Emergency pizzas and autonomously farmed parsnips: this 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 Evri, Tesco, Dunelm, EE, OnBuy, Save A Lot, Domino’s, M&S, Sodexo, Instacart, Walmart, and Dorel Home.
Waitrose and Just Eat
In the coming weeks, millions of Just Eat Takeaway.com customers will be able to order their favourite food and drink to be delivered in 30 minutes or less from 229 Waitrose & Partners locations across the UK.
They will be able to order from thousands of items, including the revamped premium range Waitrose No. 1 and essential Waitrose. In addition, Waitrose Duchy Organic, fresh ready meals, free-from and vegan ranges, British brands including Gail’s Bakery and Deliciously Ella, plus wines, beers and spirits, will all be available.
Claire Pointon, Managing Director for the UK and Ireland at Just Eat, says: “Many of today’s consumers no longer consider speed a luxury but a necessity. This is supported by Just Eat's own research - three in four people who have ordered on-demand groceries believe it will become a part of their daily lives.’
‘Just Eat is proud to be leading this change and so we’re thrilled to be adding Waitrose to our list of grocery partners, strengthening the choice and value available for customers on the platform - whenever, and wherever, they need us.”
Walmart
Walmart this week revealed proprietary artificial intelligence (AI), Generative AI (GenAI), augmented reality (AR) and immersive commerce platforms it is leveraging to create hyper-personalised, convenient and engaging shopping experiences across Walmart stores, Sam’s Clubs, apps and other virtual environments.
“A standard search bar is no longer the fastest path to purchase, rather we must use technology to adapt to customers’ individual preferences and needs,” says Suresh Kumar, Global Chief Technology Officer and Chief Development Officer, Walmart.
“At the heart of our platform strategy is developing common global core capabilities that are built once and deployed across Walmart U.S., Sam’s Club and Walmart International. As a global company with multiple business segments, this enables us to move with speed as we bring consistent experiences to all our customers and members.”
Evri
UK parcel delivery company, Evri, has announced a range of doorstep delivery improvements for people living with a condition or impairment and a partnership with disability equality charity Scope.
New preferences have launched this week to offer more options for those who might need longer, or who can’t get to the door to accept a delivery.
Evri estimates one in four home deliveries go to consumers with a disability and it has unveiled a new ambition to become the most accessible parcel delivery company for consumers, colleagues and couriers with a condition or impairment.
It has entered into a three-year partnership with Scope, a UK disability equality charity. In what is pitched as the first partnership of its type in the sector, they will work together to promote disability inclusion within the logistics industry and join forces to create lasting and meaningful social change.
The partnership will focus on creating a more accessible and inclusive workplace for both disabled Evri employees and disabled consumers. Scope will support Evri to audit their practices, understand what they need to do to improve and work with them to create and deliver training packages.
Evri will also donate £125,000 to support Scope’s mission to create an equal future with disabled people. Scope campaigns to transform attitudes towards disability, tackle injustice and inspire action. It supports over four million disabled people every year by providing information and advice via its helpline and online community and creating employment opportunities.
Dunelm
Dunelm has announced an enhancement to its online shopping experience through a new collaboration with Google Cloud.
As part of the two companies' work together, the retailer has implemented a new, generative AI driven product discovery solution on Dunelm.com.
Towards the end of 2023, it recognised an opportunity to modernise its website search capabilities. By transitioning from a first generation search engine to Google Cloud's Vertex AI Search for Retail platform, Dunelm aimed to provide a seamless and increasingly personalised shopping journey for its customers.
Tesco
Tesco Media and Insight Platform reports enhancements to its retail media offering, including the launch of video advertising on Tesco.com, as well as several new media channels and announcements in measurement and personalisation capabilities.
At its annual Upfront event in London, Tesco Media unveiled a new video advertising solution, allowing brands to engage with customers through short-form video content with Tesco.com shoppers and 16 million+ app users.
It also announced a new measurement framework to demonstrate the full-funnel impact of retail media campaigns. This includes a range of solutions to provide detailed, incremental insights for advertisers, with omnichannel attribution to follow in 2025.
This new framework has been built in collaboration with advertisers, agencies and industry bodies with the aim of setting a new industry standard for retail media measurement
OnBuy
OnBuy, a UK-based online marketplace, has announced a new collaboration with Google Cloud.
This will enable OnBuy to leverage a range of Google Cloud products and services - including infrastructure, data storage, and managed services - with the aim of improving both seller and customer experiences, reducing costs and building new revenue streams.
Some key products and services of the collaboration include Google Cloud’s Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), which allows OnBuy to deploy a virtual network that spans all regions, helping to secure and segregate its infrastructure.
In addition, Cloud Storage provides it with fast, low cost, and highly durable storage for its data, while Cloud SQL manages its databases, enabling the business to run without disruption.
The migration to Google Cloud will also allow OnBuy to experiment with AI and generative AI tools for various applications across the business.
For example, the team is exploring how the AI platform, Vertex AI, can train a product auto-categorisation algorithm to look at new and unseen product titles to predict the category they should be in at scale.
Sodexo
Sodexo, a specialist in foodservice for colleges and universities across the US, has announced the launch of four new eat>NOW frictionless grocery stores.
Powered by Amazon Web Services, (AWS), these have either opened or are opening soon at Endicott College, the University of Maine, Orono, Lindenwood University, and Seattle Pacific University.
“We’re thrilled to introduce eat>NOW frictionless stores to the vibrant university campuses we’re proud to partner with,” says CEO of Sodexo Campus and Government, Brett Ladd.
“By combining cutting-edge technology with everyday convenience, we’re elevating the campus experience and offering students a modern, seamless shopping solution. These stores are designed to address the evolving needs of students while fostering a more dynamic campus environment.”
