That was the month that was: Check out June’s most clicked RTIH retail technology articles
These are the RTIH retail systems articles that caught your fancy during June, including Gorillas, Marks and Spencer, Carrefour, Wilko, Ocado Group, and the 2023 RTIH Innovation Awards.
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.
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, sponsored by CADS, 3D Cloud by Marxent, and Goodays, 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.
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 at the Barbican in central London on Wednesday, 29th November.
Marks and Spencer blasted by elderly customers as it goes cashless in automated cafes
Marks and Spencer has come under fire from disgruntled elderly customers after closing traditional counters in eight digital cafes, including at two of the retailer’s megastores.
With orders placed via touchscreens, staff are now focused on making food and drinks rather than taking orders, with customers alerted when their order is ready.
Elderly shoppers have described the move, which ushers in cashless payments, as “abhorrent”, The Telegraph reports.
M&S is also testing out self-service belted checkouts alongside manned tills in two food halls.
These can be found at London Colney, near Watford, and White Rose Shopping Centre near Leeds - two of its largest stores which also have the digital cafes installed.
In a LinkedIn post, Ron Delnevo, Chair of the UK Cash Supply Alliance, said: “Really silly, thoughtless stuff from M&S. If you want to find out how to alienate your customers, just read and copy!”
UK retailer Wilko taps Virtualstock platform to reduce ‘where is my order?’ calls to its contact centre
“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.”
Too much retail automation too soon? Examining the recent customer backlashes against M&S and Tesco
RTIH Editor Scott Thompson asks: Is the constant drive by retailers to innovate via technology deployments really delivering what their customers want and need?
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% fter 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.
Aldi UK teams with Polytag to gain access to real-time packaging lifecycle information
Aldi UK has partnered with recycling technology company Polytag.
It will trial the deployment of Polytag’s invisible UV tags onto its packaging, starting from July.
With the company’s unique readers installed at the Biffa Teeside recycling centre, Aldi will get insights on the quantity of its packaging that is actually recycled and be able to track an item’s journey through said process.
This previously inaccessible packaging lifecycle information will help the supermarket accurately measure and track its performance against its sustainability targets, such as halving its plastic footprint by 2025.
A2Z’s Cust2Mate subsidiary wraps Carrefour smart carts pilot and preps move to roll-out phase
A2Z Smart Technologies Corp.'s Cust2Mate subsidiary has announced completion of a pilot phase at Carrefour.
Since March, its smart carts have undergone testing at Carrefour's flagship hypermarket store in Ste Genevieve Des Bois, near Paris.
As part of the roll-out phase, Carrefour and Cust2Mate are looking to initially deploy smart carts in two of the former’s hypermarket stores in Q4 of this year.
Guillaume Cocovi, Director Strategy Transformation of the Carrefour Group, says: "We are seeing very, very positive feedback from customers at this store. Before launching this project, like any large company, we issued a call for proposals.”
“We looked at what was happening in the market, and Cust2Mate was the company that offered us the product that best matched our expectations and put the most effort into supporting us in the deployment. We felt it right away.”
“The relationship with the founders was very smooth, and the project started at full speed since the carts were already there. In just three months, the test could begin."
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.
Parcel delivery firm Evri cuts carbon emissions by nearly a third and steps up e-cargo bikes push
Evri says that it has reduced its operational carbon emissions by nearly a third in the parcel delivery firm’s financial year to February 2023, as part of a wider investment in its environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy.
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