Including ZigZag, Nedap, and Upside: 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 JD.com, Amazon UK, FedEx Europe, Carrefour Belgium, Studenac, Moonpig, La-Z-Boy, and Armani Group.
BSH Group
BSH Group, a specialist in the home appliance industry, has used Medallia Experience Orchestration to understand the journeys of its customers, fuelling its expansion from business-to-business (B2B) into the direct-to-consumer market.
Konyalı Saat
An IDIS end-to-end retail branch network solution has been adopted across all Konyalı Saat’s 40 store locations in Turkey as well as at the retailer’s warehouse and workshop where high value watches are repaired, serviced, and calibrated.
Systems integrator Secom specified the IDIS solution to meet Konyalı Saat’s surveillance and business intelligence needs.
FedEx Europe
FedEx Europe, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp., is collaborating with ZigZag, a global platform for reverse logistics solutions.
As a result, its e-commerce customers will benefit from an online returns portal that is branded with its logo and easy to integrate with its web shop.
Via the portal, retailers are able to retrieve insights that help them understand the reasons for returns in order to prevent them in the future.
For return shipments requiring customs clearance, documentation is created and uploaded digitally, ensuring retailers get the refunds and exemptions they are entitled to.
Return shipments will either be picked up at home, or consumers can drop off their packages at one of approximately 90,000 FedEx and ZigZag drop off points in the US,, Canada, and key markets across Europe.
Jeff de Bruges
Jeff de Bruges, a chocolate manufacturer in France, has selected Informatica’s AI powered Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) platform as a key component of its data modernisation project.
It says that the combined solution from Informatica, KPMG, and Microsoft will help build “a data driven culture that will significantly improve the overall quality and use of data across the enterprise at Jeff de Bruges”.
JD.com
JD Logistics, the logistics arm of Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com, has announced the launch of its international express delivery service.
Currently available in Shenzhen and Guangzhou, the expansion will initially cover 23 countries across North America and Europe, facilitating one-way deliveries from China.
Looking ahead, JD Logistics plans to extend the reach of the service, expanding its availability throughout China.
Leveraging the company’s network, customers in China can book doorstep pick-ups through the JD Express mini programme on WeChat and expect one-hour pick-up by JD’s in-house couriers,.
Real-time parcel tracking is also available.
Smyths Toys Superstores
Smyths Toys Superstores has joined the Town & City Gift Card initiative, accepting the local gift cards at stores across Scotland and Ireland.
The initiative from Miconex is active in over 80 towns and cities and features a mix of national brands such as M&S, Sainsbury’s, Primark and New Look alongside independent businesses including shops, restaurants, cafés, salons, hotels and attractions.
Smyths Toys stores in Scotland now accept the local gift cards in Aberdeen, East Ayrshire, Falkirk and Inverness, with UK stores set to follow.
In Ireland, stores in Sligo and Drogheda are onboard. The gift card gets swiped at the till like a debit or credit card, with the balance automatically updated.
Amazon UK
Croydon is among the first Amazon locations in the UK to use electric cargo bikes, building on launches in Wembley, Southwark, Shoreditch, Manchester and Glasgow.
Electric cargo bikes and on-foot deliveries are now operational from hubs in more than 20 cities across the UK and Europe.
“We’re excited to open the new micromobility hub at our Croydon delivery station as part of our commitment to our customers and our sustainability goals,” says James Partridge, Amazon Croydon Delivery Station Manager.
“This new hub will help us to reduce the number of vehicles on the roads around Croydon while also bringing more electric powered deliveries to our customers in South London.”
Studenac
Studenac, Croatia’s largest retailer by number of stores, has deployed a series of digital tools that use data to improve margins, streamline the supply chain and enable better, faster decisions on where to build new outlets.
The Location Analysis Tool (LAT), the flagship project from the Studenac Digital Centre of Excellence, helps managers select new store locations based on data including demographics, transportation links and the presence of competitors in any given geographical area.
The LAT uses algorithms to help select high potential locations, streamlining the investment committee's decision-making process and accelerating the pace at which new stores can be approved and opened.
The company sees room to open as many as 2,500 new outlets across Croatia using this format.
Studenac has tripled its store network to more than 1,200 since it was acquired five years ago by Central European private equity fund Enterprise Investors. It plans to add 120 organically this year and speed up the pace in 2024 and beyond.
