Ramping up the fight against food waste: RTIH rolls out 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 Currys, Waitrose, WRAP, Zippin, Deliveroo, BT Group, Adyen, One Stop, Snappy Shopper, Starship Technologies, Back Market, and Google Cloud.
Waitrose and WRAP
This is taking place in Waitrose’s Thatcham store near Reading, with eye tracking software monitoring shopping habits.
Catherine Loader, Sustainability Manager at Waitrose, says: "We are committed to supporting customers in buying what they need, and during Food Waste Action Week we’re running trials to understand how signage and customer communications influences purchase of loose fruit and veg.”
“This trial is part of a wider strategy and pledge to offer more loose fruit and veg in store, which also reduces plastic waste. We’re committed to helping our customers reduce household food waste, with over 100 lines now packaging free.”
“We look forward to sharing the results of the trials and continuing to help our customers choose what they’ll use."
BT Group and Adyen
BT Group’s digital and startup incubation arm, Etc., has announced a partnership with FinTech big hitter, Adyen, to enable small business customers to accept in-person contactless payments with Tap to Pay on iPhone.
This allows merchants to accept physical debit and credit cards, Apple Pay and other digital wallets, removing the need for card readers or extra hardware.
The BT Tap to Pay app has been created with input and feedback from small businesses, mobile workers and sole traders across the UK.
In addition to enabling in-person contactless payments, Tap to Pay on iPhone and the BT Tap to Pay app includes built-in security and privacy features, the ability to view payment history at a glance, and a simplified refund process.
The partnership combines EE’s connectivity with Adyen’s expertise in mobile payments. Businesses using the service will receive BT Group’s transaction rate of 1.4% on customer payments taken.
Apple’s Tap to Pay on iPhone technology uses the built-in features of iPhone to keep business and customer data private and secure. When a payment is processed, Apple doesn’t store card numbers or transaction information on the device or on Apple servers.
The BT Tap to Pay app is available to download from the Apple App Store, and UK small businesses and sole traders can login with an EE or BT account to get started within minutes.
Sibstar
Sibstar, a debit card and app for people living with dementia that has appeared on the Dragons Den TV show, has been unveiled as the winner of the FinTech’s Pitch Live 2024 competition, held this week at the Pay360 trade show in London.
The UK competition, sponsored by Mastercard, involved the top three companies selected by a VC judging panel out of eight entrants, pitching live on the Pay360 exhibition floor, disruption stage, on Tuesday at the ExCel arena in London.
The winner was unveiled on Wednesday after an overnight judging process was combined with live votes collected from the audience.
One Stop
After a trial period across One Stop stores last year, the convenience retailer has officially selected Snappy Shopper as one of its home delivery partners.
With over 1,000 convenience stores nationwide, One Stop will initially introduce Snappy Shopper's quick commerce services to 250 of these locations, starting from June.
Mike Callachan, CEO at Snappy Shopper, comments: “Our partnership with One Stop, marks our first national retail roll-out, and is a great milestone for us as a business.”
“One Stop choosing us shows the recognition of Snappy Shopper both in the marketplace and for our white label business. We see One Stop as a retail partner that shares our values – its business model focuses on serving customers and their communities, providing convenience and accessibility.”
Currys
UK technology and electrical retailer Currys has built its own level in online video game Fortnite.
Pitched at Generation Z, this challenges players to collect as much e-waste as they can from a world awash with tech trash.
In an online statement, Currys says: “Our mission is to put an end to e-waste. According to a recent Uswitch study, the UK is predicted to become the world’s largest contributor of e-waste per capita this year.”
“So each year, we collect, re-use and recycle on average 60,000 tonnes of unwanted tech. That’s good news for the planet.”
“In addition to our recycling schemes, like ‘Cash for Trash’, where you get rewarded with a £5 voucher when you recycle your tech trash with us, we’re excited to introduce our brand new ‘Trash Tycoon’ game created in Fortnite – where we give players real-life gaming tech prizes.”
Check out more about Trash Tycoon and how the game works here.
Reiss
Fashion retailer Reiss has announced a new partnership with AI powered verification platform Compare Ethics as part of its commitment to sustainability and the use of responsible materials and standards in this area.
Said platform evaluates and ranks the quality of green claims against regulatory requirements, and offers actionable steps for achieving full compliance.
It will verify between 3-14 data points for every sustainability claim made by Reiss, with the aim of ensuring compliance to all regulations and reducing internal workload.
John Lewis & Partners
Locus Robotics has announced a partnership with John Lewis & Partners following deployment of its Locus AMRs at the retailer’s distribution centre in Milton Keynes.
This represents the first deployment of mobile robotics automation at John Lewis, which reports a 50% increase in its picking rates.
The LocusBots collaborate with partners at the site to improve productivity and efficiency in order fulfilment, while also eliminating unproductive walking time and the need to push heavy carts or lift items.
The robotic fleet is helping John Lewis achieve greater throughput and accuracy as it scales up its e-commerce operations to meet rising customer demand.
