Baseball games, robot deliveries and generative AI hackathons: RTIH presents the retail technology week in numbers
Do you like numbers? Do you like retail systems news? Then this is the article for you. Including Marks and Spencer, Co-op, Starship Technologies, Zippin, Pricer, Walmart, Tesco, and Amazon.
5…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’m 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, 27th October, with winners being revealed at the aforementioned event in central London during November.
7…Marks and Spencer hosted its seventh hackathon event last week, with generative AI playing a key role.
In a LinkedIn post, Jeremy Pee, Chief Digital and Technology Officer at Marks and Spencer, said: “Yesterday (18th May) we witnessed an incredible display of innovation, collaboration, and sheer talent as we hosted our 7th Hackathon.”
“With over 200 participants and 16 teams across all areas of M&S, it was a remarkable event that was high energy and truly inspiring!”
He added: “Congratulations to all the teams who participated and pushed the boundaries of creativity.”
“We were blown away by the abundance of groundbreaking from automation and chatbots to augmented reality and generative AI, the range of projects showcased the depth of talent within our team.”
Pee gave a special shout-out to Team Magrathea, who “wowed us with their innovative approach to generative AI, focusing on recommending outfits through chat and enhancing access to our company's treasure trove of data through conversation. Well done, Team Magrathea!”
1…This week sees the launch of Market Express at London ExCeL, pitched as the first checkout-free store within an events space in the UK.
ExCel worked with catering partner, Levy UK + Ireland, on the store, which is powered by Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology.
Visitors tap their payment card or mobile wallet upon entry and then said tech detects what is picked up from or returned to its shelves.
When they are finished, they are able to leave the store and their payment method will be charged for their items.
Developed for ExCeL by Levy UK+I’s service solution – BUILT by Levy – the Market Express retail offer includes hot beverages, grab-n-go hot meals, sweet and savoury bakery items, salads, sandwiches, soft drinks and fruit juices.
A snack range including fruit, granola bars, cereals and biscuits are also available, along with essential convenience items from medical supplies and toiletries to reading glasses and umbrellas.
$135 million…Restaurant enterprise management software firm, Restaurant365, has announced a $135 million funding round co-led by KKR and L Catterton with participation from current investors, including ICONIQ Growth and Bessemer Venture Partners.
Restaurant365’s software suite brings key accounting, operational, and payroll-based processes together into a single, cloud-based technology.
Proceeds from the round will be invested into product enhancements.
29%…UK retailers expect to lose an average of 29% of their customer base as the cost-of-living crisis continues, according to new research from Ensono.
The company surveyed 500 senior IT decision makers working in UK retail.
Department store brands expect to lose an average of 32% of customers – the largest drop across the different areas of retail surveyed.
£3.5 million…Gresham House Ventures has completed a £3.5 million investment into product sustainability impact software business Dayrize.
Founded in the Netherlands in 2020, with offices in Amsterdam and London, Dayrize has developed a rapid sustainability impact assessment tool that delivers product level insights for consumer goods brands and retailers.
The cash will be used to strengthen its capacity for serving its customer base and bolster its sales and customer success teams internationally, with a particular focus on North America.
It will also enable the company to take further advantage of the move towards greater environmental and social impact transparency in the face of shifting regulatory and consumer demands.
1…Coors Field, home of the Colorado Rockies Major League Baseball (MLB) team, has become the first sports venue to use Amazon One for age verification.
In an online post, Amazon said: “We launched Amazon One, our palm-based identity service, to remove friction from everyday activities and create a faster and more convenient way for people to pay or enter a location.”
“Customers love the convenience of paying with their palm; however, when it comes to purchasing alcohol, friction is reintroduced as customers must produce a government-issued ID for age verification.”
It added: “We’re solving that customer pain point and improving the guest experience with the launch of a new capability called "age verification," which enables adult customers ages 21 and over to purchase alcoholic beverages by simply hovering their palm over an Amazon One device, without digging into their wallets for a physical government issued ID.”
1…Walmart has opened its first Market Fulfilment Centre (MFC) in Arkansas at Store 100 located at 406 S Walton Blvd in Bentonville.
This is built within the store and is powered by a proprietary storage and retrieval system, named Alphabot.
Walmart says that fulfilment through digitisation and connecting its store and supply chain assets end to end will “transform fulfilment. And along with it, customer satisfaction and associate opportunity”.
“This new order fulfilment system is truly game changing,” says Ryan Simpson, the store manager at Store 100.
“Not only does it enhance the customer experience through quicker, more accurate online order fulfilment, it also provides us the runway to continue growing our business now and in the future.”
$16 million…Datasembly, a US-based provider of real-time product pricing, promotions, and assortment data for retailers and CPG brands, has secured $16 million in funding led by Noro-Moseley Partners with participation from Grotech Ventures, Topmark Partners and Staley Capital.
It says that the cash will enable it to scale in a capital efficient manner, bringing new tools to the market quickly.
This Series B comes almost three years after the firm raised a $10.3 million Series A led by Craft Ventures.
50, 20 and 600…SES-imagotag has been selected to roll-out its VUSION IoT Cloud platform in over 50 Euronics stores across the United Kingdom, within the retailer’s Combined Independents (Holdings) (CIH) chain.
After a pilot phase in 20 stores, Euronics is now looking to offer this solution to all its 600+ locations in the UK.
69%…A Pricer survey of 1,000 UK shoppers reveals that 69% blame the cost-of-living crisis for poor product availability in-store, as stubbornly high food prices and the impact of inflation production, manufacturing and logistics continues to put pressure on supply chains.
Typically, UK shoppers are reporting 17% of their food shop as being unavailable on shelf when they shop in-store, while 22% of online grocery customers say their food shops are now delivered with either missing or substituted items.
50% of those who took part in the research believed that the reason for increased shelf gaps they were experiencing in-store was due to suppliers struggling to meet demand due to inflationary pressures on their production and manufacturing, while a further 50% attributed poor product availability to suppliers going out of business due to rising cost-of-living.
88%…Tesco says that it has redistributed 88% of surplus food across its UK business, surpassing its own target of 85%, which was set in 2016.
This was thanks largely to the grocery giant’s relationships with partners including FareShare and Olio.
13,000 and 6,500…Robots are rolling out in Wakefield, Yorkshire from this week as a partnership between Starship Technologies, Co-op and Wakefield Council brings autonomous grocery deliveries to local residents.
The service will initially be available to 13,000 residents across 6,500+ households, with orders made through the Starship food delivery app, which is available for download on iOS and Android.
Groceries will be picked from the local Co-op store on Meadow Vale, Outwood, and delivered from store to door in minutes.
The launch follows recent roll-outs in areas of Leeds and Greater Manchester.
Starship’s robots are also in operation in several other locations across the UK, including Milton Keynes; Northampton, Bedford; Cambourne and Cambridge.
2 million…Checkout-free stores specialist Zippin reached a milestone the past weekend - serving two million shoppers.
A company spokesperson said: “Just seven months ago, we proudly announced our one millionth shopper. Today with two million, Zippin is a clear leader in checkout-free. No other provider has seen as nearly as many customers, making our AI the most mature.”
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