Including Pinterest and Tahina: RTIH runs through last week's coolest retail technology plays
RTIH Editor, Scott Thompson, brings you his top ‘future of retail’ systems launches and deployments from last week, including autonomous stores, social media partnerships, smart cart updates, and drone delivery milestones.
Pinterest and the Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A)
Pinterest has partnered with the Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A) to bring the museum’s sold out ‘Gabrielle Chanel. Fashion Manifesto’ exhibition to life digitally.
Produced by the social media giant, the V&A will host a series of four videos on its Pinterest profile showcasing the exhibition’s key themes, including the ‘The Little Black Dress’, ‘Suits for Women’, ‘Revolutionised Fabrics,’ and a rundown of the exhibition’s highlights.
Each video will use footage filmed at the exhibition to explore the history, evolution and legacy of Gabrielle Chanel, showcasing how fashion can be a tool of empowerment and creativity in everyday life.
Amazon
Amazon has announced a new addition to its Just Walk Out offering, the tech service that enables a checkout-free shopping experience for customers.
The new capability, called “badge pay,” will bring JWO to health care settings, so doctors, nurses, and other health care staff can grab food and beverages at all hours by scanning their employee badge.
St. Joseph’s/Candler at its Candler Hospital Campus in Savannah, Georgia, is the first US hospital with a Just Walk Out technology store and the first location to offer the badge pay capability.
Sainsbury’s
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green State University has announced a new store powered by Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology.
Opened on 8th January, the Market at Carillon Place located near Centennial Hall eliminates checkout lines.
People enter the store by using their credit card at the entry gate. The technology detects what shoppers take from or return to the shelves and creates a virtual shopping session.
When they have completed their shopping experience, they are able to leave the store without having to wait in line, and their choice of payment method is charged for the items they took with them.
Tahina
Grab and go food retailer Tahina is gearing up to launch its first autonomous store in the City of London.
“Our dishes have been developed by an executive chef with a wealth of experience acquired through fine dining European establishments to the top premium casual British groups. Unlike a lot of ‘fast’ food, Tahina uses quality ingredients to create grab and go food that’s truly delicious,” say Emilio and Javier, the founders of Tahina.
The pair are the team behind West End restaurant Lazeez Lebanese Tapas, which has been a fixture of Mayfair’s Duke Street for 16 years.
Between them they have decades of experience in the food industry, working for brands including Aubaine, EAT, Mitchells and Butlers and YO! Sushi.
A2Z Smart Technologies Corp.
A2Z Smart Technologies Corp. has introduced Cust2Mate 3.0, the latest iteration of its smart cart.
This will be on display at NRF 2024 Retail’s Big Show, on Booth 6712, taking place in the Javits Center, New York, USA on 14th-16th January.
Walmart
Walmart is now offering drone delivery for up to 75% of the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) population, giving it the largest such footprint of any US retailer.
It made the announcement at CES 2024, which is currently taking place in Las Vegas.
“This expansion will bring the ultimate convenience of drone delivery to communities across the DFW area. Customers will have access to a broad assortment of items from Walmart available for delivery to their home in just minutes,” says Prathibha Rajashekhar, Senior Vice President, Innovation & Automation, Walmart U.S.
“Drone delivery is not just a concept of the future, it’s happening now and will soon be a reality for millions of additional Texans.”
The expansion includes stores across more than 30 towns and municipalities in the DFW metroplex, marking the first time a US retailer has offered drone delivery to this many households in a single market.
The deliveries will be powered by Wing and Zipline. Both are approved by the FAA to fly their drones without a dedicated observer being able to see the drone at all times, known as Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS).
Customers can receive orders within 30 minutes or less and some deliveries can happen as fast as 10 minutes.
Sam’s Club
Avery Dennison and NRVLD
Avery Dennison has partnered with NRVLD, a community-based experiential agency, to launch a connected t-shirt.
Capable of hosting ‘contact me’ functionality and augmented reality (AR), the smart t-shirt was unveiled at the recent Art Basel show in Miami Beach, US, and is now heading to the NRF 24 big retail show, running 14th-16th January in New York.
Victoria's Secret & Co.
Victoria's Secret & Co. (VS&Co) and Google Cloud have announced a multi-year partnership.
The former will leverage Google Cloud's AI and generative AI technologies to create more personalised and inclusive online shopping experiences for its customers.
Through this partnership, VS&Co will also leverage Google Cloud's AI technologies to improve customer and associate experiences and drive operational efficiencies within the business.
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