Starring Panera, Amazon, Tesco, and Ikea: March’s biggest retail technology plays at a glance

RTIH rounds up the stand out retail systems deals, deployments and pilots from March, including American Eagle Outfitters, RADAR, Tommy Hilfiger, Emperia, Nando’s, and Karakuri.

NANDO’S

Nando’s UK has become the first to trial Karakuri’s /FRYR automated fry line as it aims to deliver the perfect chips in its Park Royal restaurant.

This combines robotics, edge computing, and hyperscale data analysis to provide restaurants with production of up to 550 portions of chips per hour.

Cameron Roberts, Group Chief Operating Officer at Nando’s, says: “We want to deliver uplifting and memorable experiences for our customers, with delicious quality food and good value at the heart.”

“In testing Karakuri’s /FRYR, we wanted to see how we can further improve the quality, consistency, and availability of our chips, while meeting our environmental objectives of reducing food and oil waste and reducing energy consumption.”

WHITBREAD

Fujitsu has announced a five-year deal worth £57.9 million with UK hospitality giant Whitbread.

The contract, which starts in early April and builds on a 35-year relationship between the two companies, will see Fujitsu delivering outlet focused IT services which support the 35,000 employees across Premier Inn, Beefeater, Bar+Block and other brands.

Germany is an important growth market for Whitbread, with significant expansion underway and this contract will support this by providing outlet and corporate on-site support across the region, boosting region specific technical knowledge for help desks, and adapting support to align with Central European Time and local holidays.

AMERICAN EAGLE OUTFITTERS

American Eagle Outfitters is set to launch RADAR’s AI powered inventory tracking technology in approximately 500 American Eagle stores across the US over the next year.

RADAR uses a combination of RFID and computer vision to track and locate in-store inventory in real-time, enabling employees to know what product is in-store, and where, so they can more easily and efficiently serve customers, replenish items on the sales floor, and fulfil in-store and curbside pickup orders.

TOMMY HILFIGER

Tommy Hilfiger has unveiled a new metaverse hub, powered by Emperia, launching simultaneously on Decentraland, Roblox, Spatial, DressX and Ready Player Me, as part of the brand’s Decentraland Metaverse Fashion Week 2023 presence.

Featuring DressX powered digital fashion, Web3 artist collaboration with Vinnie Hagar, AR features, photo booth, gamification, emotes and a community focused competition to create AI fashion, the hub is set in a monolith structure made of the ‘TH’ monogram, which will appear across all platforms.

The aim is to create a unified digital brand story, while allowing for seamless movement between the retailer’s own website and the various metaverses.

Levi Strauss & Co.

Levi Strauss & Co. is gearing up to test customisable AI generated models through a partnership with Lalaland.ai.

It says that the tech would allow for products to be seen on a wider range of body types, skin tones, ages and sizes.

“While AI will likely never fully replace human models for us, we are excited for the potential capabilities this may afford us for the consumer experience,” says Dr. Amy Gershkoff Bolles, Global Head of Digital and Emerging Technology Strategy at Levi Strauss & Co.

“We see fashion and technology as both an art and a science, and we’re thrilled to be partnering with Lalaland.ai, a company with such high quality technology that can help us continue on our journey for a more diverse and inclusive customer experience.”

Tesco

Tesco reports that its rapid delivery service, Whoosh, is now available from 1,000 Express stores across the UK.

This first launched in May 2021 and is now available from half of Tesco’s estate of Express convenience stores across the UK, serving 55% of UK households.

The Hammersmith Olympia Express in London became the 1,000th location to offer rapid grocery delivery to the door when it launched recently.

Whoosh offers customers the chance to order food or snacks from a curated list of 2,500 to 4,500 essential products in as little as 30 minutes, with delivery set at £2.99 for orders that cost £15 or more.

Tesco claims that the immediacy of the service and convenience of home delivery is popular with customers looking for things like a quick and easy meal deal or last minute purchases.

It has been looking at ways to improve the customer experience, with new features on the app such as 15 minute delivery window estimates and live tracking of the rider on a map.

Panera

Panera is boosting its MyPanera programme with palm recognition service Amazon One’s newly launched loyalty linking capability.

Panera is the first restaurant chain to offer this.

Those who choose to enrol in Amazon One and link their MyPanera account hover their palm over the Amazon One device, and a Panera associate will be able to welcome them by name. Guests can choose to use the service for loyalty linking, payment, or both.

This is launching at two Panera bakery-cafes in the St. Louis area (Town and Country and Bridgeton locations), and will become available at additional locations in the coming months.

AO

UK-based online retailer AO is tapping Ocula Technologies’ Ocula Boost solution.

