Including Bestseller, Leroy Merlin, and Kingfisher: 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 Storyblok, Mastercard, Mirakl, Shopify, Avery Dennison, Locally, objectsource, and Parcel Pending by Quadient.
DW Drums
DW Drums, a drum manufacturer that is endorsed and used by drummers from bands such as Two Door Cinema Club, Descendents, Slash, Foreigner, and Avenged Sevenfold, is using Storyblok’s CMS to modernise its content operations.
It partnered with the digital agency, Domaine, to build a new digital presence that includes a native e-commerce platform for the very first time.
A&W Restaurants
ParTech reports that A&W Restaurants has chosen its PAR Data Central for Enterprise Reporting and Analytics offering.
“A&W has grown to need an extra layer of insights across the organisation that is maintenance free, reliable, accurate, and fast,” says Brett Allan, Senior Director of IT and Analytics at A&W Restaurants.
“PAR Data Central's Enterprise Reporting & Analytics module allows us to get a high level picture for our Restaurant Support Center to understand what factors are driving the business.”
A&W is also a customer of both PAR Brink POS and PAR Data Central.
Mastercard and ING
Kingfisher
Kingfisher has announced the launch of a home improvement e-commerce marketplace at Castorama France.
The launch follows marketplaces at B&Q in the UK, Brico Dépôt in Spain and Portugal and its Koçtaş joint venture in Turkey.
Castorama France will introduce over 500,000 new products from verified third-party merchants onto its e-commerce channels. This represents a sevenfold increase in the product choice available for the banner’s customers, complementing the c.70,000 products already available directly from Castorama.
Merchants will benefit from a presence on its website, which attracts between 10 and 15 million visitors per month. They will also be able to access retail media solutions offered by Kingfisher.
The marketplace leverages a scalable Kingfisher technology platform built in conjunction with partners at Mirakl. Kingfisher is preparing to launch a further marketplace harnessing this technology at its Castorama Poland banner later this year.
Leroy Merlin
Zitcha is partnering with the world’s third largest home improvement and gardening retailer to launch a digital retail media network across South Africa.
Leroy Merlin, the French headquartered DIY chain which has outlets in Europe, Asia and South America, selected Zitcha following a competitive review.
Australian founded Zitcha has been engaged by it to manage its digital retail media ecosystem, including on-site, off-site and in-store media, using its automated platform to drive additional new revenues from brand advertisers and enhanced customer experiences through personalisation.
The move marks Zitcha’s entry into the South African retail media market.
Stonegate Group
Stonegate Group, a UK pub company with a portfolio of more than 4,500 managed, leased and tenanted sites, including Yates, Slug and Lettuce, and Walkabout, has joined the Parcel Pending by Quadient Open Locker Network as a host partner.
Quadient has started rolling out its carrier agnostic parcel lockers, with an initial target of installing 400 units across Stonegate’s 1,200 managed properties.
“We believe pubs sit at the heart of British culture and support any move that can turn them into even more of an asset to the local community,” says Claire Rust, Senior Buying Manager, Stonegate Group.
“Parcel Pending by Quadient smart lockers enable people living near our pubs to easily and securely pick up and return online deliveries from a convenient, trusted location. From Plymouth to Glasgow, introducing parcel lockers to our sites is already benefitting customers and the local community.”
Wren Kitchens
Kitchen retailer Wren Kitchens is using Descartes Systems Group appointment scheduling, route planning and optimisation solution to improve surveyor productivity, allowing it to complete 56% more customer appointments and reduce its overall ‘cost per appointment’, which has saved the company £2 million annually.
It says that the solution has dramatically improved the productivity of Wren’s surveyors, who typically visit a customer’s home to provide estimates for kitchen or bedroom renovation projects.
Tea Shop
Tea Shop, which lays claim to being the first Spanish chain selling fresh tea in bulk, is rolling out nsign.tv’s digital signage platform across almost 100 stores in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Brazil and Argentina.
The company, founded in 1990 and offering more than 140 varieties of tea in its stores, was looking to improve the customer experience and adapt to emerging technology trends in the retail sector.
“Our needs were focused on optimising interaction with consumers, providing detailed information about our products in a dynamic and efficient way, as well as highlighting promotions and special events in a more effective way,” says Ana María Avilés Pinto, Marketing & Communication Manager at Tea Shop.
“In addition, we were looking for a solution that would allow a more agile and centralized management of content in all our stores.”
Pink Friday Nails
Rapper and singer, Nicki Minaj, has launched a press-on nail brand Pink Friday Nails, with an online offering powered by Shopify.
"When I became a mom, I couldn't spend as much time getting my nails done as when I only had to worry about me, so it became a necessity to create fly, quality press-on nails," says Minaj.
"I told my team when we started Pink Friday Nails that if I don't want to wear them, I'm not going to even attempt to sell them because our customers aren't stupid. Pink Friday Nails are the actual nails I wear designed by my actual nail tech.”
“And I have very small nail beds, so normally press-ons are way too big and don't hit the same. Our nails come from short to the longest length I wear, in all shapes, all sizes, and polishes."
Bestseller
Avery Dennison has announced a partnership with fashion apparel company company Bestseller. It recently deployed Avery Dennison’s distribution centre (DC) solution.
In particular, Bestseller tapped Case Verification to RFID enable its DCs and boost inventory and shipping accuracy for millions of items per year.
Michael Kaufmann, Senior Director, Logistics, Identification Solutions at Avery Dennison, says, “The apparel industry has seen enormous benefits in bricks and mortar stores through RFID technology by boosting product availability and improving the consumer experience.”
“With our recent implementations, we have seen how much more can be unlocked when leveraging the technology more consistently throughout the supply chain to drive accuracy and product availability.”
“Case Verification is a natural next step for us to create more value for brands and consumers, and we are incredibly proud to be partnering with Bestseller on this implementation. Ultimately, this is an important building block for an efficient, fully digitised supply chain.”
The Rake
objectsource, an Adobe Commerce and Magento Open Source consultancy, has been appointed by luxury magazine publisher and e-commerce platform, The Rake, to boost its online presence.
The Rake’s new platform fuses Adobe Commerce Cloud with a blend of luxury content, tailored shopping experiences, and a focus on internationalisation.
Initially, objectsource integrated its editorial content into Adobe Commerce Cloud, providing a platform for luxury brands to showcase their products.
A subscription element was introduced enabling subscribers to enjoy uninterrupted access to exclusive content, while the marketing automation platform Klaviyo was also deployed.
Following the delivery of the initial redesign and re-platforming in time for the magazine’s 15th anniversary celebration, objectsource has continued to enhance the platform.
To provide a cross-border tax and e-commerce solution for The Rake’s international clientele, objectsource implemented Digital River. This includes a ‘landed cost’ feature, ensuring consumers can easily understand the total cost of their desired products when shopping internationally.
Locally
Locally debuted proprietary analytics tools at Shoptalk 2024, which took place from 17th-20th March in Las Vegas.
The technology enables clients to visualise shoppers’ online behaviour, predicting purchase patterns across local retailers, geo-markets and products. Locally will be exhibiting at booth 741 at Shoptalk.
Specifically, the tool enables brands and retail partners to monitor shopping trends in real-time and, as a result, make more intelligent sales forecasts.
In addition, companies may utilise the data to optimise their supply chains based on need and product popularity.
Continue reading…