Run it 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 Boots UK, Amazon, Akeneo, Crew Clothing, Żabka Group, Walmart Canada, Secret Sales, and Halfords.
Health and beauty retailer Boots UK taps Ocula Technologies’ Ocula Boost solution to boost online experience
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.
Georgia Southern University debuts checkout-free store featuring Amazon Just Walk Out technology
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.
“At Georgia Southern, we’re constantly looking for new ways to innovate and improve experiences for our students and the university community,” says Ron Stalnaker, Vice President for Business and Finance.
“Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology brings a new level of convenience and simplicity to the shopping experience, allowing customers to shop in a fast, frictionless manner and get back to their classes, games and other campus events.”
Israeli retailer HaStok places follow on order for 1,000 smart carts from A2Z Cust2Mate subsidiary
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 works with retailers and brands on new traceability solution for fashion and textile sectors
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.
Ice cream producer Hennig-Olsen IS expands supply chain technology collaboration with RELEX Solutions
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 adds Affirm as first buy now, pay later provider at checkout ahead of Black Friday
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.
Product experience and information management firm Akeneo hires Sabrina Jaksa as Chief People Officer
Akeneo, a product experience (PX) company and provider of product information management (PIM) solutions, has appointed Sabrina Jaksa as Chief People Officer.
Based in France, Jaksa will report to Akeneo’s CEO and Founder, Fred de Gombert.
With a career spanning over 20 years, she joins the company after serving as the Group Chief People Experience Officer at Singapore-based Funding Societies | Modalku, a SME digital financing platform and debt investment platform.
“Creating revolutionary product experiences for our customers starts with our employees. We are excited to bring on Sabrina and her deep expertise in championing people strategies that empower us all to win,” says de Gombert.
“Sabrina has a proven track record in setting the right foundations that build high-functioning teams and departments in a performance driven company.”
mirrAR lands $1.75m investment to enhance digital and in-store experiences with virtual try on tech
mirrAR, an Indian startup that specialises in augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions, has announced completion of its pre-series A capital raise of $1.75 million.
US-based Diaspark spearheaded the round, with participation from angel investors such as Aparna Chennapragada, CVP at Microsoft, Alagu Periyannan, Founder of BlueJeans by Verizon and Khadim Batti CEO and Co-founder Whatfix.
mirrAR’s technology enables brands and retailers to offer immersive 3D and 360-degree shopping experiences on websites, mobile apps, and social channels through the 3D Commerce Cloud offering.
Shoppers can virtually try on products or interact with them in their physical environment.
Walmart de Mexico y Centroamerica taps Navori Labs digital signage and analytics solution
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.
Crew Clothing picks Workday Financial Management for stronger visibility across its finance function
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.
Halfords bags investment in Avayler software business as Bridgestone takes a 5% stake
Halfords Group, a UK-based provider of motoring and cycling products and services, reports that Bridgestone has acquired a 5% stake in its automotive Software as a service (SaaS) venture, Avayler, valuing the business that was launched in July 2021, at over $60 million.
The agreement will allow also Bridgestone to leverage Avayler’s products in retail stores and mobile applications.
The Avayler solution was developed in-house by Halfords to manage automotive services across its garage network and increasing number of mobile vans.
As well as streamlining customer bookings – online, over the phone, and in-store – and job execution inside the garage, its mobile capability uses algorithms to instantly calculate the available customer time slots according to the nearest van location and parts availability.
UK Black Friday spending set to increase by 7.5% amidst shaky economy and cost of living crisis
UK consumers aren’t letting the cost-of-living crisis interfere with their Christmas spending with the average spend for Black Friday 2023 expected to reach £184.55 – up from £171.66 in 2022, according to Wunderman Thompson Commerce and Technology.
The company surveyed 2,025 online shoppers.
It found that 54% of consumer spend this Black Friday period is predicted to be on Christmas presents.
And the trend towards online shopping hasn’t diminished now that bricks and mortar stores are back to business in a post-Covid world.
76% of Black Friday spend is set to be online this year. All of which will be music to the ears of marketplaces, spearheaded by giants like Amazon who remain the top choice for deals, accounting for 54% of all Black Friday spend.
But all is not lost for Amazon’s competitors. Amongst the 16-24 age group specifically, its stronghold has become weaker, capturing only 37% of the market share.
Good Housekeeping live shopping week with TalkShopLive shoots past two million views mark
TalkShopLive reports over two million views and counting for its recent Good Housekeeping tie up.
This saw the latter team up with the online livestream home shopping platform to introduce its first ever GH Live Shopping Week, where people could score exclusive deals on gift worthy products from celebs and influencers.
From 9th October through to 14th October, it was possible to tune in every day to the experience on goodhousekeeping.com.
Things kicked off with Dolly Parton and the chance to nab a copy of her very first rock album, Rockstar, and her upcoming book, Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones.
Elsewhere in the schedule, Good Housekeeping hosted an exclusive reveal of select products from Paris Hilton’s new cookware line with Walmart.
Off-price fashion specialist Secret Sales expands into Ireland, marking its fourth European market
Secret Sales, a platform and marketplace for off-price retail in fashion, sportswear and beauty, has announced its expansion into Ireland.
Shoppers in Ireland will now have direct access to over £700 million worth of off-price inventory on Secretsales.com from 450 premium brands, including Dsquared2, Plein Sport, Aquascutum, Cavalli, Diesel, Asics, Hackett, Ted Baker, and Superdry.
This launch supports Secret Sales’ strategy of establishing itself as the go-to destination for non-full price retail in all main European markets by 2025, following the acquisition of Spanish e-commerce firm Dreivip.
Polytag serves up on-pack QR codes with new Blighty Booch Kombucha partnership
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.
Halloween and Trick Or Treat take to the Texan skies with Manna drone delivery service
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 hooks Burton Snowboards as customer as Digital Product Passport as a Service launches
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.
Żabka Group taps HPE GreenLake platform to run Polish retailer’s SAP S/4HANA applications
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 introduces Klarna buy now pay later service for its online and mobile shoppers
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.”
Outform works with Tom Ford on immersive Myrrhe Mystère experience at Galeries Lafayette Paris Central podium
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.
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