Bringing products to life: the retail technology news you might have missed last week
Failed to keep up with the breaking retail technology news last week? Then have no fear as RTIH has you covered. Here are the major stories that you need to know about. Includes Instacart, Walmart, Bestseller, Carrefour Belgium, Shiseido Americas, Coach, Lowe’s, and Miravia.
Instacart becomes first grocery marketplace to accept SNAP online in all 50 US states
Instacart reports that Electronic Benefits Transfer for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (EBT SNAP) can now be used to buy groceries online via its platform in every US state.
This makes Instacart the first and only online grocery marketplace to accept SNAP in all 50 states and Washington D.C.
The company recently launched online SNAP acceptance in Alaska with Albertsons Companies banner Safeway, completing the commitment it made in 2022 as part of the launch of its Instacart Health initiative and the White House National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition and Health to bring SNAP online in all 50 states this year.
Instacart now offers online SNAP acceptance from more than 120 retail banners across 10,000+ stores.
Robotics firm Sereact raises $5 million to ‘overcome labour shortages, fix supply chains and boost productivity’
German startup Sereact has announced a $5 million seed funding round led by Point Nine and Air Street Capital.
Founded in 2021, the company is building AI powered software that fully automates the pick and pack process in warehouses and manufacturing.
Its latest offering, PickGPT, combines its patented work in computer vision with large language models, the technology underpinning ChatGPT.
PickGPT is pitched as the first commercially available robotics transformer that enables robots to understand natural language and perceive their environment with an unprecedented level of intelligence and accuracy.
The aim is to democratise access to robotics by allowing users with no technical expertise to instruct and debug the system in a simple chatbot interface.
Bestseller picks Leapwork as global test automation vendor across Point of Sale and e-commerce
Leapwork has been selected by Bestseller to automate testing across its Point of Sale and e-commerce processes, with the aim of maintaining a seamless shopping experience for customers globally.
With Leapwork, Bestseller says it can further invest in quality customer experiences by removing QA bottlenecks and achieve continuous, end-to-end testing across a range of Microsoft Dynamics 365 applications, minimising the risk of any disruptions during regular software updates.
Its products are sold across 70 countries, including 17,000 multi-brand and department stores, and 3,000 Bestseller branded stores. Omnichannel selling means a complex technology stack, which is why being able to test across technologies and integrations is critical in end-to-end processes like order fulfilment.
Carrefour Belgium taps Goodays tech to ensure that customer feedback is on its radar daily
Carrefour Belgium reports a rise in customer satisfaction across its retail network thanks to its collaboration with Goodays.
As a result of deploying the company’s platform, the retailer says it can establish even closer contact with its customers and respond to their requests more quickly, as both parties take stock after two years of cooperation.
After a pilot in late 2020, said platform was deployed in Carrefour Belgium integrated stores in early 2021, and in franchise partner stores later that year.
Bram Vermesen, Director of Customer Excellence Stores at Carrefour Belgium, comments: “We attach great importance to customer service and customer focus. It is therefore important that we remain one of the leaders in this field.”
“The main reason for us to use a platform like Goodays is to ensure that customer feedback is on our radar daily and continues to evolve. We were also looking for a solution that could be easily used by all our shops and our franchise partners.”
Shiseido Americas selects Amperity for real-time personalised customer experiences across physical and digital worlds
Amperity is working with Shiseido Americas to help create connected and personalised digital customer experiences across all of its brands.
Amperity brings together data from all the beauty giant’s online and offline touchpoints, including pre-purchase, Point of Sale, and post-purchase customer care to create unified customer profiles.
“As an omnichannel retailer, we are laser focused on understanding our customers and the channels they want to interact in, while ensuring we are delivering consistent customer experiences,” says Kristin Morseman, Senior Vice President Americas Digital Transformation at Shiseido Americas.
“With Amperity, we can unify and activate all of our customer data with the goal of creating a seamless omnichannel journey for our customers."
Jennifer Roebuck takes on non-executive director role at all female members club AllBright
Jennifer Roebuck has joined the board of AllBright, a career network for women, as a NED.
Roebuck is currently CMO at Web3 specialist Metaversal.
She has also worked at Ted Baker (as Chief Customer Officer) and Sephora UK (as CMO).
AllBright launched in 2018 and supports women at all ages and professional stages with online training courses, events, exclusive content and networking opportunities. With a reach of 500,000, it serves as a space for women to connect, network and learn from eachother virtually and IRL.
Coach Play concept store in Singapore plays host to Coachtopia immersive, circular economy takeover
This lines up alongside launches in Tokyo's Harajuku and Salt Lake City’s City Creek, with more to come.
And it has now been taken over by Coachtopia, Coach’s new sub-brand which focuses on circular products and collaborations with creatives.
In a LinkedIn post, Giovanni Zaccariello, SVP Global Visual Experience at Coach, said: “Our Coach Play Singapore transforms into a fully immersive Coachtopia takeover.”
“The installation includes a new digital “cloud” installation and new cafe treats ☁️☁️☁️. The production is fully circular including inocra fixtures, neons, vm props and more. Congrats team on this launch.”
TalkShopLive teams with Paramount Pictures and Walmart to plug Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toy collection
TalkShopLive, a live streaming, social selling network, has worked with Paramount Pictures and Walmart on an event involving the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie.
In a LinkedIn post, Bryan Moore, CEO and Co-Founder at TalkShopLive, said: “Building connections between content and commerce is at the heart of what we do, and today is not any different.”
“So thrilled to welcome the iconic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles presenting our first ever show with Paramount Pictures featuring a new toy collection exclusively available at Walmart.”
He added: “Hosted by the Ballinger family, the live unboxing event connects the retail ecosystem bringing talent, brands, media networks and retailers together to bring products to life. Make sure you tune and get a glimpse behind the movie magic right at Paramount Studios.”
Lowe’s taps 3D Cloud by Marxent technology as it updates Kitchen Planner Suite for summer season
Lowe’s has launched a new Kitchen Visualiser tool online as part of a summer update to its Kitchen Planner Suite.
This is powered by 3D Cloud by Marxent technology.
In a LinkedIn post, Timothy Looney, Sr. Manager of Product at Lowe's Companes, said: “The visualiser complements the Style Quiz and Estimator, allowing customers to see what a kitchen of a similar size and layout of their own will look like with different cabinet styles, hardware, countertops, paint, backsplash, and flooring. Check it out!”
Miravia deploys CommerceHub unified commerce platform as it aims to reign in Spain
CommerceHub is partnering with Miravia (part of Alibaba Group) to power the online marketplace’s European expansion.
Miravia launched last year in Spain.
It is both a marketplace and entertainment space where consumers can access products from their favourite brands, and learn about the latest trends in fashion, beauty, and lifestyle through solutions like exclusive content created by influencers or virtual make-up try-on lenses.
It is also a platform for sellers and brands where they can have their own stores, with the ability to design them, select the products they offer, define prices and promotions, interact directly with customers and users, and apply their own loyalty programmes.
Continue reading…