Simbe goes farming and Mars gets festive: RTIH presents last week’s biggest retail technology plays at a glance

RTIH rounds up the stand out retail systems deals, launches, deployments and pilots from the past seven days. Including Country Supplier, Royal Mail, Harvey Nichols, M&S, wagamama, Benuta, El puerto de Liverpool, Primark, and Lamps Plus.

Country Supplier

US retailer Country Supplier is expanding its use of Simbe technology chain wide at all C-A-L Ranch stores and Coastal Farm & Ranch stores in six states.

The deployment marks Simbe’s expansion into a new sector, farm supply.

Country Supplier’s decision follows a proof of value with the company, which had the following results: 25% improved on-shelf availability; 90% improved price accuracy; two weeks’ work dedicated from manually scanning 100K+ products.

In a LinkedIn post, Simbe said: “Country Supplier joins retail champions across many sectors and sizes who enhance the associate and shopper experience by automating manual, labour intensive inventory tasks with in-store intelligence. It is playing to win, and nothing speaks louder than customer success! We’re so proud to power the most retail banners in the world.”

Royal Mail

Royal Mail has launched its first owned parcel locker in the UK, and announced plans to have many thousands more.

"With continued growth in online shopping, it is important that we expand our range of services and become more convenient than we have ever been for our customers," says Jack Clarkson, Group Strategy & Transformation Director at Royal Mail owner IDS.

"Customers will now have 24/7 access to drop off and collect their parcels, and can even print their parcel labels at the locker itself. We're always open! This is great news for online shoppers, small businesses and the UK public in general."

eBay and Klarna

eBay and Klarna have announced the expansion of their partnership to key European markets making the latter’s BNPL options available to more of the former’s shoppers.

Expanding from a launch in Germany, eBay is offering Klarna (including Pay in 3 and Pay in 30 Days)  to people in the UK, Austria, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain, with more markets coming soon.

Avritti Khandurie Mittal, VP & General Manager of Global Payments and Financial Services at eBay, says: "We are unlocking greater payment choice and flexibility for eBay shoppers by expanding our strategic partnership with Klarna to several key markets.”

“People turn to eBay’s more than two billion listings to find the things they love, from a rare Pokemon trading card to a gently pre-loved Birkin bag or that well-priced Rolex watch. We know our customers value the ability to pay in a way that works for them. With Klarna, eBay shoppers now have the flexibility to pay over time by selecting from a variety of Klarna’s pay later payment options at checkout.”

Harvey Nichols

OSF Digital has unveiled a centralised platform for UK luxury fashion retailer Harvey Nichols. The initiative aims to equip Harvey Nichols' marketing team with advanced tools and insights, driving increased return on investment (ROI) and customer engagement. 

 "We are thrilled to strengthen our partnership with Harvey Nichols and Salesforce, delivering a transformative centralised platform that redefines customer engagement,” says Gerard Szatvanyi, CEO at OSF Digital.  

“This collaboration underscores our commitment to leveraging Salesforce's robust capabilities to empower Harvey Nichols with a unified customer view, driving innovation and growth in the luxury retail sector. Together, we are setting a new standard for personalised customer experiences that align with Harvey Nichols' esteemed brand heritage.”

OSF Digital has previously implemented a Salesforce Loyalty Management system for Harvey Nichols. Building on this, it is now enhancing the retailer's capabilities with Salesforce Data Cloud and MuleSoft integrations.

Goals include engaging existing customers, boosting retention, and attracting new leads through a centralised platform that enables marketers to elevate segmentation and targeting. By unifying customer data across all channels, Harvey Nichols aims to enhance engagement, personalisation, and conversion while enabling its CRM team to increase efficiency without IT dependency. 

Mars and Tesco

Mars has teamed up with Tesco Media and Insight Platform for a festive themed Celebrations Golden Ticket campaign.

Customers have the chance to find one of 500,000 golden tickets in packs of Celebrations.

The campaign includes:

Targeted audiences on Meta and Pinterest.

A category aligned brand zone page on Tesco.com to inspire and engage customers online.

Digital signage takeover with goalpost screens, power aisle screens, and JCDecaux UK SmartScreens featuring phased creative campaigns for maximum impact.

Fully branded OFDs in-store to amplify the campaign message.

A store wrap of Tesco's Wembley store.

In a LinkedIn post, Tesco Media and Insight Platform said: "This is full funnel activation at its finest, bringing together digital innovation, in-store creativity, and shopper inspiration to deliver results for brands and delight for customers. Thank you to all of our partners who helped bring this campaign alive."

M&S

First Insight is expanding its partnership with M&S.

Initially launched in 2015 with a focus on the lingerie category, the tie up now encompasses the retailer's entire Clothing & Home business, allowing it to boost customer engagement and brand perception across all categories.

"Our partnership with First Insight has supported our strategy to reshape for growth, as we maintain and extend our lead on quality and value and continue to drive style perceptions.” says Richard Price, Managing Director of Clothing & Home at M&S.

