Pizza boxes and coffee cups: Check out last week’s most read RTIH retail technology articles
These are the RTIH articles that caught your fancy last week, including Ikea UK, Sook, Landsec, Coach, Zero10, Diebold Nixdorf, Domino's Pizza, Goggo Network, TalkShopLive, and Target.
Ikea UK opens new multi-million pound customer distribution centre in Dartford, Kent
Ikea UK has opened a new 452,000 sqft customer distribution centre in Dartford, Kent.
The retailer says that the new multi-million-pound facility will enable faster, more sustainable home deliveries to customers in London and the southeast of England.
Located at the former Littlebrook Power Station site near the Dartford Crossing and M25, the DC is placed on the border of London to deliver almost one million orders annually – with many reaching customers within 24 hours of an order being placed.
Today, almost every second Ikea purchase in London takes place online.
Closer to the customers that it serves, the facility will enable a significant reduction in CO2 emissions and is operated by 100% renewable energy.
By 2025, 100% of Ikea customer orders in London will also be delivered by electric vehicles.
To enable this, the retailer will install 28 rapid HGV chargers at the distribution centre, to power up HGVs while loading and unloading goods in under an hour. Additionally, 60 overnight chargers are set to be installed.
Domino's Pizza teams with Goggo Network for autonomous delivery pilot in Madrid, Spain
Domino's Pizza is testing out autonomous robots for the delivery of its home orders in Spain.
A collaboration with Goggo Network has resulted in five robots operating in the Madrid town of Alcobendas, which has more than 116,000 inhabitants.
These are equipped with the likes of cameras, radar and ultrasound sensors, which allow them to recognise and locate themselves with complete precision in real-time, even in complex urban environments. They are also completely electric.
Customers can follow the path of the robot by GPS and receives a text message when it is about to arrive, with a code to open a door and grab their food. Once delivered, the robot returns to the store on its own.
Coach teams with Zero10 to promote Tabby bag via augmented reality storefront in New York
Coach has partnered with Zero10 to bring the company’s augmented reality technology to its Soho store in New York.
From 5th May to 5th June, shoppers will be able to virtually try on eight versions of Coach’s Tabby Bag in different colours and styles.
In a LinkedIn post, Giovanni Zaccariello, SVP Global Visual Experience at Coach, said: “This new AR installation lets window shoppers try on the Tabby bag without stepping foot in-store.”
“Digital versions of the iconic Tabby Bag will be available for try-on through our in-store AR Mirror and AR Storefront, the latter debuting for the first time through this collaboration. Congrats to all the teams at Coach and Zero10.”
TalkShopLive teams with Target to create shoppable, entertaining content that meets omnichannel needs
TalkShopLive has added Target to its live streaming, social selling online platform.
Bryan Moore, CEO and Co-Founder at TalkShopLive, said: “We created TalkShopLive as the ultimate live commerce solution for brands, publishers, entrepreneurs, creators, and retailers of all sizes.”
“We are honoured to welcome Target to our platform today with the launch of Target TalkShopLive. Their first show will take place on 16th May at 7pm ET with The New York Times best selling author and BookTok star Tessa Bailey.”
He added: “Target has an incredible track record for creating dynamic customer experiences and we at TalkShopLive couldn’t be more excited to partner with them.”
“Together, we will create shoppable, entertaining content that meets their customers wherever they consume content., all the while reaching new customers through our ever growing TalkShopLive content distribution network.”
Retail Technology Startup Stories Interview: Matt Cater, Founder at smart lockers specialist Clix
RTIH gets the lowdown on Clix Technology, which recently launched a new product - the Clix Smart Locker - having trialled it in B&Q Cardiff since July 2022.
Ready to roll: 2023 RTIH retail technology awards are now open for submissions
After launching in 2019 and delivering hugely successful follow up events in 2020, 2021 and 2022, the RTIH Innovation Awards return in 2023 with a discussion panel and awards ceremony to be held in central London venues during December.
The fifth edition of the awards is now open for entries.
The event celebrates global tech innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.
We received a record number of submissions in 2022, with winners including Sook, B&Q, 3D Cloud by Marxent, Compass Group, AiFi, Walmart, Ribble Cycles, Obsess, HyperFinity, Red Ant, Pets at Home, and TPP Retail.
Our winners and highly commended companies were announced at a sold out event in central London on Tuesday, 6th December.
For 2023, we are introducing new categories and expanding the awards ceremony in December to accommodate more attendees (further details on that will be revealed in the near future).
Scott Thompson, Editor and Founder of RTIH, says: “Our awards celebrate the dynamic, resilient and innovative retail sector and the companies and technologies that drive it forward.”
“Competition was tougher than ever in 2022, so to emerge victorious was no mean feat.”
“Congratulations to our winners and highly commended companies. I excited to launch the fifth edition of the awards. The 2023 event will be the biggest and best yet.”
Deadline for 2023 submissions is Friday, 3rd November, with winners being revealed at the aforementioned event in central London during December.
Frictionless shopping: finding the right balance between retail technology innovation, ethics and sustainability
Checkout-free stores are all the rage right now, with Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology leading the way, and various hotly tipped startups, including AiFi, Trigo, and Standard AI, jostling for attention.
But when it comes to frictionless shopping, how do retailers find the right balance between innovation, ethics, and environmental responsibility?
Diebold Nixdorf and WMF look to make coffee purchases in stores easier and quicker for consumers
Retail tech big hitter Diebold Nixdorf and WMF Professional Coffee Machines, a German supplier of coffee machines for commercial use, have partnered in a bid to streamline coffee purchases in retail stores.
The tie up involves connecting WMF’s coffee machines to Diebold Nixdorf’s PoS and self-service systems.
2022 RTIH Innovation Awards winner Sook kicks off Landsec tie up with Trinity Leeds and Bluewater Kent activations
Sook has announced its first two site collaborations with Landsec, the largest commercial property development and investment company in the UK, at Trinity Leeds and Bluewater in Kent.
The former takes vacant retail spaces and gives them a modular, digital fit-out which can be rented by the hour.
Nik Porter, Head of Retail Brand Account Management at Landsec, says: “We are pleased to be partnering with Sook to offer our platform spaces to their market leading network of brands.”
“Our platform spaces offer brands a lower barrier to entry to engage with their customers in prime retail destinations. Sook's collaborative and flexible approach has allowed us to partner with them to meet our specific objectives of driving activation and incubating emerging brands into our portfolio.”
Fast cars and smart carts: RTIH presents 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. Including Trigo, Auchan Retail, AiFi, Cloud Paper, Gently, FitFlop, Adyen, B&Q, Pinterest, Lindex, and Nedap.
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