Parcel lockers, dropshipping and books in a jiffy: 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 Aldi UK, Books-A-Million, New Look, Draper James, Foodhub, and Metcalfe's Market.
Aldi UK
Aldi is trialling the use of parcel lockers outside a selection of its UK stores, including Glasgow, Liverpool, Colchester, Portsmouth, Gravesend, Bournemouth, Cardiff, Preston, Nuneaton, and Bristol.
Customers will be able to collect and return online orders from other retailers at select Aldi stores, thanks to the retailer’s new partnership with InPost.
Throughout March, InPost lockers will be available outside 22 Aldi stores across the country, with a full list of locations available below.
The trial will conclude after a 12-week period, with the aim to roll it out to more stores if successful.
Books-A-Million
Just ahead of National Read Across America Day on 2nd March, Books-A-Million is rolling out same-day delivery to customers across the US with Walmart GoLocal.
Customers who place online orders between 29th February to 9th March will receive a $5 off $25 coupon and a free reusable tote.
“We are excited to offer the convenience and speed of same-day delivery across our entire chain of Books-A-Million stores nationwide,” says Pete Zophy, Senior Vice President of E-commerce at Books-A-Million.
"Our commitment to providing exceptional service and value is at the forefront of everything we do, and this new offering is just one more way we are delivering on that promise."
New Look
New Look, an omnichannel fashion retailer in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, says that it has chosen Dayforce to help provide “a modern employee experience, optimise its workforce, and unify its HR and payroll processes in a single cloud HCM platform”.
With more than 8,500 employees, plus additional seasonal workers during busy holiday periods, New Look was searching for a solution to unify the employee experience across bricks and mortar stores, e-commerce, and fulfilment. It also wanted to provide the mobile first, self-serve experience its team craves.
With Dayforce, New Look says it will better optimise its labour force and support future growth, streamline scheduling and workforce management, and help maintain compliance in an evolving regulatory environment - all in one system.
There will also be the addition of on-demand pay with Dayforce Wallet in the UK.
The dennree Group
The dennree Group, a trading company for organic food in the German speaking region, is working with RELEX Solutions, provider of unified supply chain and retail planning solutions, for forecasting and replenishment, and space management capabilities.
It will replace its legacy system with RELEX to improve availability, reduce out of stocks, and ultimately, eliminate food waste.
Silver Cross
Voyado, a Swedish retail technology platform, has been chosen by British brand, Silver Cross, to help it deliver personalised shopping experiences and increase customer engagement in the UK.
While already working with parenting retail brands across the Nordics, this marks Voyado’s first UK partnership in the space.
Foodhub
Online food delivery and takeaway app, Foodhub, says that it has improved conversions and reduced basket abandonment, partnering with MoEngage.
Founded in 2008, Foodhub is now the UK’s third largest online food delivery service, which offers customers exclusive deals on online takeaways and food deliveries through its network of 30,000+ restaurant, takeaway and quick service retail (QSR) partners.
When customers use the app to order, they not only benefit from the exclusive deals but also enjoy lower menu prices.
The firm wanted to build deeper levels of customer insight and personalisation to grow app usage and encourage repeat custom, while reducing customer churn.
Draper James
Draper James, the fashion and lifestyle brand founded by actress, producer and entrepreneur Reese Witherspoon, has selected Cart.com as its US fulfilment partner.
It says that Cart.com’s logistics network and 3PL capabilities will enable it to simplify omnichannel fulfilment, improve customer experience and meet increasing consumer demand.
Trax Retail
Trax Retail has announced the US launch of Signal-Based Merchandising (SBM), providing brands with real-time visibility into what is happening within the store and on the shelf, down to the stock keeping unit (SKU) level.
SBM engages a network of shoppers, while they are already in the store, to gather real-time retail condition data points – what Trax calls signals – so brands can make quick and cost-effective decisions about their store level execution.
"The fundamental principles of merchandising are broken. Brands don’t have visibility into what is happening in store aisles which results in inefficiencies and lost sales. Consumer habits ebb and flow, and brands need real-time visibility into store and shelf conditions to take corrective action within hours, not weeks,” says David Gottlieb, Chief Revenue Officer at Trax Retail.
“We’re on a mission to disrupt how the industry thinks about and utilises retail execution today, and believe that our SBM solution will be transformative for the industry.”
Vroom Delivery
Vroom Delivery has announced the launch of Commerce 360, pitched as the first full-stack digital commerce solution designed specifically for convenience stores.
The aim is to facilitate a seamless omnichannel experience by automating the management of product information and inventory across all digital ordering and delivery channels.
Vroom Delivery has also unveiled a new logo and refreshed brand identity.
"We launched Vroom Delivery in 2016 with the mission to enable proprietary delivery services for convenience stores, but we soon realised a broader vision," says John Nelson, CEO and Co-Founder.
“Our technology, initially designed to mirror and automate the in-store experience for one digital platform, proved capable across all digital platforms. Commerce 360 brings it all together under one solution and allows us to power sales wherever customers are.”
Etam Group
Data integrity specialist, Precisely, reports that Etam Group, a retailer and lingerie brand in France, has implemented its Automate Studio solution across all subsidiaries to support company wide accounts payable processes.
By providing SAP data access to decision-makers in real-time, Automate Studio (formerly Winshuttle Studio) enables Etam’s accounting teams to work autonomously without support from IT personnel, reduce operational costs, and drive greater innovation across the organisation.
Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business
Mashgin reports deployment of its self-checkout technology at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business in Hanover, New Hampshire.
New touchless self-checkout kiosks speed up the checkout experience for Tuck students, with average transaction times at Mashgin kiosks said to be between 10 and 16 seconds.
These use AI powered computer vision to recognise and ring up objects up to 10x faster than traditional checkout with a cashier. Mashgin instantly identifies packaged goods, produce, and open plated food items (e.g., a piece of fruit, salad, combo meal plate) from any angle.
Consumers place their items on the kiosks and are ready to pay without barcodes, apps or RFIDs.
Bensons for Beds
Virtualstock, a dropshipping SaaS platform, has been selected as Bensons for Beds’ new technology partner.
Its tech will be used to enhance the retailer’s dropship capabilities and provide a richer shopping experience by expanding its online product range, at a time when consumer preference is increasingly turning towards internet shopping.
Migrating to the new platform will also help to streamline its operations; buying stock at the exact moment customers purchase it, reducing surplus stock and warehouse space
Supreme
Supreme, an American clothing and skateboarding lifestyle brand established in New York City in 1994, has opened an online store in South Korea, powered by Shopify.
In a LinkedIn post, Harley Finkelstein, President at Shopify, said: “A year ago, we welcomed one of my dream brands, Supreme, to Shopify.”
“This week, Supreme successfully launched in a new market, South Korea, with Shopify. Their latest online geography since 2013. Proud that one of the most exciting retailers in the world trusts us with their business.”
Metcalfe's Market
Metcalfe's Market is adopting Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions technology across its stores.
The journey with Toshiba expanded in 2023 by integrating more Self Checkout System 7 solutions across all locations through partnerships with North Country Business Products (NCBP) and LOC Software.
This involves leveraging the system’s ability to support data driven decision-making and loyalty programmes.
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