Lost in virtual France: RTIH runs you through the week's coolest retail technology plays
RTIH Editor, Scott Thompson, brings you his top ‘future of retail’ systems launches and deployments from the past week, including augmented reality mobile experiences, autonomous robot deliveries, and personalised, locally assembled, circular footwear.
L’Occitane En Provence
L’Occitane En Provence has launched a virtual experience that transports its customers to the heart of Provence, where the French beauty brand gets its inspiration.
"We strive to be pioneers in the beauty industry, constantly pushing boundaries to create products that inspire and transform. By embracing innovation, we aim to turn our customers' dreams into reality, offering them a truly remarkable and unforgettable experience,” says Mariana Rodrigues, Marketing Director at L’Occitane Middle East.
The experience has been developed in partnership with Emperia.
It includes videos, facts, and interactive content about the brand’s universe, highlighting its best sellers, including skincare, fragrance, and body care.
People can explore lavender fields on a bicycle, fly on a hot air balloon to Corsica to see the immortelle fields, have a picnic on almond orchards or discover the Shea Butter collection in the African scenery of Burkina Faso.
Tesco
M-Cube
M-Cube has unveiled a digital signage installation in Florence, Italy.
Located at Florence Santa Maria Novella train station, the 25 metre long, 30 million pixel installation has 400 modules installed on a total surface of 200 square metres. It gives life to an immersive experience with 3D art and audiovisuals.
To date, footfall has amounted to over a million visitors.
Along with being an attraction to tourists and locals, it also provides the opportunity for advertising.
With a footfall of 160,000 passengers per day, Florence station is one of the busiest train stations in Italy.
Premier League
As the first Premier League Summer Series in the USA approaches, fans of the beautiful game will be able to hunt down the Premier League trophy in the five host cities in a new augmented reality mobile experience.
This gives fans the chance to locate 20 Premier League trophies, each representing a different club, hidden at high profile locations in each of the five host cities.
Asahi Super Dry and Manchester City
Japanese beer brand, Asahi Super Dry, has unveiled a new official training kit partnership with Premier League football club Manchester City.
To support the launch, creative agency, Trouble Maker, has designed and executed ‘Beyond Expected Training’, a social campaign featuring Manchester City players Kevin De Bruyne, John Stones, Rúben Dias, Demi Stokes, Yui Hasegawa and Bunny Shaw..
This is rolling out across Asahi Super Dry’s and Manchester City’s social channels, plus it will feature on the social media accounts of several opinion leaders including Lia Lewis, and Ben Black.
Shot ‘behind-the-scenes’ style, it includes the Manchester City players activating their new AR enabled kit.
Stones et al can be seen at the Etihad Stadium, giving interviews and training. As they pass a phone between them, each one looks into the camera and enables their kit through AR, causing it to flash an iridescent blue with Asahi Super Dry branding in the centre.
DPD and Cartken
Parcel delivery company DPD has announced plans to expand autonomous robot deliveries to ten UK towns and cities in the next 12 months, following a trial in Milton Keynes, starting with Raunds in Northamptonshire.
This extends the firm’s relationship with AI powered robotics and last mile delivery specialist, Cartken and follows work that identified up to 30 UK depot locations which could potentially deploy robots.
The former first introduced the Cartken robots in Milton Keynes in July 2022 and they have since travelled almost 500 miles and performed over 2,500 trips delivering parcels to DPD customers.
Based at DPD's depot at Warth Park on the western edge of Raunds, the robots will deliver to nearby residential areas within a mile of the depot, via the existing network of footpaths.
In Raunds, they will have three separate parcel compartments, instead of just one in the original trial, and an extended battery life of up to 12 hours.
Vivobarefoot
Footwear and lifestyle brand Vivobarefoot has launched VivoBiome, a digital experiential platform for personalised, locally assembled, circular footwear.
And the firm is looking for 200 Brits to try the first generation of products before a wider global launch.
Ikea
Ingka Group, the largest Ikea retailer, has reported on how 8,500 co-workers are being supported by the company’s artificial intelligence (AI) powered Billie chatbot.
By tapping chatbots, powered by AI and natural language Processing (NLP), Ikea says it can use automated design systems to better interact with customers in real-time.
Billie can understand customer questions, provide product information, offer recommendations, and even help design whole interior spaces without the need of human intervention.
Continue reading…