Aldi rethinks checkout-free stores strategy: RTIH rolls out the biggest retail technology news stories of the week
It’s Friday, the weekend is almost upon us, so let’s kick back and reflect on another eventful week for the retail systems space. Here's your briefing on the most important stories from the past five days, including Asda, Too Good To Go, Starbucks, Walmart, Roblox, Bambuser, Zara, CarrefourSA, Simbe, Burger King UK, Uber Eats, and Dexory.
1. Asda ramps up food waste reduction push as grocery giant expands Too Good To Go partnership in UK
Asda is extending its partnership with Too Good To Go, a surplus food marketplace.
Too Good To Go offers any surplus, but still edible, food to app users in the form of ‘Surprise Bags’ for them to purchase from local retailers.
The digital platform will now be available to use across nearly 1,000 sites, including Asda supermarket and Asda Express stores, as well as foodservice sites located in Asda stores such as LEON, Greggs, Sbarro and Subway.
Customers will be able to purchase surplus stock at a fraction of its original price via the Too Good To Go app. As part of a Surprise Bag, a variety of food items will be available, including chilled items, ready meals, food to go, prepared fruit or salads, bakery products, or produce with use-by dates such as dairy, meat, fish or poultry.
Surprise Bags from Asda Supermarkets will be available for £3.30 and will include minimum £9 worth of goods. Bags from Asda Express, LEON, Greggs, Sbarro and Subway will also be available. The bags will vary in price depending on the contents, but could include breakfast items, lunch, and dinner food, and also a cakes and pastries bag.
The roll-out follows a trial across a number of Asda’s supermarkets, convenience stores and foodservice sites. Since forming the original partnership with Too Good To Go in 2021 through the former EG Group convenience sites, over 2,000,000 kilograms of perfectly good food has been saved from going to waste.
2. Lots of fun but extremely expensive: Aldi shutters Trigo powered Shop & Go store in Dutch city of Utrecht
Aldi is binning its mobile app centric, cashier-free supermarket project in Utrecht, Holland.
“It was a fun experiment and we learned a lot,” Florian Scholbeck, Aldi’s International Head of Communications. “But the investments are very big.”
The retailer will now test the system in Eindhoven in a store selling a full range of products. The ability to pay by traditional means will also be made available.
Utrecht was a 3,982 square feet location where shoppers walked in, selected their items, and walked out without having to queue at the checkout lane or scan any items.
In its largest store format to date, Trigo applied its algorithms to shelf sensors and ceiling mounted cameras which analysed anonymised shoppers' movements and product choices.
Payments and receipts were settled digitally.
3. The clock is ticking! Deadline looms to enter retail technology sector’s number one awards event
There are only three weeks left to submit your entries for the 2024 RTIH Innovation Awards.
Deadline for submissions is Friday, 25th October.
The awards, sponsored by CADS, 3D Cloud, 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
4. Delivery orders placed via Burger King UK app to tap same tech and courier network that powers Uber Eats
Uber Direct, Uber’s white label delivery solution, has announced an exclusive partnership with Burger King UK, to provide its customers with rapid deliveries through the fast food chain’s app.
The app also rewards customers with exclusive delivery deals and the opportunity to earn loyalty points with each order.
Delivery orders placed through the Burger King UK app will leverage the same technology and courier network that powers Uber Eats. Uber’s technology provides customers with real-time tracking from their local restaurant to their delivery address and 24/7 customer support for orders, should they need it.
The first phase of the roll-out has begun, with full deployment expected across the Burger King UK estate by the end of the year.
5. Turkish retailer CarrefourSA deploys Simbe’s Tally AI and automation solution across select stores
US-based Simbe has announced international expansion into Turkey with CarrefourSA, a subsidiary of Sabanci Holding and Carrefour which operates in over 1,200 stores in 64 provinces and employs a workforce of 15,000.
This comes on the heels of new and expanded deployments with Northeast Grocery, TOPS Friendly Markets, Price Chopper Supermarkets-Market 32, SpartanNash, and Wakefern Food Corp.
CarrefourSA deployed Simbe’s Tally AI and automation solution into select stores this summer. Tally operates three times a day, scanning store aisles to ensure items are stocked and tagged properly.
The robot captures images of products and shelves and processes them in near real-time, which allows store personnel to quickly replenish any missing items. Additionally, Tally monitors and addresses issues related to incorrect labelling that customers may encounter during their shopping experience.
6. Drones and robots come together as Serve Robotics and Wing agree autonomous food delivery pilot in US
Serve Robotics, an autonomous sidewalk delivery specialist, and Wing Aviation, an on-demand drone delivery provider, have announced a pilot partnership.
In the coming months, select Wing deliveries will be picked up by a Serve delivery robot from the restaurant's curbside and delivered to a Wing drone AutoLoader a few blocks away, for aerial delivery to customers as much as six miles away.
"We're excited to partner with Wing to offer a multi-modal delivery experience that expands our market from roughly half of all food deliveries that are within two miles of a restaurant, to offering 30 minute autonomous delivery across an entire city," says Dr. Ali Kashani, CEO and Co-founder at Serve Robotics.
