Goodbye Grabango and hello Project Juniper: RTIH’s most read retail technology articles from last week
Check out the articles on this here website that caught your fancy last week, including Coles Group, Ocado Group, føtex, AiFi, Snapchat, Dobbie, Amazon, Vinted, Pricer, Primark, and the 2024 RTIH Innovation Awards.
Time is running out to enter the 2024 RTIH Innovation Awards, deadline for submissions Friday, 25th October
There is only one week left to submit your entries for the 2024 RTIH Innovation Awards.
Deadline for submissions is Friday, 25th October.
The awards, sponsored by Scala, CADS, 3D Cloud, Brightpearl by Sage’s Lightning 50, Retail Technology Show 2025, and Business France celebrate global tech innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.
It's free to enter and you can do so across multiple categories.
Download our handy guide to entering the 2024 RTIH Innovation Awards.
Key 2024 dates:
Friday, 25th October: Award entry deadline
Tuesday, 29th October: 2024 shortlist revealed
30th October-6th November: Judging days
Thursday, 21st November: Winners announced at the 2024 RTIH Innovation Awards ceremony, to be held at RIBA’s 66 Portland Place HQ in Central London.
For all entry related queries, please email our Editor and Founder, Scott Thompson: scott.thompson@retailtechinnovationhub.com
Channel 4 Dispatches focuses on dark side of Vinted including fake products and misogynistic websites
Despite going against Vinted’s terms and conditions, the documentary flags a significant number of fake products being sold on the platform.
Flynn also found that there were users who were selling prohibited products, such as open and used beauty items. Recalled products were also in circulation, such as baby sleeping bags and self-feeding baby pillows, as well as some prescription drugs.
Some users have also experienced harassment, hateful language and inappropriate and unwanted messages and images, including a man who suffered threats of violence over a cancelled order.
Elsewhere, Flynn discovered a website where people stole images of women demonstrating and selling items on Vinted and sexualised them alongside derogatory comments..
One of these women, 28-year-old Lydia, appears on the TV programme and comments: “It’s very disturbing. I had no idea this was happening, and it has made me feel extremely unsafe.”
The site, which went by the absolutely foul name of Vinted Sluts and had the tagline ‘When you sell your clothes, but you want the attention’, has now been closed down.
Coles Group sees double as it goes live with another Ocado online customer fulfilment centre in Australia
Ocado’s second customer fulfilment centre (CFC) for Coles Group in Australia has officially opened.
This taps a blend of artificial intelligence, robotics and automation to improve the way orders are picked, packed and delivered.
Delivery times will also be improved, with Ocado’s technology giving Coles the ability to calculate the most efficient routes based on real-time conditions and tonnage of the home delivery vans.
Coles CEO Leah Weckert says: "This launch marks a significant transformation of our online grocery delivery service for New South Wales.”
“Across Victoria and New South Wales, we have already delivered more than 120,000 orders, the equivalent of 5.5 million products, with our customers getting near perfect orders with zero substitutions. This is an incredible result for our customers, and a testament to the world class Ocado technology."
Pricer research: Brexit to blame as Brits say many items in weekly food shop are out of stock in stores
1,000+ Brits polled by Pricer showed that now typically consumers find 18% of the items in their weekly food shop unavailable on shelf when they shop in-store, rising +1 percentage point year-on-year. Instances of out-of-stocks were higher when buying groceries online, with 28% reporting food shop items were out-of-stock, prompting them to be missing or substituted in their orders, a rise of +6% year-on-year.
Brexit was the top reason UK shoppers believed was contributing to the shelf-gaps they were experiencing in-store, with 40% of respondents citing complications with border checks and additional paperwork making it harder to import food goods into the UK. While the UK government announced it would delay planned post-
Brexit checks on fruit and veg for a third time earlier this month, 52% of UK consumers believe more products are unavailable due to the UK’s decision to leave the EU.
All eyes on Aarhus, Denmark as retailer føtex opens its first autonomous store, powered by AiFI technology
Powered by AiFi technology, the checkout-free shopping location is open 24/7. This is the retailer’s first venture in to the autonomous stores space.
Customers check in with their payment card, take goods off the shelves and leave the store. Cameras in the ceiling register the purchase of goods.
Morten Møberg, Executive Vice President, Director at føtex, says: “There are already many customers who have stopped by during the "test week" and the store has received a lot of praise. There is a good reason for this.”
“The team has created a super store, and we can offer our customers a really wide selection with 1,500 items in just 120 sqm. But the most important thing of all is of course that it is super easy.”
Primark notches up a self-service checkouts first in Portugal as retailer opens its 452nd store globally
Primark has opened a new store in Montijo, Portugal, its first in the country to feature self-service checkouts.
