Starring J.Crew, Tesco, and Danone: 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 Obsess, dunnhumby, Recite Me, Amperity, Bringg, Virtualstock, and Brightpearl by Sage.
J.Crew
J.Crew has announced the launch of an immersive virtual store powered by experiential e-commerce platform Obsess.
The 3D, shoppable experience celebrates the company’s 40th anniversary and takes the form of a beach house that features six rooms and a separate boathouse.
The J.Crew Virtual Beach House also offers interactive content highlighting the brand’s heritage, along with gamified elements and checkout.
“We are excited to celebrate J.Crew’s 40th anniversary with the launch of the J.Crew Virtual Beach House in partnership with Obsess,” says Derek Yarbrough, Chief Marketing Officer of J.Crew and Madewell.
“This immersive experience brings our past and present together, giving our customers a virtual passport to explore the world of J.Crew, while shopping a curated edit of summer styles in an innovative digital format.”
Tesco
Tesco’s retail media arm, Tesco Media and Insight Platform, powered by dunnhumby, has launched an offsite media partnership with social media big hitter Pinterest.
This will allow CPG brands to connect with Tesco customers who are fans of Pinterest, using Tesco Clubcard data and dunnhumby’s analytical experience to deliver personalised ads.
Stacy Gratz, Managing Director, Tesco Media says: “We’re really excited to launch another new innovative partnership, this time with Pinterest, which will give CPG brands more opportunity to reach shoppers at the vital consideration stage.”
“A winning combination of Pinterest’s audience and Tesco’s Clubcard data means brand marketing teams can reach shoppers at scale, whether they’re browsing for new recipe inspiration or looking for the latest baking trends.”
Serge DeNimes
Reality TV star Oliver Proudlock’s luxury jewellery brand is joining forces with Sage owned forecasting tool Inventory Planner.
Proudlock’s Serge DeNimes venture is adopting the technology so its team is always across what products to buy and when to buy it as the business grows.
Poundland
Poundland has launched a suite of digital accessibility tools to support job applicants and workers with disabilities online.
The Recite Me toolbar on the Poundland Careers website removes obstacles for those with disabilities, visual impairments, learning difficulties, and the population of an older age.
Carina Mardenborough, Diversity, Inclusion and Wellbeing Manager at Poundland, comments: “As a responsible employer, it is important we provide opportunities for our colleagues to throve and be the best version of themselves.”
“We aim to provide our colleagues with essential tools to aid with a useful online and mobile experience; Recite Me works across all devices, allowing everyone to use the internet in the way that suits their needs.”
World of Sweets
Hancocks, a UK-based confectionery wholesaler and part of the World of Sweets Group, is to deploy Algonomy's Omnichannel Personalisation Platform.
By using AI, customer segmentation, and predictive models that Algonomy's platform affords, Hancocks is set to deliver online content, product recommendations, search results, and browsing experience based on individual customer profiles.
Store No8 and Outlier Ventures
Store No8, Walmart’s incubation arm, and Outlier Ventures, a Web3 investor, have announced the launch of the Store No8 dCommerce Base Camp accelerator programme.
The 12-week initiative will begin in mid-August.
The aim is to help a select cohort of startups focused on building in Web3 to deliver solutions that improve the global retail and commerce experience.
The chosen teams will focus on building across areas that include decentralised infrastructure, data and growth solutions, immersive experiences and the metaverse, and the intersection of AI and blockchain technology.
The programme will provide funding to each of the selected founders, as well as access to subject matter expertise and mentorship across Outlier Ventures and Store Nº8’s team and network.
Forever 21
Amperity, an enterprise customer data platform (CDP), has announced a partnership with Forever 21.
The fast fashion retailer says that it will now be able to provide more relevant, personalised customer experiences. reach more consumers, while enriching advertising campaigns through insights on cross-channel behaviour, data science scores, and content affinities.
Warner Bros. Pictures
Perfect Corp. has launched an interactive augmented reality (AR) experience for Warner Bros. Pictures’ upcoming film The Flash.
Movie filters and effects are available free to users in the AR try-on app, YouCam Makeup, and photo-editing app, YouCam Perfect.
The Flash virtual experience features an exclusive animated effect and stickers that invite users to activate their inner superhero and step into a time travel adventure powered by Perfect Corp.’s AI technology.
This will be available in the run up to the launch of the movie, in cinemas on 16th June.
Serve Robotics
Danone
Bringg, a delivery management platform provider, has been selected by Evianchezvous, a subsidiary of Danone, to help boost the last mile delivery experience.
Bringg’s tech will also support Evianchezvous with operations that reduce carbon emissions and provide sustainable fulfilment options for its customers.
Evianchezvous is using Bringg to gain more visibility and data into its delivery processes, such as where deliveries are, who is making them, and what improvements can be made to improve customer and driver satisfaction.
The platform is integrated into its existing systems, providing Evianchezvous with a centralised place to orchestrate all aspects of their last mile operations. Bringg also offers access to daily and weekly reports, making it easier to manage and adjust operations.
Wilko
As part of its digital acceleration strategy, Wilko has gone live on Virtualstock’s marketplace and drop ship platform.
“We’re delighted with what we’ve been able to achieve with Virtualstock,” says Ben Exall, Digital Director at Wilko, a British high street chain which sells homewares and household goods.
“We know this will result in a reduction in ‘where is my order?’ calls to the contact centre through improved clarity of the orders on their journey to the customer. We can now also better track stock levels with greater visibility in the platform.”
Sustainable Furniture
UK-based Sustainable Furniture has deployed the Brightpearl by Sage retail operating system.
It joined Cloud Commerce Pro earlier this year, but says that, as a result of various issues, it switched to Brightpearl.
It now gains access to a library of Plug & Play integrations, an Automation Engine solution, and demand forecasting.
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