It's Beatlemania all over again: RTIH brings you 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 SpartanNash, L'Occitane, Rohlik Group, MeetKai, Gophr, Co-op, Wayfair, Alipay, Ikea, and Zippin.
Ikea
Ikea Global – Amsterdam has introduced an in-store pick-up system, as part of a wider global pilot project which aims to transform the traditional Click & Collect experience.
At the heart of this are two vending machines, specifically designed for order retrieval. These are part of a broader initiative to enhance customer service and efficiency and have the ability to handle 480 orders daily.
Customers can place orders online and choose their pick-up location and time. The service has been boosted with large vending machines in the Ikea Amsterdam store for bigger orders and Pick-Up lockers for smaller purchases.
To integrate this technology, the Amsterdam store underwent significant renovations.
Those involved say that the adoption of vertical storage and complete transition to self-checkouts has optimised store space, allowing for better product storage and availability.
RELEX Solutions
National Basketball Players Association (NBPA)
MeetKai, a metaverse and conversational AI company, and THINK450, the partnership and innovation engine of the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), have announced the debut of a new virtual space.
Coinciding with All-Star Weekend, this promises an easily accessible, immersive experience for basketball enthusiasts, offering for the first time exclusive access to players, merchandise, contests, and more.
During the week of its launch, the NBPA metaverse will open its vault to limited edition daily merchandise drops from brands founded by, invested in, respected, or endorsed by NBPA members, also known as “F.I.R.E brands.”
The vault will also include merchandise from The Sanctuary capsule, a performance line previously reserved only for players.
Additionally, fans can also join virtual meet-and-greets with NBPA members such as CJ McCollum, enabling them to take selfies with their avatars and ask questions in real-time.
L'Occitane
L'Occitane En Provence has announced the launch of its third virtual store this year, in partnership with Emperia.
This initiative aims to redefine the celebration of Ramadan, offering an interactive experience that emphasises togetherness, gifting, and self-reflection.
People can enter a traditional Middle Eastern house, set within a warm village atmosphere, designed in collaboration with Jeddah-based artist Bayan Yasien, inspired by the spirit of Ramadan in Arab countries.
This project centres on warmth, love, security, and shared moments, all symbolising holiday traditions.
Each illustration showcases L'Occitane products, with every artwork telling a unique story, capturing moments from the preparation of iftar to the celebration of Eid.
Following the tradition of gifting during this period, L’Occitane presents a Ramadan beauty calendar and exclusive gift sets featuring bestsellers integrated into the virtual world. Guests can interactively explore the seasonal exclusive offerings.
Recognising the occurrence of skin dehydration during Ramadan fasting, L’Occitane assists customers in identifying the right skincare routine through a questionnaire where each response generates a final product recommendation that guests can directly add to their shopping cart.
The experience also allows for social sharing, either via an e-mail or direct social network message. Guests can shop with friends, share their choices with loved ones, and simplify the gift-shopping journey.
Additionally, any shared experience grants both the sender and recipient an exclusive discount.
SpartanNash
Simbe Robotics has announced an expanded partnership with SpartanNash.
After an initial roll-out, its Store Intelligence solution, featuring an inventory robot called Tally, will be deployed to an additional 60 SpartanNash owned stores across the Midwest this year.
This informs product stocking, ordering, merchandising, and e-commerce fulfilment with real-time inventory insights across every store area.
It enables associates to ensure items are available for customers with accurate location and price, while freeing up their time for more engaging, guest facing work.
"We first piloted Tally in 15 stores and the success of that launch motivated us to expand Tally across more locations to help associates save time in inventory tracking and spend more time on the floor serving our store guests," says SpartanNash Executive Vice President, Corporate Retail Tom Swanson.
“The real-time data intelligence Tally provides helps ensure our store guests' favourite items always stay fresh, are adequately stocked and priced competitively, helping us deliver the ingredients for a better life."
Bravado and Apple Corps
In celebration of the 60th anniversary of The Beatles hitting the US for the first time, Universal Music Group’s (UMG’s) merchandise and brand management company, Bravado, has partnered with Apple Corps on The First US Visit virtual shopping experience, allowing fans to immerse themselves in the UK band’s history with exclusive merch and interactive elements.
On 7th February 1964, Beatlemania officially reached the United States when John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr stepped off of Pan Am flight 101 at John F. Kennedy airport in New York City to the reception of thousands of fans and journalists.
Two days later, Ed Sullivan took the stage at Studio 50 proclaiming, “Ladies and gentleman, The Beatles!” to a then record setting audience of 75 million Americans, which to this day remains one of the top 30 most watched US television programmes in history.
The week that followed included an overnight visit to Washington DC, two sold out shows at New York’s Carnegie Hall and another live performance on The Ed Sullivan Show from Miami.
Rohlik Group
European e-commerce grocery delivery firm Rohlik Group reports that it is investing in AutoStore automation technology in the Austrian market.
