Featuring Zippin, THG, and Ikea: here are last week’s most read RTIH retail technology articles

These are the RTIH articles that caught your fancy last week, including checkout-free stores, coffee addiction amidst IPO pressures, and immersive experiences in the metaverse.

Checkout-free stores: retail’s next normal or overhyped and of limited value to high streets?

Checkout-free is retail's next to next normal, says Krishna Motukuri, CEO and Co-founder at Zippin.

In a tweet, he observes: “This is unfolding rapidly across stadiums and airports in the US and spreading to the rest of the world. Self-checkout and scan and go have too much friction to survive in the long run.”

Click here to see our take on the checkout-free stores space.

The latest from White Stuff, Tesco, and Tatcha: 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 The Fresh Market, Firework, Tesco, Trigo, Apotea, AutoStore, boohoo Group, what3words, New Look, and parcelLab.

Armani beauty teams with payfree and Avery Dennison to bring checkout tech to Berlin International Film Festival

Visitors to the Berlin International Film Festival will be able to enjoy a new shopping experience, with Armani beauty opening a cashier-less pop-up store at the heart of Berlin's Potsdamer Platz.

From 16th-26th February, film fans and passers-by can test and buy a variety of fragrances and make-up products in a set up made possible by grab and go technology provider payfree and Avery Dennison, a specialist in digital identification solutions.

It is the second time Armani beauty has partnered up with payfree and Avery Dennison to implement an RFID-based check-out.

In November 2022, they showcased their cashierless pop-up store concept in Dusseldorf – the first ever in the beauty sector.

"This new checkout technology perfectly matches the premium customer experience we aim to deliver in beauty retail. We are thrilled to be working again with payfree and Avery Dennison on this innovative project and excited to see it being utilised in our Berlin pop-up,” says Elise Mannweiler, General Manager at Armani beauty.

Mannweiler, who is in charge of the pop-up store project, adds: "We are always looking for ways to improve the shopping experience for our customers and this technology has allowed us to do just that.”

“The feedback from our previous pop-up store in Dusseldorf has been overwhelmingly positive and we are excited to bring this technology to customers in Berlin."

THG boss Matthew Moulding opens up about coffee addiction struggle amidst IPO pressures

Matthew Moulding, Founder and CEO at e-commerce firm The Hut Group (THG), has taken to social media to discuss his struggles with coffee addiction.

In 2021, Moulding told a conference that he should not have listed in London for a $7.7 billion IPO back in September 2020, and that the experience “just sucked from start to finish”.

Last week in a LinkedIn post, meanwhile, he wrote: “We all have addictions. I have mine. Anyone who knows me has been bemused, if not amused, by my coffee consumption.”

YOOBIC announces new executive hire as it looks to accelerate UK and European growth

Frontline employee experience platform specialist, YOOBIC, has announced the appointment of Daniel Cuffley as Senior Vice President – Sales, EMEA.

The firm’s platform is used by over 300 brands including Levi’s, Benetton, Ralph Lauren, Brooks Brothers, Lidl and Boots, with over 1.3 million frontline employees tapping its apps.

Cuffley has two decades of experience driving business development and sales growth for companies including Motorola, Medallia., Yahoo! and ThoughtSpot. 

He previously served as VP EMEA at analytics anywhere company, Starbust Data, and will use his expertise to identify and capitalise on growth opportunities for YOOBIC across Europe, as the company looks to double the size of its customer reach in this key region. 

Emperia retail technology powers new SAXX immersive experience in the metaverse

Men’s underwear and apparel brand SAXX has launched what is pitched as the first ever dedicated virtual store by an underwear company.

This is an immersive experience in the metaverse, powered by Emperia, that allows shoppers to browse three-dimensional items in a 360-degree showroom.

The store exclusively features underwear, tops and swimwear from SAXX’s DropTempTM collection, which uses proprietary evaporative fabric to cool the body.

Upon entering, shoppers are transported to an oxymoronic environment where it’s snowing in the desert, highlighting the cooling qualities of DropTempTM. A short pathway lined with shoppable product displays leads to an open air showroom.

More items can be found around the showroom’s swimming pool, including underwear, short and long sleeve tops, polos and hoodies with UPF 50 that can be worn in the water.

Shoppers are encouraged to “dive in” to the pool, which unlocks another retail area consisting of a variety of prints from SAXX’s swimwear line.

Retail technology gone wrong: Marks and Spencer slammed over new disabled unfriendly self-service checkouts

M&S is currently deploying new self-service checkouts across its stores.

RTIH tested them out last week and found them to be a definite improvement on what went before.

But not everyone is a fan. A disabled customer has taken to Twitter to air her frustrations after a visit to the M&S store in Ipswich.

RieRieB said that she “left extremely upset. Making things less accessible for your disabled customers, as you have with your new self-service checkout design, is unacceptable and legally questionable.”

Ikea teams with Meta and Warpin Reality to launch AR experience in Swedish stores

Meta and Ikea have partnered with Stockholm-based immersive tech company Warpin Reality to put on an interactive augmented reality experience for families visiting Ikea stores across Sweden.

Called The Little Adventure (“Lilla Äventyret” in Swedish), the AR game can be opened as a filter on Instagram and aims to increase interest and knowledge about life in the ocean, with children able to (virtually) swim with various sea creatures and learn about them.

It also encourages players to engage with themes like littering and pollution prevention, with all three companies involved committed to increasing plastic recycling (for instance, Ikea’s Blåvingad collection from last year). 

Ikea Retail Sweden has become the first retailer globally to explore the Meta SPARK AR solution on such a large scale, with the campaign opening across 21 stores this month.

NeXR to present avatar-based fashion shopping experience at Smart Retail Tech Expo

Berlin-based startup NeXR Technologies will be presenting its fashion avatar solutions at Smart Retail Tech Expo in London this week.

Check the company out at booth ST201.

By using high resolution body scanning technologies, NeXR says it is able to create life like digital replicas of customers and develop customised solutions to reduce returns costs and waste for the fashion industry.

Combining NeXR’s 3D body scanning technology with EyeFitU’s patented SizeEngine, customers can scan themselves at partner stores, like H&M, to create an avatar which will be saved along with body measurements.

By scanning the barcode of a garment, they will receive a sizing recommendation available in-store.

Future of retail: NASA store goes cashierless with MishiPay Scan & Go and Kiosk technology

Dimona, a provider of gift store merchandise and souvenirs, has announced the launch of MishiPay scan and go and self-checkout technology at its Space Adventure Exhibition gift store in Boston, MA.

Customers can now experience a cashless shopping experience with no checkout lines or cashiers.

With MishiPay technology, they can scan items as they add them to their cart, and checkout using their mobile device. The self-checkout system allows customers to scan and bag their items at their own pace, without the need for assistance from a cashier.

The store is also equipped with two self-checkout kiosks to assist customers who can’t use their phone to checkout. MishiPay covers 100% of the store transactions.