, allowing guests to better shop when it’s easiest for them.
Hennig-Olsen IS
Hennig-Olsen IS, the Nordic region’s oldest ice cream producer and distributor, has expanded its footprint with RELEX Solutions.
A RELEX customer since 2021, it will deploy promotion forecasting capabilities to improve forecast accuracy by automatically accounting promotional impacts to demand.
This will help the company optimise its supply chain operations and demand planning processes, and ensure products are available for sales.
Amazon Business
Amazon and Affirm have announced an expanded partnership that makes the latter the first pay over time option available at checkout on Amazon Business, a B2B store helping companies digitise and automate procurement with management controls and analytic tools.
These customers can now split the total cost of eligible purchases and pay over time with Affirm without late or hidden fees.
Amazon Business started to roll-out Affirm last week to eligible sole proprietor businesses, and the new payment option will be available at checkout to all eligible Amazon Business sole proprietor customers by Black Friday.
Best Buy
TalkShopLive is set to power a series of live shopping shows for Best Buy.
The three-part holiday shopping series kicked off last week and highlighted the best beauty and wellness tech products, live from the Best Buy Studios.
The events will broadcast on Best Buy’s TalkShopLive channel and will be hosted by the retailer’s Virtual Sales Experts.
Each show will feature tech from some of Best Buy’s newest categories like beauty and wellness, e-transportation, outdoor living, pet tech and even a few not-so-techy things like LEGO.
Additionally, during each show, viewers will see some limited time deals and one person will have a chance to win a $200 Best Buy gift card.
Crew Clothing
Crew Clothing is leveraging Workday Financial Management to gain real-time visibility across the front and back offices.
The solution will provide key insights and give the retailer the ability to make better, more strategic decisions.
Crew Clothing, a UK retailer that specialises in casual wear, shoes and accessories for men and women, has over 100 stores across the UK and an e-commerce presence. It recognised a level of disconnect and a need for stronger visibility across its finance function.
The company is in a period of transformation, driven by plans to scale both online and in its bricks and mortar locations. The current retail market, with evolving external macroeconomic conditions, market disruptions, and labour shortages, heightens the need for organisation and visibility.
With its previous legacy system, Crew Clothing lacked a unified platform capable of connecting its tremendous amounts of data.
Workday Financial Management provides a solution to the challenge, enabling the organisation to not only connect its data, but also leverage this data to gain insights on profitability, future outcomes and “what-if” scenarios.
JJ Food Service
JJ Food Service, a UK omnichannel wholesale food retailer, says that it has strengthened its online and in-store promotions strategy and increased profitability and increased value for customers after implementing the RELEX Solutions promotional model, a cross functional, AI driven solution.
With 11 outlets across the UK and a diverse range of over 3,000 products, JJ Food Service caters to approximately 100,000 B2B customers.
15-20% of the company's turnover is generated from promotional items.
Wisdom and Effort
Wisdom and Effort, which is part of the Ellis Brigham Group and operates alongside Outsiders Store, has chosen Brightpearl by Sage to automate, streamline and simplify its complex operations.
It says that it now has access to a flexible retail operating system (ROS) which features an Automation Engine, demand forecasting, and a library of plug and play integrations including to the group’s Shopify powered web stores.
Millwall FC and Sodexo Live!
Last week fans of Millwall Football Club became the first to try Sodexo Live’s self-serve EBar Beerwall offering - a fully automated and permanent fast pour drinks solution.
Sodexo Live! has been Millwall’s venue partner at The Den in South London since 2012 where it offers retail food services (concourse catering and beverages).
L’Occitane en Provence
Set up in a cozy chalet within the Provençal French Alps, the experience aims to reflect the brand’s focus on the joy of giving and sharing, bringing about the spirit of gifting, allowing guests to discover its limited edition holiday ranges, alongside a learning journey into L'Occitane’s recycling initiatives.
Stepping outdoors, each guest is greeted by a Christmas experience, with an Olive tree that they can light up themselves.