In a LinkedIn post, Stephen Regan, Group Board Executive at Primark, dated Friday, 11th October, said: “Wrapping up the week in a very special way by celebrating the opening of our brand new store in Montijo, Portugal. This is a very special moment for the Primark Portugal team as it's the first new store in the Portuguese market in seven years, the 11th store in Portugal, and the 452nd globally.”
“It's also the first Portuguese store to offer self-service checkouts and the first to open as part of our €40 million investment announcement in the market.”
He added: “I was delighted to visit the store yesterday and it looks amazing. I am sure our customers will love the modern aesthetic and the immersive shopping experience they will have in Montijo, which includes a distinct scent and curated soundtrack.”
“The team has done a fantastic job, so huge congratulations and a big well done to everyone who supported with this opening. An incredible achievement for everyone involved and our business. Best of luck to the Montijo team with their opening weekend!”
Snapchat announces launch of immersive augmented reality high street on Brick Lane in East London
Snapchat has launched an immersive high street experience, Snap Street, set to open in East London this October.
The Ely’s Yard building in Brick Lane will be transformed into an actual indoor high street with shop-fronts showing off the augmented reality (AR) experiences available on Snapchat - curated by brands like Depop, Boots, and Cosmopolitan.
Free to attend, and open for one weekend only (Saturday 19th - Sunday 20th October) Snap Street will imagine what a high street might look like in the future.
Depop will debut The Depop Claw Machine, offering visitors the chance to win some circular fashion, including streetwear, designer styles and exclusive Depop merch.
Visitors can also immerse themselves in the world of Depop using the Snapchat x Depop AR Mirror. From 12-2pm on Saturday, shoppers can get creative and make a free personalised phone charm with help from Depop seller @SantexSante.
So, farewell then, Grabango - checkout-free technology firm shuts down after failing to bag sufficient funding
US-based checkout-free stores technology startup, Grabango, is shutting up shop.
“Although the company established itself as a leader in checkout-free technology, it was not able to secure the funding it needed to continue providing service to its clients,” a spokesperson said in a statement to RTIH.
“We would like to thank our employees, investors, and clients for all their hard work and dedication.”
Launched in 2016, Grabango raised just over $73 million, according to Pitchbook data.
Dobbie co-founder Daniel Rees slams ‘bad for business’ UK and heads Stateside to pursue American dream
Daniel Rees, co-founder of Dobbie, a startup pitched as an AI control centre for e-commerce businesses, has taken to social media to hit out at a ‘bad for business’ UK and praise the US which, he argues, leads in innovation and entrepreneurship with more startup accelerators and venture investment firms than anywhere else in the world.
In a LinkedIn post, dated 14th October, Rees said: “I am leaving the UK for good, and I think other entrepreneurs should too. I'm heading to the US embassy right now to get my O1 Visa stamped.”
In the UK, 39% capital gains tax is on the cards, he added (NB: this has yet to be confirmed by the recently elected Labour government).
“The 60% tax trap still hasn't been closed. The healthcare system sucks. Public transport is extortionate. The population actually chose to leave the EU...and in my experience it has the most anti-entrepreneur public attitude in the world,” Rees stated.
By contrast, the "American dream" is actually real.
“Tell someone in the US that you're starting a business and they'll cheer you on, help out, make introductions.
Better yet, failure is viewed as a badge of honour! Nothing but lessons to take to the next venture. Florida and Texas have no state income tax and no capital gains tax. Health insurance is really affordable. The weather is better, and the people are just more ambitious.”
Inside Project Juniper, Amazon’s hotly anticipated secret micro-fulfilment and mobile retail strategy
Brittain Ladd, a supply chain consultant and former Amazon executive, has taken to social media to discuss Project Jupiter.
This is an Amazon initiative focused on the creation of automated micro-fulfilment centres (MFC) that can be installed inside grocery stores, retail stores, and logistics facilities. MFCs hold inventory of retail products, and different types of robots pick products from them to fulfil online orders.
In a LinkedIn post, Ladd said: “MFCs are very important to Amazon. However, Covid disrupted the team responsible for building them, resulting in a pause of 2.5 years. Meanwhile, Amazon has been piloting an MFC from AutoStore and is in the process of installing a system from Fulfil inside a Whole Foods store.”
“What hasn't been previously reported is that Amazon has built a fully functioning MFC referred to internally as an LVM for local vending machine. It has created a HIVE-based MFC configuration that generates high pick rates and exceptional flexibility in terms of building MFCs that are 5,000 square feet or 50,000 square feet or more. LVMs do not have the same vertical limitations as AutoStore and other MFCs.”
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