In a LinkedIn post, Tomáš Čupr, Group CEO at Rohlik Group, said: “We're thrilled to announce a major leap forward in our journey towards innovation and efficiency: our latest investment in automation technology in Vienna which will become operational after summer.”
“This move is set to unlock further growth in the Austrian market, ensuring that we continue to deliver exceptional service and quality to our customers.”
He added: “Following the successful launch of our automated fulfilment centre in Frankfurt this February, and with Berlin's automated FC gearing up to start operations in May, we're proud to say that all our DACH region fulfilment centres will be fully automated.”
“This is not just an upgrade; it's a transformation that promises to redefine our operational capabilities and customer experience. Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to push the boundaries and set new standards in the industry.”
Dulux Decorator Centre
Dulux Decorator Centre has announced a partnership with last mile, on-demand delivery network Gophr.
This will see the company expand its sub-two hour Rapid delivery service on paint, tools and accessories for its customers across the UK.
Dulux Decorator Centre operates in over 230 stores across the UK and online.
It introduced its Rapid delivery offering in November 2022, and recently won a British Coatings Federation award for Customer Service.
The Gophr partnership, one of several that the decorating merchant is announcing to grow its delivery choices for customers, will help expand the availability of sub-two hour deliveries six days per week to 71% of its UK customer base.
Additionally, a 90-minute turnaround will be available in city centres.
Co-op
Co-op and Snappy Shopper have embarked upon a local store-to-door trial in Northern Ireland to further expand access to the convenience retailer’s rapid online home delivery of groceries.
This launched from Co-op’s Shankill Road, Belfast, and has now been extended to its store in Kings Road, Gilnahirk.
George Hayworth, Head of Online Development, Co-op, says: “Working with Snappy Shopper fits with our quick and convenient approach to e-commerce - a model which sees products picked fresh in the local store, so the high street store benefits from increased online demand.”
“We continually look for new ways to expand and grow our online offer, and are pleased to launch a trial with Snappy Shopper to provide increased customer choice and access to our products - serving our member-owners and customers close to our stores with what they want and need, when and where they need it.”
Zippin
The 58th Super Bowl took place on Sunday at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The Kansas City Chiefs made it to the Super Bowl for the second year running. They were the reigning champions, having beaten the Philadelphia Eagles last year. And they emerged victorious again in 2024, winning 25-22.
They were taking on the San Francisco 49ers this time around in a rematch of the 2020 season finale, when the Chiefs claimed a 31-20 victory over the 49ers at Miami's Hard Rock Stadium.
Taylor Swift has become a regular at Chiefs games since she started dating their player Travis Kelce last year.
And she was in attendance following her final world tour performance in Japan.
If Swift was peckish or thirsty, perhaps she tried out one of the Allegiant Stadium’s ten Zippin powered checkout free stores, which is more than any venue. In fact, over 65,000 fans were able to experience the convenience of checkout-free during the game.
Boxbar
Boxbar has launched what is pitched as the world’s first ever automated self-serve, full menu drinks solution.
This allows event organisers and venue operators to serve up to eight different beverage types all from the same terminal.
It has the ability to serve beers (including Guinness), ciders, wines, cocktails, spirit and mixers and soft drinks from a single terminal.
“Beverage sales are key to the success and profitability of businesses, yet bar service is still defined by a dwindling pool of trained staff, excessive queuing, long wait times, throttled sales and frustrated customers,” says Reshad Hossenally, Boxbar CEO and Co-Founder.
“With Boxbar we’re 360% faster, serving two drinks in 30 seconds. We’ve seen first hand how much this can affect queuing times, on average dropping by over 70%.”
“Simply put, fans enjoy a far better experience whilst operators increase efficiencies and sales, reduce overheads and boost profitability.”
Alipay
Alipay reports that its AI features drew nearly 600 million interactions during its signature annual Five Fortune Chinese New Year campaign across 12 days, from 29th January to 9th February.
The campaign encourages consumers to collect digital Five Fortune cards in the Alipay app.
This year, Alipay has introduced for the first time four AI powered experiences for the Five Fortune campaign, namely "AI Theatre," "AI Fortune Hunt," "AI Photo Studio," and "AI Red Packets."
Wayfair
Decorify, Wayfair's generative AI pilot application, is now available on Apple Vision Pro.
Using the app, users can redesign their spaces in familiar and new styles, and experience their new spaces in an immersive environment. The app is available in the visionOS App Store for Apple Vision Pro
Users have a variety of options to see their spaces redesigned. They can upload a photo of their space, take a photo of their space from the device, or use one of the sample images provided by the app.
Decorify presents images of the customer's own room redesigned to reflect the requested look and feel. Customers can browse various room designs and purchase items of interest from Wayfair.
Designed to take advantage of spatial computing, Decorify enables users to view and select Wayfair items in 3D directly in their spaces to see how they look and fit.
All 3D items are at full scale and anchor to the floor, so shoppers can see a variety of lifesize products in any room or space in their home.
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