Starship Technologies
Starship Technologies, a provider of autonomous delivery services, has announced the installation of the first wireless charging station for its robots in Europe.
Thanks to a collaboration with Cambourne Town Council, a fleet of its robots will now recharge between making grocery deliveries across Cambourne in Cambridgeshire.
The service first launching in Cambourne back in May 2022, offering groceries from the Co-op store at 29 Mosquito Road in Upper Cambourne.
Starship first introduced wireless charging stations on George Mason University campus in the US over six months ago.
It now expects to further reduce emissions in Cambourne as robots will no longer need to be couriered by van between service areas. Wireless charging is more energy efficient, allowing them to charge up overnight, while they’re sleeping, on-site.
Back Market
Google Cloud and Back Market, a global marketplace for verified refurbished technology, have announced an agreement which will involve the latter using the former’s infrastructure to support its international expansion, enhance its customer service capabilities, and reinforce its sustainability goals.
Back Market will leverage Google Cloud to develop generative AI solutions using Vertex AI that will help its service agents quickly understand the history and context of customers’ challenges for faster, more consistent resolution.
It will also kickstart broader exploration of Google Cloud’s generative AI’s applications, including language translations, content creation, and text analysis, to offer new personalised services for both customers and vendors.
Back Market is migrating its cloud infrastructure to Google Cloud in a bid to create greater operational efficiencies and capacity.
By adopting BigQuery, Google Cloud’s enterprise data warehouse platform, it says it will be able to improve the speed and ease with which it manages its data at scale, with higher security guarantees.
It will also benefit from the lower carbon footprint and higher sustainability performance of Google Cloud’s infrastructure.
The agreement comes after Back Market adopted Google Workspace in 2021 to support its internal communications and boost productivity.
Melbourne Cricket Ground
The new Australian Football League (AFL) season is underway, with the Melbourne Cricket Ground hosting four games and a combined 280,000 fans across 14th-17th March.
New to the venue this season are two Delaware North operated MCG Express outlets, in collaboration with checkout-free technology specialist Zippin.
DoorDash
DoorDash has announced new partnerships with Sally Beauty and M·A·C Cosmetics and an expanded offering with Sephora. Consumers can now get beauty, hair, make-up, and nail essentials delivered on-demand, in under an hour, directly to their door.
Deliveroo
Deliveroo is offering 15 hours of free childcare to 1,000 riders through a new partnership with the Bubble mobile app, with the aim of enabling people to work at the times that are right for them.
Riders will also be able to choose from more than 1,500 online educational courses through Lynx Educate.
A recent survey of Deliveroo riders in the UK and Ireland found that the majority with caring responsibilities look after children (88%), and would find care support useful (81%).
Currys (again)
Currys has become the first tech retailer to partner with WelcoMe, with the aim of improving the shopping experience for customers with disabilities.
The partnership launches in conjunction with Neurodiversity Celebration Week.
A purpose built web app, the aforementioned platform works by allowing shoppers with a disability to register an in-person store visit, online.
Through filling out a quick form indicating any specific disability related needs or information, and an estimated date/time of arrival, stores are then notified of the upcoming visit giving them the opportunity to prepare for and accommodate any specific requirements etc.
The tool also gives retail partners access to pointers and best practice techniques to help accommodate anybody, specific to certain disabilities.
The trial will be piloted across 20 Currys stores around the Birmingham region, including: Birmingham Castle Vale, Birmingham Highgate, Birmingham Selly Oak, Burton, Cannock, Kidderminster, Leicester Fosse, Leicester St Georges, Loughborough, Merry Hill Retail Park, Shrewsbury, Solihull, Stafford, Stoke Festival Park, Stoke Longton, Sutton Coldfield, Tamworth, Telford, Wednesbury J9 and Wolverhampton.
Shein
It’s a smart move, according to Brittain Ladd, a supply chain consultant and former Amazon executive.
In a LinkedIn post, he said: “Shein and Temu are both doing exactly what I stated they would do when I first started writing about the companies two years ago.”
“Primarily, they are following the Chinese business playbook written so well by Alibaba, Pinduoduo, and JD.com - provide an ecosystem of options and services that are open to all.”
Shein’s Executive Chairman, Donald Tang, announced the aforementioned plan in a letter to investors. allowing outside brands and designers to leverage his company’s system for testing out new fashion items in small batches and tracking how popular they are with consumers.
Tang called the new initiative “supply chain as a service.”
DoorDash (again) and Wing
DoorDash and Wing have announced the launch of their drone delivery partnership in the US, starting in Christiansburg, VA.
Select local consumers will be able to order eligible menu items from Wendy’s - the pilot’s first restaurant partner - through the DoorDash marketplace and have them delivered via drone.
This follows a pilot programme that the pair launched in Australia in 2022 and has since expanded to three locations in Queensland with over 60 participating merchants, marking the first time that Wing integrated its drone delivery service within another marketplace.
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