The Provencal Christmas tree, a millenary tree symbolisng joy, strength and togetherness, is also the spot where guests get to create their own personalised postcard, containing their curated product wishlist, to send to their loved ones.
Sur La Table and Walmart
Sur La Table, a US retailer of cookware, kitchen electrics and bakeware, is set to offer same-day delivery through a collaboration with Walmart GoLocal, Walmart’s white label delivery service platform.
It will roll this out nationwide by mid-November.
Snappy Shopper and Trust Payments
Snappy Shopper, a home delivery app serving convenience stores, has teamed up with EPoS supplier, Trust Retail, to integrate its technology with Snappy Shopper retailers.
The aim here is to help retailers achieve quicker deliveries and control a bigger and more relevant store range to aid improved basket spend and all-round store efficiency.
This is achieved by Trust Payments’ ability to offer retailers real-time stock checking, pricing and sales updates to reduce retailer time spent on administrative tasks which will in turn, free up hours to deliver a better customer experience to drive repeat orders and store loyalty.
As well as this, Trust Payments’ experience in non-grocery sectors means retailers can harness this for a more extensive store offering.
Conway Kombucha
Polytag has announced a partnership with Conway Kombucha, producers of Blighty Booch, that aims to help the drinks brand increase direct-to-consumer sales and enhance communication with customers through a QR code solution.
From October, Blighty Booch will feature Polytag’s GS1 approved QR codes on labels across its range.
These are applied as part of a standard digital printing process using SCREEN technology at Limpet Labels, Wrexham. Once scanned, the QR codes take consumers to customisable, branded landing pages, developed using a tool on the Blighty Booch dashboard.
Through said dashboard, hosted on the Polytag platform, Blighty Booch can tailor messages to different consumer groups or by range, which can be updated or amended at any time.
By scanning a tag, the brand can provide consumers with facts about the product’s myriad health benefits, information on its naturally fermented Kombucha, latest offers, recycling advice or even drive them straight to Blighty Booch’s online shop.
The partnership will also provide Blighty Booch with access to consumer insights that can be used to shape future marketing strategies.
Polytag’s platform will deliver information on consumption patterns and regional sales data, based on where every QR code is scanned and how customers interact with the brand after purchasing a product.
Manna Drone Delivery
The initiative kicked off the European company’s first US operations, where it will be serving residents at Pecan Square by Hillwood Communities.
They will have the opportunity to order a range of food and beverages from both national and local retailers, including a wide selection of Halloween chocolates and candies.
“After over four years of operations and over 150,000 flights logged in Europe, we are excited to be touching down in the United States to offer the residents of Dallas/Fort Worth a lightning quick and sustainable home delivery service,” says Andrew Patton, Head of US for Manna Drone Delivery.
“We are taking Halloween to new heights, with a fun new way for kids to trick or treat - especially when the weather isn’t very Halloween compatible.”
Avery Dennison and Burton Snowboards
Avery Dennison has launched a DPP as a Service (DPPaaS) to help brands fully prepare for forthcoming EU legislation on Digital Product Passports.
Burton Snowboards is the first customer to use the new offering that comprises consultancy, hardware, software, digital ID technology, physical labels, and support services.
DPPaaS is a part of Avery Dennison’s larger digital solutions portfolio, which connects the physical and digital worlds through its intelligent labelling and atma.io connected product cloud platform.
The phased introduction of DPP will be driven by the European Commission’s Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP) in key sectors beginning in 2027 including apparel and textiles, batteries, and electronics.
As an associate member of the CIRPASS consortium, which is advising the EU on the implementation of the scheme, Avery Dennison says it has first hand knowledge of what will be needed in the months ahead and is uniquely positioned to advise brands on the digital solutions required.
Additionally, via atma.io, the company currently tracks 30 billion items across the supply chain for global brands, capturing information that will be vital for DPP including carbon footprint data, origins of materials, and re-use instructions.
