Football fever and e-commerce experiences: RTIH’s most read retail technology articles from last week
Check out the articles on this here website that caught your fancy this past week, including Temu, N Brown Group, Manchester United, Asda, Żabka Polska, Marks and Spencer, Cherrypick, and JD.com.
Chinese low cost retailer Temu announces expansion of its delivery network in Europe
Chinese e-commerce firm, Temu, has expanded its delivery network in Europe via partnerships with Poste Italiane, CTT in the Iberian Peninsula, and Mail Alliance in Germany.
In Italy, Poste Italiane will work with Temu on initiatives like PIN code enabled lockers and local stores serving as pick-up and drop-off points. The partnership also includes environmental strategies, such as reducing carbon emissions and employing eco-friendly packaging.
CTT, which operates as the national postal service of Portugal and has a presence in Spain through CTT Express, is expected to play a key role in supporting Temu’s growth in the Iberian market.
In Germany, Mail Alliance will bring its network of 55,000 delivery personnel to the party.
The company is Germany's large network of private postal service providers and is known for its capacity to handle large volumes and its swift delivery times.
UK parcel delivery company Evri announces partnership with Chinese marketplace giant JD.com
Evri and JD.com have announced a partnership aimed at bridging the gap between European brands and the market in China.
The pair say that the integration of the latter’s logistics and e-commerce capabilities in China with the former’s delivery network across Europe will offer European businesses a gateway to access JD.com’s consumer base in China – and Chinese brands growth opportunities in Europe.
Leveraging Evri's delivery network throughout Europe, JD Logistics will offer customers in China enhanced services and offerings to European brands.
The services will include Evri’s local pick-up and warehousing in Europe and then international transportation, access to Chinese bonded warehouses, customs clearance, and comprehensive delivery across China.
JD Worldwide, the cross-border e-commerce platform of JD.com, will provide Evri’s retail partners with insights on the Chinese market including consumer behaviour, marketing and pricing strategies, product selection advice, and online operational strategies specific to China.
The partnership will initially prioritise the beauty and apparel sectors.
It will also enable JD Logistics to offer integrated warehousing and delivery solutions to clients in Europe by leveraging Evri’s local distribution network and JD’s self-operated overseas warehouses.
N Brown Group hires Natalie Rogers as Chief People Officer
Fashion and homeware digital retailer, N Brown Group, has announced the appointment of Natalie Rogers as the firm’s new Chief People Officer.
According to a press release, she will lead the People function and team, “with a focus on fully embedding the Group’s agile operating model as it continues an enterprise wide agile transformation across all relevant colleagues”.
Rogers brings with her more than 25 years of cross-sector experience - including digital, tech and financial services - in various HR disciplines covering organisational culture, employee relations, leadership development, reward and organisational design.
Most recently, she supported the delivery of key strategic and complex business and culture transformation programmes as Chief People Officer at Moonpig.com and Unum UK (employee benefits provider).
Prior to this, she held a number of senior strategic roles at Canada Life and LV= insurers.
Rogers will commence her new role on 1st February and will join the N Brown Executive Board, reporting directly to N Brown’s Group CEO, Steve Johnson.
Getting it right: Marks and Spencer’s Conor Rose talks day immersed in digital experiences in-store
Conor Rose, Principal Strategist at Marks and Spencer, has taken to social media to discuss a recent digital experiences focused day spent at one of the retailer’s stores.
Vista Technology Support CEO James Pepper talks retail and hospitality technology trends to watch in 2024
2023 brought with it a broad range of macro-economic challenges for the retail and hospitality industry, not only did organisations continue to adapt to post-pandemic changes in consumer buying behaviours but had to contend with rising operational costs, staff shortages and significant increases in stock loss through theft.
In late 2023, there was a noticeable trend that retailers that had previously held back on technology investments, were now committing to introducing new technology in stores; these technologies provide the invaluable connection between online and physical retail.
DNA Payments Group hires Adyen’s Jan-Pieter Lips as CEO as it eyes next phase of growth in UK and EU
DNA Payments Group, an omnichannel payments company operating in the UK and EU, has appointed former Adyen executive, Jan-Pieter (JP) Lips, as its new Chief Executive Officer.
He will be responsible for DNA Payments’ next period of growth as the company continues to develop and provide payments solutions into fast growing vertical market sectors such as restaurants and specialist retail.
Lips was co-founder of the Nectar programme back in 2002.
He has spent the last four and a half years as Head of Unified Commerce at FinTech big hitter, Adyen.
There, he was responsible for the omnichannel verticals and for development and driving adoption of the Unified Commerce offering, pitched at omnichannel companies in retail, food and beverage, and hospitality.
Grocery shopping app Cherrypick taps machine learning to learn what’s in customers’ cupboards
Grocery shopping app Cherrypick, which recently changed its name from Lollipop, has rolled out a new feature that uses machine learning to learn what’s in users’ cupboards, with the aim of speeding up their weekly shop and reducing food waste.
Hot dog serving robot goes live at Żabka Polska’s network of Żabka Nano autonomous stores
Żabka Polska has added a hot dog serving robot, named Robbie, to its network of AiFi powered Żabka Nano autonomous stores.
This has been created in collaboration with VeloxAlpha.
Customers can order via multiple payment methods and customise their hot dog with preferred toppings.
Rob Barnes departs Marks and Spencer for Technology Delivery Director role at grocery retailer Asda
Rob Barnes has left Marks and Spencer, where he served as Chief Technology Officer - Delivery, to take on the role of Technology Delivery Director at Asda.
Barnes joined M&S in 2019, following almost 16 years at Accenture.
In a LinkedIn post, he said: “After great four years, it's finally time to hand back my M&S pass and move on to the next challenge. It's been an amazing experience working with so many great colleagues and I'll look back fondly on some of the things we achieved.”
He added: “Some of the highlights I've learned so much from include launching M&S on Ocado; the transformation of the end-to-end food supply chain; delivering a renewed tech landscape and experience in our stores; navigating the challenges of Brexit (whilst learning export rules for a chicken curry!); and helping make M&S #1 in the GCA's GSCOP rankings.”
“Four years has absolutely flown by, but I'm really looking forward to my next challenge! Thanks to the fantastic colleagues and partners alike and good luck in the next chapter of M&S' transformation.”
Premier League giants Manchester United enlist SCAYLE for new e-commerce experience
Manchester United has chosen SCAYLE as its official e-commerce platform partner.
The Premier League football club’s new e-commerce experience will launch later this year and continue to be evolved in alignment with the club’s ambition of delivering a best in class direct-to-consumer experience for its global fan base.
SCAYLE provides the technical backbone for more than 140 online stores and was specifically designed for B2C use cases with a strong focus on the fashion, lifestyle and sports sectors.
Manchester United’s Phil Lynch, CEO of Direct to Consumer Products & Experiences, says: “Manchester United is always looking for new and innovative ways to improve our fans’ experience.”
“We are delighted to be partnering with SCAYLE to further enhance our e-commerce offering, delivering an exceptional fan experience through personalisation and a premium best in class commerce platform.”
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