Featuring Walmart and Everlane: RTIH runs through January’s coolest retail technology plays
RTIH Editor, Scott Thompson, brings you his stand out ‘future of retail’ systems deployments from January, including virtual try-on services, autonomous store milestones, the end of one-click checkout businesses (potentially!), and AI assisted cooking for blind and low vision shoppers.
Walmart
Walmart is expanding its augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) offerings with the launch of a new Optical Virtual Try-On service.
Beginning next month, customers will be able to virtually try on frames and purchase prescription eyewear online through the Walmart app or directly on the retail giant’s website.
Walmart says that, unlike other platforms, it uses 3D data and advanced algorithms to create a digital twin of eyewear frames, resulting in an enhanced experience.
REWE Group
REWE Group has partnered with Cimcorp on a project involving an automated fulfilment system for fruit and vegetables at the REWE logistics centre in Oranienburg, Germany, approximately 50 km north of Berlin.
Cimcorp’s intralogistics solution provides order picking for fresh products in plastic crates. The agreement also includes a 24/7 customer support contract.
“Fruit and vegetables are an extremely important commodity group for our customers,” says Lars Sibel, Director SCM and Logistics at Rewe Markt.
“But characterised by heavy physical labour in the warehouses, which makes it difficult to recruit personnel.”
“Cimcorp offers a unique solution to automate fruit and vegetable picking and alleviate physical labor for warehouse workers and thereby ensure the reliable delivery of fruit and vegetables to stores in the future as well.”
Mango
Mango has entered Roblox with the opening of its first immersive store on the platform, located in the virtual Outfit Shopping Mall, where users will be able to purchase Mango Teen digital garments and products for their avatars.
The Outfit Shopping Mall is situated on a Mediterranean island and will open this month on Roblox.
Metro Brands
Metro Brands, an Indian footwear and accessory specialty retailer, has entered into a strategic partnership with Nextail, a merchandise planning platform for fashion.
The long-term agreement encompasses a number of AI driven solutions across buying and merchandising.
Metro Brands operates more than 800 stores across over 180 Indian cities, with plans to open approximately 200 by FY 2025.
It says that, through accurate demand forecasting and decision automation, the Nextail platform will ensure product availability across its rapidly expanding store footprint.
With hyper-local forecasting, every store will have the individual focus that is usually only possible in the earliest stages of a brand’s journey. Metro Brands lays claim to being one of the only retailers in India with this capability at scale.
Netto
German discount chain Netto has opened what is pitched as Europe’s largest autonomous supermarket in Regensburg.
The 800 sqm location enables customers to shop without registering, checking in or self-scanning.
An intelligent camera system records every movement and assigns products taken from the shelf to each shopping basket. This is done without collecting any personal or biometric data.
Fruit and vegetables are automatically weighed and added to baskets as soon as they are taken off the shelf. Once finished, customers can make their way to one of two fast exit terminals.
The store uses technology from Trigo, the company behind Aldi’s autonomous stores in Utrecht and Rewe’s pilot in Munich. In addition to the fast exit terminals, the shop also has regular service and self-service checkouts.
It features the latest extension of Trigo’s EasyOut system, with the company adding the capability for shoppers to review their receipts, approve and pay, before they leave the store.
The new EasyOut Station generates shoppers’ receipts in real-time while utilising the fast exit terminals.
Payment is made by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay or the Netto app. Using the app also enables shoppers to automatically redeem coupons and archive the paperless receipt within the app.
Aldi UK
Aldi has added a contactless card payment option to its AiFi technology powered checkout-free Shop&Go store in Greenwich, London.
As a result, customers no longer need to download Aldi’s Shop&Go app to access the store, which opened in January 2022.
In a LinkedIn post, Kalle Kroll, Manager Strategy & Innovation at Aldi South Group, said: “Two years after opening the first checkout-free Aldi store, I am proud to say that the joint project team in Mülheim, London, and Atherstone, has realised the next iteration of Aldi Shop&Go. This is an incredible project, and every day I appreciate being part of it.”
He added: “Customers are at the focus of what we do at Aldi IT Innovation. Now by introducing an additional customer journey, we are addressing a key customer need."
“We are enabling customers to enter the checkout-free store even quicker, and without needing to download an app: Just hold your card or Apple/Google Pay against the reader, do your shop and go.’
Żabka Polska
A second Żabka Drive store has opened in Zduńska Wola, Poland.
This allows customers to order and pick up products without leaving their cars.
In a LinkedIn post, Agata Michalska, Director of New Formats at Żabka Polska, said: “Convenience just got a whole lot closer! With the new Zabka Drive store, you can soon enjoy a seamless shopping experience without leaving the comfort of your car.”
“From Zabka Café delicious meals and refreshing beverages, we've got you covered. Simply drive up, place your order, and our friendly staff will serve your items right to your car.”
Everlane
Shopify’s ShopPay solution has made an appearance on a non-Shopify website, with some industry observers predicting the end of one-click checkout businesses.
Everlane’s website now has an express checkout that features the offering alongside Apple Pay and PayPal.
Unilever
Unilever has partnered with Be My Eyes to introduce AI assisted cooking for blind and low vision shoppers.
This builds on the addition of on-pack Accessible QR (AQR), developed by computer vision specialists Zappar, to Unilever’s Persil and Colman’s products in the UK last year and is part of the company’s global connected pack strategy, which includes using new digital experiences and technology to evolve and differentiate the way shoppers interact with and use its products.
Unilever is initially trialling the Be My Eyes technology in the UK through its Colman’s Singapore Noodles Meal Maker, with the intention of rolling it out across more brands in 2024.
Cherrypick
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.
Cherrypick allows its more than 200,000 users to browse nearly 1,000 recipes and order the ingredients to make them in less than five minutes.
The company partners with Sainsbury’s for products and fulfilment, and plans to add other grocery retailers in early 2024.
It leveraged data analysis technology to build a dataset containing millions of choices that customers made when selecting recipes.
It then used machine learning to spot patterns in the data and predict when people might already have enough of a product. It claims that this enables users to make 22% fewer decisions when choosing recipes.
Amazon
Amazon has announced a new addition to its Just Walk Out offering, the tech service that enables a checkout-free shopping experience for customers.
The new capability, called “badge pay,” will bring JWO to health care settings, so doctors, nurses, and other health care staff can grab food and beverages at all hours by scanning their employee badge.
St. Joseph’s/Candler at its Candler Hospital Campus in Savannah, Georgia, is the first US hospital with a Just Walk Out technology store and the first location to offer the badge pay capability.
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