Bubble bursts for rapid food delivery: Check out last week’s most read RTIH retail technology articles
These are the RTIH articles that caught your fancy last week, including Gorillas, Walmart, TalkShopLive, A2Z's Cust2Mate subsidiary, Monoprix, Casino Group, Triumph Group, Nespresso, Marks and Spencer, and Emplifi.
Too fast, too furious: The story of Gorillas exposes brutal truth of rapid grocery delivery industry
A new movie covers the rise and fall of rapid delivery firm Gorillas, which last year was acquired by fellow quick commerce player Getir.
And it exposes the brutal truth of an industry that promised much but ultimately failed to deliver the goods.
Walmart becomes first retailer to activate new TalkShopLive Shoppable Simulcast product
Live commerce platform TalkShopLive has launched Shoppable Simulcast in the US.
This allows sellers to simulcast their shoppable livestreams to their Facebook business page as a Facebook Live, while keeping the shopping element intact.
Walmart, which has worked with TalkShopLive on over 150 live shopping experiences, will be the first to activate the Shoppable Simulcast product with a live show on 20th June featuring The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond.
Drummond, who has held several shopping events with TalkShopLive, will be launching her new furniture line.
The livestream will appear on TalkShopLive, Walmart’s Facebook page, Walmart.com/live and The Pioneer Woman’s Facebook page.
Co-op Group announces partnership with Zühlke UK as it looks to expand its technology capabilities
Tech consulting and engineering firm Zühlke UK has been appointed to provide a dedicated software engineering team to support the Co-op’s 110+ engineering team.
The Manchester-based Co-op Group has four units - food (UK’s fifth largest retailer), insurance, legal, and funerals (UK’s largest funeral provider) - each with a range of applications, some very new and some legacy.
Platforms include: Azure, AWS, Terraform, Puppet, Python, Linux, Serverless Applications, Cosmos DB, Service Bus, Event Grid, and Table Storage .
The central Co-op engineering team provides support, maintaining and developing this wide range of applications across the business units.
The appointment, worth a minimum of £8 million over three years, will see the Co-op’s engineering capacity increased by at least 25% through Zühlke’s delivery centres based in Porto in Lisbon, Belgrade in Serbia, and Sofia in Bulgaria.
This team, which will be entirely dedicated to working with Co-op, will initially be for 25 core roles providing software engineering, platform engineering and quality assurance.
Journey's end: robotics startup Karakuri collapses after failing to secure new funding
Ocado backed robotics startup Karakuri, which was founded in 2018, is winding down its operations.
The firm, which developed technology for the QSR industry, had been in talks to secure additional funding, and had recently discussed a rescue deal with Henny Penny, a US-based food-service equipment manufacturer.
But those negotiations fell through.
In a LinkedIn post, Barney Wragg, CEO and Founder at Karakuri, said: “It’s with a very heavy heart that I have to report that our journey at Karakuri is coming to an end.”
“For the past five years, we’ve developed and deployed robotics for the QSR industry. We’ve survived many challenges, including the pandemic and our bank going bust us, but sadly we’ve been unable to find the funding we need to move to the next level.”
He added: “Most of all I’d like to thank the incredible team we’ve built. They’ve stayed dedicated to the challenge and built incredible technologies in the face of abject uncertainty.”
“It’s incumbent on me to help these great people find new roles, spread their wings, and share their talents with others. Attached is a list of the folks who are available and their preferred contact details.”
“Please feel free to reach out to anybody you think you need or could help find new roles. I’m also on hand to help in any way I can.”
A2Z's Cust2Mate partners with IR2S to deliver smart carts to Monoprix and Casino Group in France
A2Z Smart Technologies Corp.'s subsidiary, Cust2Mate, has announced a partnership with IR2S, pitched as the first major example of its strategy to team with local integrators.
The tie up is intended to deploy 30,000 smart carts between 2023 and 2025 across retail chains in France, including Monoprix and Casino Group.
IR2S will play a key role in managing the installation, support, and maintenance of the carts.
Marks and Spencer taps Emplifi tech as it launches online suit fit service at Hedge End store
Marks and Spencer’s Online Suit Fit service is now live at its Hedge End store in Hampshire.