"First Insight’s AI driven intelligence has empowered us to get closer to our customers and offer a more compelling fashion led experience as we seek to become more relevant, to more people, more often." 

wagamama

wagamama, which serves Asian food based on Japanese cuisine, says that it has transformed its talent attraction process, with a focus on inclusive and accessible candidate experiences, by partnering with inploi.

It first teamed with the company in 2021 to use its candidate experience technology for a management hiring campaign during the Covid-19 pandemic. wagamama then decided to expand the tie up, working with inploi to revamp its careers website. The firm configured a careers hub for its, making it easy for candidates to search and apply for jobs.

As a result, wagamama has cut time to hire by 50% and created a more accessible hiring process. This ensures equal access to all features and functions, with multiple adjustment tools including a seizure safe and ADHD friendly setting. 

Pricer and Google Cloud

In-store automation and communication solutions provider, Pricer, has announced a collaboration with Google Cloud. 

The tie up, which sees Pricer’s Plaza platform enabled by Google Cloud, promises to deliver greater speed, scalability and security to power in-store efficiencies and drive enhanced customer experiences. 

Peter Ward, UK Country Manager at Pricer, comments: “Faced with significant rising cost pressures - from wages to rates - driving in-store operational efficiencies and labour productivity are increasingly becoming the keystones for store execution that drive performance profitably.”

“Automation sits at the intersection of delivering both of these key requirements, which is why we’ve sought to deliver even more speed, scale and simplicity with our integration of Plaza on to Google Cloud.”

Lamps Plus

Lamps Plus has implemented Manhattan Associates' Demand Forecasting and Inventory Optimisation solution (DFIO).

“Given the complexity and interdependence of demand forecasting and inventory management, and the critical importance of getting it right, we knew our legacy approach was no longer adequate to serve our business needs,” says Bill Gratke, Chief Supply Chain Officer at Lamps Plus.

“Through our 17-year relationship with Manhattan, they’ve delivered time and again, which made this decision that much easier. This implementation was among the smoothest we’ve experienced, completed flawlessly in under six months.”

In addition to Demand Forecasting and Inventory Optimisation, Lamps Plus has implemented Manhattan Active Point of Sale, Store Inventory & Fulfillment, Order Management, Warehouse Management, Labour Management, and Slotting Optimisation.

It has implemented Manhattan’s DFIO solution at its US West Coast fulfillment centre that serves its e-commerce channel as well as its 31 stores. A second FC on the East Coast will go live in the first half of 2025. It includes Manhattan’s Unified Forecasting Method, statistical modeling designed to ensure the ideal state of “right inventory, right place, right time,” all the time.

Benuta

Benuta, an online store for rugs, has deployed Constructor’s e-commerce search and product discovery platform. In addition, it will use the firm’s AI Shopping Assistant, a conversational product discovery tool.

“Our customers are all unique, and their interior spaces reflect their styles and lives,” says Andreas Fischer, Head of E-commerce Technologies, Benuta.

“With Constructor’s personalisation features, we can help shoppers quickly and enjoyably discover their dream rugs. We’re excited to leverage advanced search options that guide our customers intuitively to the products that best suit their preferences - making their shopping experience both seamless and inspiring.” 

El puerto de Liverpool

Mexican department store retailer El puerto de Liverpool has partnered with Topsort to launch an AI driven retail media platform.

Through Topsort’s API driven technology, Liverpool says it has built a fully customisable platform that integrates with multiple channels and touchpoints.

“As we ventured into the retail media landscape, Topsort has been an indispensable partner,” says Santiago Landaverde, Retail Media Deputy Director at Liverpool. 

“Their platform has made it incredibly easy for us to launch and manage campaigns, streamlining the entire process - from setup to budget management. The seamless access to detailed data has been instrumental in helping us optimise sellers' ad spend and make real-time decisions.”

Lojas Americanas

Brazilian retail chain, Lojas Americanas, has selected RELEX Solutions to improve its planning systems with AI powered supply chain and retail planning solutions.

The technology will service the retailer's more than 1,600 stores and eight distribution centres throughout Brazil. RELEX partner, Wysupp, will support the implementation of the solution.

The project includes implementing RELEX forecasting and replenishment capabilities. Additionally, Americanas will utilise it for capacity optimisation, seasonal planning, promotions and events management, purchasing optimisation, and supply chain diagnostics.

Primark

Primark last week opened four stores in four different countries on the same day, a first for the budget retailer.

The move represents an investment of over €45 million from the business, creating 580 new jobs and adding 130,000 sq. ft. of selling space to its global footprint.

Stores as follows:

Parque Sur, Madrid, Spain

Tours, France

Glasgow Fort, UK

NYC Queens Center, US

In a LinkedIn post, Dan Butcher, Programme Manager at Primark, said: “Three of these stores had technology delivered by my team - with the US delivery by Toby Rainbow.”

“Amazing job Mark Thorpe (Retail Project Manager), Paul Melville (Technology Implementation Project Manager), and John Agudelo (Technology Stores Implementation Manager Iberia). Your cool heads, commitment and charm you all displayed this week is what makes this team a privilege to be part of.”