On
Nedap has been selected by sportswear brand, On, to deploy its iD Cloud platform in factories, warehouses, distributors and stores worldwide.
This enables On to track and trace every single item from source to consumer.
Utilising radio waves, RFID technology enables wireless identification and tracking of objects, providing efficient data capture and real-time monitoring, especially beneficial in use cases such as supply chain management.
On was already familiar with the technology and benefits of RFID, and decided to run a pilot programme in cooperation with Nedap to test iD Cloud.
La-Z-Boy
Fivetran reports that its data integration platform is being utilised by La-Z-Boy, a specialist in residential furniture.
La-Z-Boy, which has a number of different brands, including Joybird and Hammary, is leveraging Fivetran to break down data silos and accelerate data driven decision-making across the organisation.
“Data is the common language that connects many teams and stakeholders across our company. Democratising access to data is essential for us as an organisation,” says Selwyn Samuel, Director of Data Analytics & Enterprise Architecture at La-Z-Boy.
“With Fivetran helping to power our modern data stack, we’re able to centralise data faster and improve access across the company – ultimately allowing us to accelerate data-driven decision-making and better serve our customers.”
Airwallex and Woo
Airwallex, a payments and financial platform, has announced a partnership with Woo, the open source e-commerce platform built on WordPress, to become an official payment extension.
This integration enables Woo merchants to accept cross-border payments within minutes by leveraging global cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and 60+ local payment methods at checkout, thereby opening up the potential to access shoppers from millions of Woo stores, without the sting of high FX conversion fees.
Daki
Daki, an on-demand groceries and essentials app, has selected RELEX Solutions to drive accuracy and efficiency in its demand forecasting and replenishment processes.
The RELEX technology will support Daki's operations throughout Brazil.
The company’s planning previously relied on manual processes.
To support efforts across multiple markets, it realised it needed a unified, scalable system that could provide accurate forecasts and optimise efficiency and utilisation of all resources, thereby supporting its proposition of providing an extraordinary shopping experience, offering all the essentials products according to customer demand.
Carrefour Belgium
Carrefour Belgium has opened its smallest store in Belgium, measuring just 18 sqm.
Carrefour BuyBye is located at the retailer’s Belgian headquarters in Zaventem (near Brussels).
The autonomous store consists of a series of refrigerated vending machines where customers can purchase lunch, snacks, cold drinks and fruit.
Shoppers need to download the Carrefour Buybye app, create an account and add a payment method before they can use the app to open the machines, take out products and check-out.
Initially, this will be open Monday to Friday from 7am to 10pm to start with, but from January it will be available seven days a week.
It is the result of a collaboration with startup Reckon AI, which specialises in micro-stores equipped with artificial intelligence.
Plans are afoot to roll-out the concept to Carrefour Belgium’s existing physical stores.
Armani Group
ON has announced a strategic partnership with the Armani Group.
Following a launch with A|X Armani Exchange in March, the expanded tie up now includes A|X Armani Exchange, Armani Exchange - Canada, Armani Exchange - UK, Emporio Armani and EA7 Emporio Armani.
In the first six months after implementing the ON platform, A|X Armani Exchange reported that 92% of inbound inquiries were immediately addressed through automated AI chat, accelerating the speed to resolution through shopping journeys.
Additionally, engagement with ON resulted in up to a five times increase in the likelihood of shoppers making purchases.
Moonpig
Moonpig says it is the first major online card retailer to launch an AI tool that helps people craft authentic heartfelt and personalised messages all with the click of a button.
It notes that, with the increased use of instant messaging via apps such as Whatsapp, Messenger and Instagram, over the last decade emojis have come to replace words when communicating with friends and family, and as a result left many struggling to write heartfelt messages to loved ones.
The new Smart Text feature is available across Moonpig’s entire range of cards, including Christmas.
It can be found in the editor toolbar as a magic symbol when starting to compose a message. It gives people the chance to type in a short prompt providing details about the recipient, occasion and even inside jokes or specific interests.
Terrible’s
US-based Terrible’s is adding 84 of its gas stations to Upside’s digital marketplace.
It says that this partnership will help it access a broader audience and incentivise both new and occasional customers to choose their gas stations over competing options, thanks to personalised promotions within the Upside platform.
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