"Together, Serve and Wing share an ambitious vision for reliable and affordable robotic delivery at scale. Our end-to-end robotic delivery solution will be the most efficient mode for the significant majority of deliveries."
7. Starbucks offers free coffee on Roblox platform as Dubit opens doors to virtual stores in role playing games
Dubit has opened Starbucks’ first four virtual stores in some of the most popular Roblox role playing games.
These are available to Roblox fans from 13 markets across Asia Pacific.
The virtual stores are inspired by physical locations and set across virtual cities on Roblox like Bilberry City, Theme Park HeideLand, Seaboard City, and NewSmith. People can order a beverage from green apron partners, chat with fellow users, and embark on a treasure hunt.
They will journey through a map to search for ten coffee inspired collectible items, unlocking exclusive in-game rewards along the way. In-game achievements can be redeemed for real-world rewards at select Starbucks stores across eight markets, including Cambodia, Laos, Hong Kong & Macau, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and Thailand.
“Come visit and enjoy a virtual coffee in our virtual third place. There are 35,000 UGC items up for grabs, and even more real-world prizes courtesy of Starbucks from free customisations to free coffees,” says Matthew Warneford, CEO at Dubit, which has created Gamer Rewards, pitched as the first loyalty programme for Roblox that lets players earn in-game rewards and redeem them off-platform, and also Gamer Retail to power immersive in-game retail experiences for brands.
Warneford adds: “I’m hugely excited. This year we’ve seen meaningful real-world outcomes from Roblox. Last month, we drove 15,000 people into real-world stores here in the UK.”
“Earlier this year, we delivered a 22% increase in sales velocity for one of America’s most popular lunchtime snacks. Roblox drives real-world results, and will for Starbucks too.”
“The campaign is geo-locked to APAC regions. Thanks Starbucks! And a big thank you to our amazing game partners: Seaboard City, Bilberry City, New Smith, and Theme Park HeideLand.”
8. Dexory announces $80 million Series B funding round and focuses on expanding across the US market
Dexory, a robotics and data intelligence company, has closed an $80 million Series B funding round.
This was led by DTCP, with participation from Latitude Ventures, Wave-X and Bootstrap Europe, along with existing investors Atomico, Lakestar, Capnamic and several angels from the logistics industry. As part of this investment, DTCP’s Michael Rager joins Dexory’s board of directors.
The new funding, made up of a mix of equity and growth debt, will support an expansion of the firm’s artificial intelligence (AI) powered features across the DexoryView platform, grow its global team and accelerate the deployment of its autonomous robots with customers like GXO, Maersk, and DB Schenker.
A significant focus continues to be on expanding across the US market, where Dexory is already live with customers in seven states. The Series B will also enhance development and production facilities at its UK headquarters.
Dexory has now raised $120 million over the past three years.
9. Walmart claims a first as SpongeBob SquarePants fans head into 25th anniversary augmented reality experience
This month, SpongeBob fans will be able to unlock the Rainbow SpongeBob back accessory for their Roblox avatar. Additional free virtual items will drop in November and December, including a Jellyfish Surfing Patrick & Clarineting Squidward, respectively.
And to celebrate the free virtual items and 25th anniversary of SpongeBob, Walmart is inviting fans to go underwater in Bikini Bottom with the reskin of its Walmart Discovered augmented reality experience.
People will be able to see the free virtual item, complete a quest for free UGC, and try on and buy seasonal UGC.
Justin Breton, Head of Brand Marketing Innovation at Walmart, says: “This is the first time any brand has partnered with an IP to provide a series of collectible free virtual items with the purchase of a Roblox gift card, bringing this fandom something special for the holiday season.”
“And a shoutout to our partners at Paramount and Nickelodeon for their enthusiasm and willingness to do something new & exciting for our customers and their fans of SpongeBob.”
10. Mother-daughter duo Cindy Crawford and Kaia Gerber host Bambuser powered ZaraStreaming shopping event
Video commerce platform specialist Bambuser has announced a live shopping partnership with Zara.
In a LinkedIn post, Louise Blomqvist, President of EMEA at Bambuser, said: “Last week marked a historic moment for our teams, and I couldn’t more proud to share that we’ve partnered with one of the world’s most iconic fashion brands, Zara, for their very first ZaraStreaming.”
“Our collaboration is a testament to the power of innovation and how technology can transform the retail experience. By combining Zara’s dedication to brand and image with our streaming capabilities, we’ve created an interactive, real-time shopping experience both exciting and engaging for customers worldwide.”
Hosted by mother-daughter duo, Cindy Crawford and Kaia Gerber, who brought a Zara collection to life, this offered personal styling tips, with the aim of making the experience engaging and relatable. It was directed by David Lowery and styled by Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele.
Blomqvist concluded: “Thank you to the incredible teams at Bambuser and Zara for making this possible, and to our global community for embracing the power of video shopping with us.”
Continue reading...