EE
EE has opened an extended reality (XR) retail playground, giving visitors to its flagship store, the EE Studio, in Westfield, White City, London, the opportunity to try a wide range of augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) devices side by side.
This will showcase some of the latest and greatest in PC, console and standalone VR headsets in an immersive new space. This includes the HTC Vive XR Elite, PlayStation VR2, and he Meta Quest 3.
Visitors will also have an opportunity to try out a selection of smart eyewear designed to extend screens, such as the TCL NXTWEAR S+ and XREAL Air 2 Pro glasses, or discover how they can livestream, capture video or listen to music on-the-go with the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.
More than 21 virtual and mixed reality experiences await those stepping into EE’s new space, such as Just Dance on PlayStation VR2, Superhot VR on HTC Vive XR Elite, and Out of Scale: A Kurzgesagt Adventure on Meta Quest 3.
Domino’s
And the offering is back with Domino’s not only offering free pizza to customers once again, but also bringing it to life through two brand integrations in the gaming and glam industries.
To receive an Emergency Pizza, customers need to place a delivery order online or a digital carryout order of $7.99 or more. Once the order is confirmed, they will automatically receive a Domino’s Emergency Pizza under “My Deals & Rewards” within their Rewards account.
Domino’s is making its debut in gaming by teaming up with Amazon and Twitch to integrate Emergency Pizza into their new Fortnite game, called The Glitch. Its dedicated brand experience within The Glitch launches on 14th October.
Dorel Home
Dorel Home, a division of Dorel Industries, a home products firm, has partnered with 3D Cloud, a specialist in 3D product visualisation for furniture.
The 3D Cloud Room Planner will allow Dorel’s teams to create a wide range of lifestyle renders with significantly greater speed and flexibility versus CGI, reducing costs and accelerating time to market.
"The 3D Cloud Room Planner brings scale and simplicity to our visual content production workflow," says John White, CIO at Dorel Industries. "It will help us better support our retailers and partners by providing more efficient and tailored imagery faster than ever before."
The tool will be utilised internally to produce lifestyle imagery that aligns with the specific requirements of Dorel's stakeholders. Although it will not be available for public access, it will play a crucial role in meeting the needs of dealers and partners, ensuring that Dorel's visual content remains relevant and adaptable.
Save A Lot
Save A Lot, a discount grocery chain in the US, and Fabric, an automation solutions specialist, have announced a new partnership to provide on-demand grocery delivery with the opening of a Brooklyn-based micro fulfilment centre.
This is part of a larger expansion, which includes a push into New York to enhance last mile delivery options.
Orders placed from the Brooklyn online storefront on the Uber Eats app will be delivered to doorsteps by Uber couriers.
“We know consumers are looking for fast delivery options for fresh, affordable grocery essentials, so we’re pleased to be partnering with both Save A Lot and Fabric who continue to innovate in the space,” says Nathan Bernheim, Head of Enterprise Sales for Grocery and Retail at Uber.
“Together we can bring essential items to communities that need them in entirely new ways.”
FFFACE.ME and Mazarine
FFFACE.ME partnered with Mazarine to power an immersive experience at the Spike Me Valentino Pop-Up event held on 4th-5th October at Flatiron Plaza, New York City.
Central to the pop-up was an augmented reality photo booth leveraging FFFACE.ME’s technology, allowing guests to virtually try on Valentino's new Spike Valentino Buttery Matte Lip Colour collection and receive printed photos of their personalised look.
As guests approached the booth, they were invited to try on four different lipstick shades from Valentino’s collection, which transitioned on their virtual reflection. After the shades were showcased, the system selected an individual shade for each user and printed a photo of their virtual makeover.
Instacart
Instacart is launching three new capabilities to its AI powered smart cart, Caper Cart.
These are rolling out to retailers like Schnucks and Wakefern Food Corp., in partnership with brands including General Mills and PepsiCo.
Interactive mini-games: Customers can now engage in “gamified quests” to discover flash deals and new products or earn rewards for repeat visits.
Location-based coupons: Customers will be alerted to nearby deals and discounts based on their aisle location, helping them save as they shop and never miss a coupon again.
Relevant ads: With a new aisle aware ads pilot, brands can showcase their products on the Caper Cart screen when customers turn down relevant aisles.
“Caper Carts are ushering in a new era at the grocery store, making shopping more delightful while delivering a seamless experience for customers, retailers, and brands. Over the last six months, we’ve nearly quadrupled our Caper Cart footprint and plan to reach thousands of carts live in stores in the coming months,” says David McIntosh, Chief Connected Stores Officer at Instacart.
“For more than a decade, we’ve worked with grocers of all sizes to provide them with the technologies they need to serve their customers. With Caper Cart's digital screen, we're now delivering an unmatched omnichannel experience for retailers and brands in-store.’
‘Today’s news is further proof of how we’re truly transforming grocery shopping from a chore to a fun adventure, giving customers a one of a kind, interactive experience in every aisle of the grocery store.”
Marks and Spencer
M&S has announced the initial results from what is pitched as the first retailer run ‘autonomous field’ trial, which will see it selling lower carbon parsnips later this year.
In partnership with supplier, Huntapac, the first fully autonomously farmed parsnips will be available in selected M&S stores this November.
The technology enabling this includes two robots for bed forming, planting and weeding, two different types of drone to monitor and maintain crop health, and the latest scientific testing on soil health and carbon impact.
AI was used to monitor and improve crop health and autonomous technology can reduce weather impact.
For example, in March this year, following the wettest six months in England since 18711, the team were able to get in and plant the field with the autonomous robot which wouldn’t have been possible with a traditional tractor.
This has also contributed to an increase in quality and number of parsnips and reduced waste, with a 16% higher yield of grade one vegetables compared to Huntapac’s other parsnip fields.
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