An autonomous stores first in Latin America: 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. Featuring Carrefour Argentina, Shopify, Migros, Starship Technologies, Grubhub, John Lewis Partnership, Asos, Instacart, and HappyOrNot.
Carrefour Argentina
The first autonomous Carrefour Flash store has opened in Latin America.
Tapping Go2Future miniGO technology and using cameras on the ceiling and sensors integrated into the shelves, this is a 50 square metre store located in Argentina, in the town of Pilar, a province of Buenos Aires.
Via an app, the products that customers choose are automatically loaded into a virtual cart and payment is made upon leaving, without the need to use a traditional checkout. It is also possible to buy online and pick up in-store or request home delivery.
“We are excited to be able to implement innovative purchasing alternatives in Argentina,” says Pablo Lorenzo, CEO at Carrefour Argentina.
“We listen to our clients and customers and we know that speed and simplicity are essential characteristics when going to stores. We seek to be up to the task and we hope that in Carrefour Flash they will find an ideal shopping experience.”
Shopify
Migros
Swiss supermarket Migros, Swiss startup LOXO, and Schindler are testing a delivery service called Migronomous.
A self-driving vehicle, powered by an electric motor, was developed in Switzerland and will bring groceries from a Migros store to the Schindler Campus in Ebikon. This is the first such delivery service to run on Swiss roads.
Migros and Schindler are testing the vehicle, called LOXO Alpha and built by LOXO, as part of a pilot project.
Schindler employees in Ebikon can place a Migros order online. Migros employees load the delivery vehicle with the ordered products before it automatically drives, at a maximum speed of 30 km/h, to the Schindler company premises 500 metres away.
Upon its arrival, Schindler employees can use a code to open the compartment with their order and remove their purchases. In the initial test phase, the vehicle will travel between the Migros store and the Schindler company premises once a day from Monday to Friday.
Mall of America
Mall of America and Coniq have teamed up to launch MOA Insiders.
Shoppers will now be rewarded every time they shop, play, and dine at Mall of America.
MOA Insiders makes it the first combined retail and attraction venue in North America that provides a membership programme for guests.
FC Bayern Munich
FC Bayern Munich has signed a multi-year cooperation agreement with FinTech big hitter Adyen.
As the exclusive payment solution partner, Adyen will handle the club's payment processing on all sales channels.
Andreas Jung, FC Bayern board member for marketing, says: “We are delighted that, with Adyen as an official partner of FC Bayern, we can ensure our high standards in our payment processing and always offer our fans innovative options.”
“We are always looking to continuously improve our processes for fans, and simplifying the payment process is an important part of that.”
Just Eat and Cheddar
Cashback and payments app, Cheddar, has announced a new partnership with Just Eat.
The food delivery big hitter joins the likes of Trainline, Sports Direct, House of Fraser, and boohoo on the app.
The new collaboration will see Cheddar users earning up to 4% cashback on every purchase made through Just Eat, with the cashback available in the app’s balance within seven days.
Users can redeem this at any time, depositing it directly into their bank account.
This follows a recent social media poll run by Cheddar, which asked followers to vote for the favourite food delivery brand they’d like to see join the app. Just Eat came out on top, winning 51% of votes, compared to Uber Eats (27%) and Deliveroo (21%).
The University of Notre Dame, Grubhub and Starship Technologies
The University of Notre Dame, Grubhub and Starship Technologies have introduced robot delivery via the latter’s fleet on campus.
During the initial launch, up to 30 on-demand robots will deliver from six campus eateries: Au Bon Pain, Garbanzo, The Gilded Bean, Hagerty Family Cafe, Modern Market and Taco Bell.
The University’s more than 17,000 students, faculty and staff can now use the Grubhub app (iOS and Android) to order food and drinks from on-campus retailers to be delivered nearly anywhere on campus, within minutes.
The service also works in conjunction with students’ meal plans. By spring, the robot fleet will reach 50 and will service additional Campus Dining eateries.
John Lewis Partnership
John Lewis Partnership is currently working on what it labels a ‘game changing’ new loyalty programme that will integrate across its high street, online and app touchpoints.
To help it deliver this, the UK retailer is looking to hire “a creative and data driven Head of Loyalty to work alongside a passionate and talented team to lead, design and deliver this next-generation programme”.
In a LinkedIn post, it says: “You will be bringing together our My John Lewis and My Waitrose loyalty programmes, ahead of launching our pan-Partnership loyalty programme in 2024.”
It adds: “We are investing heavily in data and technology to ensure we give our loyal customers more personalised experiences, offers and benefits. Join us on this exciting journey of transformation, as we continue being a force for good.”