Monoprix
A2Z Smart Technologies Corp. reports that, further to announcements of its channel partnership with IR2S intended to deploy 30,000 smart carts across retail chains in France between 2023 and 2026, A2Z Cust2mate has received a first purchase order involving Monoprix stores.
Monoprix operates a portfolio of over 700 locations and operates as part of the Casino Group, which has a global footprint spanning over 11,500 locations worldwide.
The initial phase of the partnership involves the delivery of 250 smart carts, with anticipation for deployment at 20 select Monoprix locations starting within the current quarter of 2023.
Żabka Group
Żabka Group, the largest convenience store chain in Poland and Central and Eastern Europe, has selected the Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) GreenLake edge to cloud platform to run its SAP S/4HANA applications.
“A key factor for us when choosing the technology was finding a reliable partner that was ready to propose a tool that best suited our needs to ensure security,” says Jakub Masłowski, Chief Technology Officer, Żabka Group.
“We opted for HPE GreenLake, which will provide us with both the flexibility and speed characteristic of cloud solutions, as well as the control capabilities typical of on-premise infrastructure. Thanks to this, we gain greater system performance, which will help us create truly hybrid IT in our organisation.”
Walmart Canada
Walmart Canada customers can now choose a buy now, pay later option (BNPL) powered by Klarna when shopping on Walmart.ca and through the Walmart Canada and Klarna mobile apps.
“Introducing BNPL for shopping through Walmart.ca and our Walmart Canada app is the latest way we’re providing more payment choice and flexibility for customers,” says Laurent Duray, Chief E-commerce Officer, Walmart Canada.
“Our focus has always been to help Canadians save money and live better and as we head into the holiday season, we’re prioritising the customer experience by providing even more options when Canadians choose to shop with us.”
Tom Ford
A six metre tall immersive experience now sits at the Galeries Lafayette Paris Central podium, promoting the launch of the latest Tom Ford Private Blend addition, Myrrhe Mystère.
Interactive screens bathe the space in dreamy swirling amber and cream tones.
People can experience Myrrhe Mystère via a range of touchpoints, many of them tech led.
Digital and on-counter screens with video assets showcase the essence of the fragrance and tell the story of its amber and myrrh heritage. The installation was designed and built by Outform.
Żabka Polska
Żabka Polska has launched its first ever store that is open 24/7 and offers both a traditional and autonomous shopping option.
In a LinkedIn post, Patryk Powierża, Head of Nano Growth at Żabka Polska, said: “Today we opened the first hybrid Żabka store powered by autonomous technology (supplied by AiFi). How does it work?”
“From 6am-11pm, the store operates like a traditional store with a cashier. From 11pm-6am, it is switched to an unmanned format, which enables autonomous shopping.”
He added: “Thanks to that we can extend opening hours, be available 24/7, and deliver a great retail experience to Polish customers.”
“This opening is related to a great milestone that our company has achieved. Last Friday, we opened store 10,000 in the Żabka Polska network. Our hybrid store has a beautiful 10,002 number. The future is here.”
TUMI
TUMI has launched its first 3D Out-Of-Home (OOH) advertisement featuring the brand’s Tegra-Lite collection at the Malaysia Pavilion.
This runs through to the end of October 2023.
In a LinkedIn post, Jill Krizelman, Senior Vice President, Global Marketing & eCommerce, said: “This cutting- edge 3D spot is intended to demonstrate the groundbreaking durability and resilience of our Tegra-Lite collection. Catch it if you're in Malaysia this month and we'll be featuring other key global cities ahead.”
American Freight
American Freight, a US-based retailer of furniture, mattresses and appliances, is expanding into Utah for the first time with the opening of four new stores in the Salt Lake City metro area.
Visitors will be able to visualise how furniture will look in their homes before purchasing using AR technology on the company’s website.
Following the first opening in Ogden, American Freight will open three additional locations in Layton, Orem and Logan.
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