The AI platform addresses abandoned shopping carts by analysing sites to: identify actions to improve the customer experience, accessibility and performance; rank insights based on predicted value and effort; and ensure teams focus on the right areas.

“Ocula Boost is helping us interpret the data and insights to show that our investments in content and performance are improving the website and ultimately making shopping for electricals even easier for our customers,” says Clare Evans, Head of E-commerce at AO.

“Being selected by AO is testament to our commitment to build the world’s leading e-commerce insight platform. The partnership is a great fit and we are excited about what we can achieve together,” Thomas McKenna, CEO at Ocula.

IKEA

One hundred autonomous drones are now operational in Ikea stores - the latest in Ikea Zaventem, Belgium – with owner Ingka Group saying it is the first retailer to use such a solution for stock inventory.

Two years ago, Ingka Group and the Supply Chain Development Team at Inter Ikea Group, together with Verity, a provider of indoor drone systems, started developing a fully autonomous drone solution.

As a result, 100 drones are now at work during non-operational hours, with the aim of improving stock accuracy and securing availability of products for online or physical retailing. This means that co-workers no longer need to manually confirm each pallet.

“We are investing in technology across the board so that our stores can better support customer fulfilment and become true centres for omnichannel retailing,” says Tolga Öncu, Head of Retail at Ingka Group.

“Introducing drones and other advanced tools – such as, for example, robots for picking up goods – is a genuine win-win for everybody. It improves our co-workers’ wellbeing, lowers operational costs, and allows us to become more affordable and convenient for our customers.”

CO-OP AND STARSHIP TECHNOLOGIES

Starship Technologies has partnered with Trafford Council and the Co-op to bring autonomous grocery deliveries to residents across Sale in Greater Manchester.

Also operating in Milton Keynes, Northampton, Bedford, Cambourne, Cambridge and Leeds, orders are made through the Starship app with groceries picked in local Co-op stores and delivered to customers on-demand.

Chris Conway, eCommerce Director, Co-op, says: “Co-op stores are well placed in the heart of local communities to provide quick, easy and convenient home deliveries - whether a full shop or last minute top-ups.”

“We are committed to exploring new and innovative ways to increase access to our products and services, and delighted to be able to roll-out autonomous robots to provide additional online flexibility and choice in Greater Manchester.”

BJ’S WHOLESALE CLUB

BJ’s Wholesale Club has announced a partnership with Simbe to roll-out the company’s business intelligence solution, Tally, to all club locations across its footprint.

“We are excited to collaborate with Simbe to bring their industry leading technology and platform to our clubs,” says Jeff Desroches, Executive Vice President, Chief Operations Officer, BJ’s Wholesale Club.

“By deploying Tally in all of our club locations, we will gain unprecedented insights which will leverage real-time data, enabling us to continuously improve our operation and ensure that we’re offering the best possible experience to both our team members and members.”

REWE

REWE has opened its fourth Trigo powered store, situated in Cologne, Germany’s fourth largest city.

Located in the Sülz neighbourhood, this is, at 564 sqm, Trigo’s largest store to date.

Kai-Uwe Reimers, Head of Research and Innovation, REWE digital, comments: “The bar is rising around customer expectations, customers have less time, cost and effort are getting more important.”

“Computer vision will be the core of the future store. It changes the supermarket workflow by introducing frictionless checkout which solves the biggest customer pain point in the store: standing in line.”

“When we were ready to start with frictionless checkout it was clear that Trigo would be the first to talk to.”

“We screened the market again, we talked to other retailers and in the end, we decided for Trigo because we really believe in the team, we really believe in the solution, and we think it’s the most advanced solution at the moment.”

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. 

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.

Coles Group

Australian retailer, Coles Group, has partnered with Bringg with the aim of improving its home delivery offering.

With Bringg’s platform, Coles says it will will be able to more efficiently allocate deliveries to its network of carriers and track those deliveries in real-time, which will increase cost efficiency throughout the supply chain.

AiFi and Żabka Polska

Autonomous retail firm, AiFi, has hit an active stores milestone.

In a LinkedIn post, the company said: “The launch of our store with Żabka Polska in Poland marks our 100th active store worldwide, a testament that autonomous retail isn’t just a trend; it’s here to stay”

“In cooperation with AiFi, we have created an innovative concept of Żabka Nano, which on a global scale, makes a revolutionary change in the perception of consumer experience,” says Tomasz Blicharski, Managing Director at Żabka Future.

“The idea of an autonomous store makes shopping the most convenient experience ever, since it only requires taking a product from the shelf and paying for it at the checkout without scanning.”