Virtual beers and autonomous store milestones: Presenting the week's coolest retail technology plays
RTIH Editor, Scott Thompson, brings you his top ‘future of retail’ systems launches and deployments from the past week, including Corona, Obsess, Sensei, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, The Trade Desk and Ocado.
Corona
Obsess has announced a partnership with Corona to launch the Corona Premier Virtual Clubhouse.
The golf themed experience invites visitors ages 21 and older to enter a sweepstakes for a chance to win a grand prize trip for four to the 2023 U.S. Open in Los Angeles in June or an instant win prize consisting of golfing apparel and merchandise.
It is the first in a series that the brand will be launching throughout the year, including summer and holiday activations.
Sensei and Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Sensei has launched Dojo, which, covering a total space of 500 square metres, is pitched as the largest fully autonomous store in Europe.
Created in collaboration with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), the facility in Lisbon, Portugal is intended as a test lab.
Not open to the public, it provides an environment for Sensei and its partners to develop and test new autonomous store technologies. The tech behind Dojo is scalable for retail spaces ranging from from 150 m2 to 1,500 m2.
Features include gateless entry and exit, and an automatic card payment terminal where purchases are displayed in real-time at the end of a shop, so customers can make purchases without using an app.
There is also automated tracking of products served from assisted counters, such as a bakery, butchery or fish counter, and the integration of self-service coffee and juice machines.
Alibaba’s Idle Fish
The Trade Desk and Ocado
Advertising technology firm The Trade Desk has announced a partnership with online grocery big hitter Ocado Retail.
The pair claim that, as a result, Ocado is the first grocer in the UK to give direct access to its customer behaviour data, allowing marketers to optimise their audiences and attribute campaigns through The Trade Desk.
Ocado will provide advertisers with access to consented shopper data and insights.
Ocado suppliers and The Trade Desk’s clients will be able to leverage the pureplay’s first-party audiences to reach in-market shoppers and drive key marketing objectives, such as customer acquisition to build brand loyalty over time.
Furthermore, targeted campaigns can be optimised using Ocado data to close the loop between advertising spend and sales.
Royal Caribbean International
Royal Caribbean International’s Icon of the Seas is coming to one of the world’s most played video games, Fortnite, for an initiative called Hide ’N’ Sea.
Built using Fortnite Creative, this addition to the metaverse is pitched as “the first, one of a kind adventure players can experience on Icon of the Seas ahead of its debut in January 2024”.
The challenge? To hide or seek in Thrill Island and The Hideaway on Icon.
SPAR Switzerland and AVIA
SPAR Switzerland and AVIA have opened the first 24/7 SPAR Express forecourt store operating without onsite personnel at Zurich’s Sihlqui bus terminal.
In addition to refuelling, customers can now also stock up on groceries, fresh snacks, and coffee.
The 50m2 store offers around 1,000 products, including bread and bakery products, fruit and vegetables, dairy products, meat, drinks, basic food items, hygiene articles, and car accessories.
Access is made possible through FAST aXs technology which allows customers to enter the store by scanning a QR code at the entrance with their smartphone and accepting the terms and conditions.
People do not need to download an app or register. Items are also scanned with the smartphone and payment is made by Twint, credit or debit card, or with Apple Pay or Google Pay.
The store is equipped with cameras and sensors. If customers have questions or face any issues, information is provided online instantly and additional support is offered.
Sales are monitored via an app which ensures that the store is always replenished with fresh food. Customers purchasing fuel can pay at the AVIA petrol station with a fuel card, debit or credit card or cash.
STARSHIP TECHNOLOGIES
Starship Technologies’ robots have started on-demand food deliveries at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
30 of them are now delivering from Wendy’s, Bojangles and Shake Smart and will add more campus eateries throughout March, with 10 onboard by the end of the month.
The school’s nearly 30,000 students and faculty can now use the Starship app to order food and drinks from campus retailers to be delivered anywhere on campus, within minutes. The service works in conjunction with the student meal plan.
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