More innovation than you can shake a stick at: here are last week’s most read RTIH retail technology articles
These are the RTIH articles that caught your fancy last week, including The Trade Desk, Ocado, Stuart, Sensei, Hectare, Amazon, Marks and Spencer, and Royal Caribbean International.
The Trade Desk partners with Ocado on 'new approach to retail media on the open internet'
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.
RTIH takes the wraps off its first ever Retail Technology Innovations Report. Download it today!
RTIH is pleased to announce the launch of its first ever Retail Technology Innovations Report, sponsored by Metapack.
Available for download here, free of charge, this highlights the top 50 retail tech plays of 2022 as decided by our Editor, Scott Thompson, and an independent advisory panel.
On-demand logistics firm Stuart announces appointment of Cornelia Raportaru as CEO
Cornelia Raportaru has been appointed Chief Executive Officer at Stuart.
She succeeds Damien Bon, who joined the on-demand delivery platform in 2015 and became CEO in 2017 under the ownership of Geopost.
Raportaru will report to Cédric Favre-Lorraine, Geopost’s Regional CEO for France & Benelux.
She joined Stuart in February 2022 as Executive Vice President of International, in charge of activities in Spain, Portugal, Italy and Poland.
She then took the additional responsibility of the firm’s Global Operations centre of expertise.
Sensei launches Dojo autonomous supermarket in Europe with 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.
Hectare raises $20 million in Series A funding for sustainable agricultural supply chain push
Hectare says that it has raised $20 million in Series A funding.
The round was led by existing and private investors.
The investment will be used to support Hectare’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) inventory, trading, logistics and market insights product development, and expansion into new international markets.
Since its launch in 2015, the startup has facilitated over $1 billion in commodities trading through its technologies, which generate insights – from animal health to market price benchmarking – so agri businesses can make better informed decisions while increasing their sustainability, productivity and profitability.
More than 130,000 farm businesses now use Hectare’s solutions. By directly connecting everyone involved through its digital solutions, the firm says it is solving the invisible inefficiencies in the farm to factory gate supply chain.
In 2022, its technology enabled farm businesses to optimise the trading of livestock, improving animal welfare and reducing the carbon footprint of the beef and sheep supply chain by 2.5 million livestock miles.
Amazon gears up to shutter Stateside Go stores following Fresh closure in the UK
Amazon is to close eight of its Go convenience stores in the US.
It will shutter two locations in New York City, two in Seattle, and in San Francisco, on 1st April.
Amazon says it will work to help affected employees secure other roles at the company.
“Like any physical retailer, we periodically assess our portfolio of stores and make optimisation decisions along the way,” says an Amazon spokesperson.
“In this case, we’ve decided to close a small number of Amazon Go stores in Seattle, New York City, and San Francisco.”
“We remain committed to the Amazon Go format, operate more than 20 Amazon Go stores across the US, and will continue to learn which locations and features resonate most with customers as we keep evolving our Amazon Go stores.”
International Women’s Day 2023: Showcasing ten female retail technology leaders
To mark IWD 2023, here are ten women making positive impacts on the retail technology sector via their work at innovative companies and leading retailers, including Mercaux’s Olga Kotsur, XY Retail’s Susan Jeffers, and True Fit’s Sarah Curran.
Marks and Spencer retail tech veteran Sharon Peters takes on new CIO challenge at BAI Communications
Sharon Peters has left M&S, where she most recently served as Head of Technology - Corporate, HR, Finance, Plan A, GC, Bank Loyalty, Property, to take on the role of CIO at shared communications infrastructure big hitter BAI Communications.
Peters, who spent almost 16 years at Marks and Spencer, said in a LinkedIn post: “It’s time to say goodbye to my M&S family.”
“What a brilliant and memorable collection of experiences I have had with the best teams. I have had the honour of activating sustained change through tech whilst being inspired and inspiring (I hope) awesome colleagues.”
She added: “I’ve seen such positive change across the business and I am proud to have been a part of it. Thank you to everyone who has supported me, laughed with me (and at me !!) and celebrated with me. I wish everyone huge success for the future.”
“It was going to take something pretty incredible and special for my next adventure and I am very excited for this.”
The latest from Żabka Polska, Coles, and Amazon: 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 Casper, Bolt, AiFi, Żabka Polska, River Island, Mercaux, and Amazon.
Royal Caribbean International taps Fortnite video game for new Icon of the Seas cruise ship
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.
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