Richard Hammond, CEO at customer analytics startup Uncrowd, took to LinkedIn to describe the job as “one of the hottest gigs in UK loyalty. I know I have controversial views on the subject but I also know that there's loads of you in my network who would a) love this role, and b) be incredibly good in it.”
what3words and DHL Parcel UK
what3words and DHL Parcel UK have announced a new element of their partnership.
Customers, whether small businesses or large e-commerce players, can now add a what3words field at checkout to enable shoppers to specify exactly where they want their deliveries to go.
Once entered, the what3words address is then passed on to DHL Parcel UK couriers.
Last year, DHL Parcel UK announced that it had rolled out the what3words location technology to its UK parcel app.
The latter has divided the world into a grid of 3m x 3m squares and given each square a unique combination of three words.DHL customers can discover their address via the firm’s app or a map available at its website.
HappyOrNot
Instant customer feedback insights company HappyOrNot has announced the launch of an updated version of its Smiley Touch terminal.
Accumulating over a billion feedback responses since its launch, HappyOrNot’s range of smiley faced terminals serve over 4,000 brands in 135 countries including Amazon, Google, Aramark, and Miami Airport.
The new version uses a built in camera system and AI software to unlock and connect in-moment anonymous feedback data with respondent(s) demographic information.
The demographic analysis works by converting and mapping facial features into numerous data points to form a vector. The anonymised vector is then analysed by the AI to estimate the feedback provider’s age and gender - with up to a 95% accuracy rate.
Unlike facial recognition tools, HappyOrNot’s updated terminal does not identify the individual, instead its only purpose is to analyse a silhouetted vector, which is specifically designed to hide the respondent’s identity.
The upgraded terminals have already been adopted by European retail chain XXL Sport & Villmark and Canadian pharmacy chain MacQuarries.
Alo Yoga
Alo Yoga, an activewear and lifestyle brand, has launched an immersive digital shopping experience complete with virtual reality integration, digital styling capabilities, streaming beauty and wellness tutorials, workout classes, and checkout.
It has partnered on this with 2022 RTIH Innovation Awards winner, Obsess, with users able to experience it via desktop, mobile, or the Meta Quest 2 VR headset.
Groupe Les Mousquetaires
Worldline has implemented an updated ATM fleet roll-out for French retailer Groupe Les Mousquetaires (GLM).
This involved the migration of more than 700 ATMs as part of a one-year project.
GLM is one of the first French retailers to upgrade its entire ATM fleet.
Asos
Asos has announced the expansion of its Partner Fulfils programme powered by the Mirakl Marketplace Platform.
Through Partner Fulfils, brands fulfil orders placed on the Asos website and app directly, without products being stored in the firm’s fulfilment centres.
This enables it to offer customers a broader range of products and greater stock availability for existing product lines. Asos recently expanded Partner Fulfils from two to 23 brands across the UK and Europe.
It says that this will also enable it to offer key territories more relevant local fashion through partnerships with smaller businesses.
By hosting their products on the its platform, without holding any stock or handling fulfilment, Asos can tailor its product offering to customers in different markets.
Quadient and Evri
Quadient has introduced an additional feature for its Parcel Pending by Quadient smart lockers that enables shoppers to easily drop off parcels, with the added ability to print shipping labels if needed.
As the new solution becomes available in the UK, Evri will be the first carrier to offer the Drop Box and Printer capability to its customers.
It is one of four international carriers that have joined the Quadient smart locker open network in the UK.
This currently accounts for about 300 locker stations in operation, with plans to reach 5,000 units in the coming years at the pace of about 200 new locations per month.
Henderson Group
Instacart and Foodcellar Market
Instacart has announced the launch of Scan & Pay in partnership with Long Island City grocer, Foodcellar Market.
The retailer is the first to fully debut this technology for in-store shopping.
Foodcellar can now allow customers to scan the barcodes of their items – including produce – while shopping and pay directly through their phones. This means no more waiting in line.
Scan & Pay links items bought in-store to customers’ online Instacart account, making it easier to shop their preferred items from Foodcellar.
Carrefour
Carrefour has produced its first ever video made with ChatGPT and generative AI.
The retailer’s avatar answers a common question from its customers: “how to eat better and cheaper via its website”.
In a LInkedIn post, Elodie Perthuisot, Chief E Commerce, Digital Transformation and Data Officer & EXCOM member at Carrefour, said: “For us, artificial intelligence is very concrete: personalisation of purchases, optimisation of assortments, reduction of waste...we are exploring the different uses, at the service of our customers.”
“So, of course, our data and innovation teams are currently working on the use cases of ChatGPT, and generative AI in general. We explore them always keeping our customers as a compass and how to better serve them. To be continued…”
Check out the video here.
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