This is powered by Emplifi technology.
In a LinkedIn post, Amy Traves, In-Store Experiences Manager at M&S, said: “I have spent the last week with the fantastic suit fitting team at our Hedge End store to extend our online services to include Suit Fit.”
“We are excited to now connect our online customers via two-way video with the same expert advice and help from our colleagues as you would find in our stores.”
Customers can connect via the retailer’s suit and formalwear product pages or here.
This lines up alongside an online bra fit service and online furniture consultations offering.
Traves concluded: “Thanks as always to Charlie Barry, Customer Success Manager at Emplifi (formerly Go Instore) and the team at Emplifi for all of their support.”
2023 RTIH retail technology awards: FinTech of the Year category now open for submissions
The fifth edition of the RTIH Innovation Awards is now open for entries.
The awards celebrate global tech innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world and include a FinTech of the Year category.
Deadline for 2023 submissions is Friday, 27th October, with winners being revealed at an exclusive event at the Barbican in central London on Wednesday, 29th November.
Entries are free and you can submit in multiple categories.
FinTech of the Year category
New for 2023, this award will go to a FinTech firm that has produced stand out work with a retailer or brand during the past 12 months.
The winning entry will detail how the innovative aspects of the FinTech’s product or service met customer needs and requirements.
What are the product/service’s unique selling points and what differentiates it from the competition? How did it help the client’s business unleash its full potential?
Download an entry form here.
For all entry related queries, email: scott.thompson@retailtechinnovationhub.com
Whistl report flags UK consumers’ lack of loyalty to online retailers during tough times
Only 3% of UK consumers are loyal to online retailers and 83% of decisions will be made on price, according to a report from Whistl.
The company surveyed 1,000 people. In a time of economic pressure on household spending,
its report found that online spending will drop by 3% in 2023, although households with an income over £70k are expected to increase e-commerce spending by 8%.
Cost of delivery is now the main priority of consumers (54%) rather than speed (24%) and £5.95 is the highest price point before it has a negative impact on the ability to convert a sale.
Opportunities for business growth include retail subscriptions with 43% of the population open to the idea.
Discounts naturally remain very important to entice new customers with 47% of respondents wanting them, followed by free delivery (39%).
When looking at media habits, Facebook was the most frequently used social channel with 61% using it daily.
The most often used channel by men was YouTube and Facebook for females. also provides insights on customer behaviour to returns, delivery, subscriptions, and social media use.
Nespresso launches Vertuo Pop World immersive pop-up experience in Toronto, Canada
Nespresso has unveiled Vertuo Pop World, an immersive pop-up experience located at Stackt Market in Toronto.
Open to the public last weekend, this promoted the launch of the new Vertuo Pop machine, pitched as the smallest and most stylish Vertuo ever.
Here’s why Amazon, Target, Instacart, Walmart, AutoStore, Kroger should explore an acquisition of Ocado Group
Amazon urgently needs to boost its online grocery fulfilment and delivery capabilities, and so should consider an acquisition of Ocado Group, argues Brittain Ladd, a supply chain consultant and former Amazon executive.
Ladd was speaking as shares of the British online grocer and technology specialist soared more than 40% Thursday after The Times newspaper reported “speculation of bid interest from more than one American suitor.”
Said report named Amazon as one of several players that could have Ocado on their radars.
Triumph Group teams with ZS to boost customer experiences via Personalize.AI SaaS product
Lingerie specialist Triumph Group has signed a two-year partnership with ZS involving the deployment of Personalize.AI, the latter’s artificial intelligence driven, software-as-a-service product.
This leverages customer personal preferences, channel affiliation, promotion responsiveness and inventory to recommend the right content, product and offer at an individual customer level.
P.AI does this by using AI to engineer features, identify customer level opportunities and predict tailored product offer recommendations. It analyses, designs and launches targeted marketing activities in each market.
During a pilot phase, P.AI helped deliver up to 40% incremental conversion lift and create better experiences for its customers.
Triumph was able to identify customer preferences accurately and re-activate lost customers with a 2x lift.
The partnership covers nine APAC markets: Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Australia, and India.
Continue reading…