Ikea, Tesco and Carrefour lead the way as RTIH presents February’s coolest retail technology plays
RTIH Editor, Scott Thompson, brings you his stand out ‘future of retail’ systems deployments from February, including Ikea, Meta, Tesco, Trigo, Starship Technologies, Grubhub, Carrefour, The Fresh Market, and Firework.
Ikea
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.
Tesco
Tesco has opened its latest GetGo location, Aston University Express. Powered by Trigo technology, this is located in Birmingham, the UK’s second largest city.
The university location is the final instalment of Tesco’s announced three autonomous stores deployment throughout the UK, the other sites being Chiswell Street Express in central London, and Fulham Reach Express in Parrs Way, London.
It is the largest autonomous Tesco store to date at over 4,000 square metres.
SAXX
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.
Armani beauty
Visitors to the Berlin International Film Festival were 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 could 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 was the second time Armani beauty had 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.
Vyking
Virtual try-on specialist Vyking has unveiled a new in-store augmented reality solution, Magic Mirror.
It says that that this will enable consumers to visualise footwear through a smart mirror.
Activated by walking up to a full length digitally connected mirror, people can try virtually before they buy dozens of pairs of trainers and other footwear.
They choose the pair they’d like to try via an in-store display on a tablet, before the 3D model is “beamed” into the mirror for them to see how it looks on their own feet.
The solution also offers omnichannel marketing possibilities as the technology can be deployed in other physical locations such as billboards, bus stops or window displays.
The Fresh Market
Firework has proved an update on its longstanding partnership with specialty food retailer, The Fresh Market.
The latter is using the Firework video commerce platform to launch what is pitched as the USA’s first ever Shoppable Video-Live Commerce (SVLC) retail media network (RMN).
“Overall, the combined viewership of our first four Firework powered livestreams exceeded two million views and we saw conversion rates of the special occasion meals featured in the shoppable videos to be over 300% greater than our traditional digital advertising results," says Kevin Miller, Chief Marketing Officer at The Fresh Market.
“Having proven the power of Firework’s video commerce content in 2022, we’re excited to offer our partners an innovative and differentiated means of storytelling in an entertaining new way. We call it shoppertainment.”
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.”
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.
M&S
M&S says that it is the first major retailer to green light a reduced packaging initiative for Click & Collect orders following a customer trial.
It is rolling out a new BYOB – Bring Your Own Bag – offering to 251 of its stores.
This takes away the need for the traditional plastic carrier across online orders that are picked and packed at the collection store by asking customers to, yep, you’ve guessed it, bring their own bag.
M&S says the move will save 10 million units of plastic annually.
During the aforementioned trial, which took place at 16 M&S stores, customers were reminded at point of checkout to bring their own bag when coming into store to collect an order placed online.
They were then reminded again when notified that their order was ready to collect. Over the course of seven months, 39,347 orders were fulfilled this way, removing over 109 thousand units of plastic.
River Island
Mercaux is delivering RFID self-checkout into stores of River Island, the British high street retailer, alongside key strategic partners.
Shoppers will be encouraged to use self-service devices to speed up the last step in their path to purchase.
After dropping the items into the “RFID Bucket”, said items appear instantly in a digital basket on Mercaux’s self-service kiosk where the customer completes the transaction.
This is made possible, in part, with Mercaux’s composable platform, allowing retailers to surface the checkout process on any device in-store (store associate or customer), eliminating the need for customers to join a line to be served by a store associate at the traditional cash register.
Mercaux’s technology was deployed and integrated with River Island’s existing omnichannel commerce platform with the support of system integrator, Cabiri.
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.
Compass Group
Compass Group has opened a second checkout-free location in a UK stadium.
Situated at Premier League football club Aston Villa, this is a self-service bar powered by AiFi technology.
The first bar can be found at Leicester City F.C.
In a LinkedIn post, dated 4th February, Peter Waugh, Digital & Data Director, UK/I, at Compass Group said: “I hate Q’ing, I don’t want to queue behind someone buying food and drink if I just want a drink, I want to maximise the time with my mates, just make it easy, half time is only 15 mins…”.
He added: “OK, no problem…Compass’ second computer vision bar in UK stadia, this time Aston Villa, launched today.”
“Tap your card, enter, pick your drink or food, and walk out. Plus if you want to order your beers and food for half time time, you can, with self-serve kiosks…no waiting. And if you fancy pouring your own - the Holte stand offers that as well.”
Outform
Outform has launched what is pitched as a first of its kind interactive digital mannequin at retail trade fair EuroShop.
This serves as a visual merchandising platform that lets the shopper control which products they see and how they’re represented in-store through their smartphones.
Shoppers who scan a QR code on the digital mannequin display can take control of what content is displayed.
They can choose which products they see from different perspectives, and which model wears them.
From there, they have the option to purchase the product directly through their mobile device on a microsite.
Żabka Group
Żabka Group’s Żabka Nano pop-up autonomous store is now a part of the Microsoft Industry Experience Center in Washington, USA.
In a LinkedIn post, Patryk Powierża, Head of Growth at Żabka Polska, said: “Microsoft IEC is a unique place.”
“It is the physical manifestation of the company’s vision for the future and its belief that all successful companies will effectively be tech companies, creating their own innovations. We are glad to be part of it as a pioneer in autonomous retail.”
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