Including Cegid, Gopuff, Stripe, Cheddar, and Quadient: 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 Uber Eats, Beef ‘O’ Brady’s, Aldi, HelloFresh, Misfits Market, The Range, URBN, Homebase, and Cheddar.
Aldi
In partnership with Aldi, Grabango has launched Aldigo checkout-free shopping at a Chicago area grocery store.
Aldi lays claim to being the first major US grocery retailer to deploy checkout-free technology in an existing, full size store.
“The launch of Aldigo is a pivotal moment for the grocery industry,” says Will Glaser, CEO at Grabango.
“Although more challenging, it was important to us to launch this technology in a typical store and not one purpose built for us. Aldi is one of the most innovative retailers in the world, and we are honoured to partner with them to give their shoppers an exciting new way to shop the store.”
The Grabango system was added to an existing store without the need to make any changes to its planogram or product displays.
The technology, which uses computer vision to identify and keep track of every item in the store, allows shoppers to exit the store without waiting in line or scanning items.
Uber Eats and Forage
Forage, a San Francisco-based PayTech firm, has announced a partnership with Uber Eats to enable payment processing of SNAP EBT, when the delivery platform launches the product in late 2024.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programme (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp Programme, is a federal government initiative that provides food purchasing assistance for low- and no-income people to help them maintain adequate nutrition and health.
Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) is an electronic system that allows a participant to pay for food using SNAP benefits.
“We believe healthy foods should be accessible to all,” says Karl Hebert, Vice President of Payments, Risk, and Identity at Uber.
“We are excited to partner with Forage to provide our customers the same seamless payments experience they've become accustomed to on Uber when using their SNAP benefits.”
Gopuff and Misfits Market
Gopuff has launched a Fresh Grocery assortment powered by Misfits Market, a direct to consumer online grocer that aims to reduce food waste.
Combining Gopuff's instant delivery with good value driven by Misfits Market’s differentiated sourcing model, the partnership will deliver a range of more than 300 items, including fresh fruit and vegetables, dairy, meat, poultry, fresh bread and more, to customers’ doors in as fast as 15 minutes.
“We are thrilled to unveil our Fresh Grocery initiative today. By capitalising on our vertically integrated model and expansive scale, Gopuff is uniquely equipped to deliver high quality fresh produce and groceries at very affordable prices,” says Yakir Gola, Gopuff Co-founder and Co-CEO.
“We are proud to partner with Misfits Market to make it possible for our customers to get 300+ fruits, vegetables, dairy, poultry, fresh bread and more in as fast as 15 minutes.”
“The addition of fresh grocery on top of Gopuff’s existing 5,000 everyday essentials brings us one step closer in achieving our mission of maximising every moment in our customers lives and marks a transformative advancement for our customers.”
Cheddar
UK rewards app, Cheddar, has expanded its category of partners across grocery and fashion - with Waitrose and John Lewis, Sainsbury’s, and Asos now available to users.
The three retailers join over 150+ brands on its platform.
Through prepaid cards purchased on Cheddar, consumers can earn 5% cashback at Asos and up to 3.5% cashback at Waitrose/John Lewis and Sainsbury's. Once gift cards are purchased, savings are accessible immediately and redeemed to the user's bank account.
HelloFresh
UK-based recipe box company and food solutions group, HelloFresh, has opened a flagship automated production facility in Derby. The site, named The Windmill, was opened with a ribbon cutting ceremony by UK CEO Adam Park and Pauline Latham, MP for Mid Derbyshire.
It has created around 300 jobs for the local community to date with more expected in the coming months as it ramps up production.
The Windmill has been developed in partnership with SmartParc SEGRO Derby, a low-carbon food manufacturing campus in Spondon, Derby, to be one of the most sustainable production facilities in the country.
Features include a rainwater harvesting system, a 22 MVA rooftop solar panel array, and a shared heating and cooling system which recycles heat from refrigeration plants and reuses it to heat water and offices across the estate.
The site achieved an ‘Excellent’ BREEAM rating for its energy efficiency and will derive 100% of its energy from renewable sources.
It will also have EV charging spaces, local bus services that are aligned with production times and provide secure bike storage (alongside a cycle-to-work scheme).
Beef ‘O’ Brady’s
ParTech reports that American restaurant franchise, Beef ‘O’ Brady’s, has selected PAR MENU and PAR Punchh for its omnichannel ordering and loyalty platforms.
Beef ‘O’ Brady’s, known for its motto ‘Good Food. Good Sports.’, is looking to to elevate its digital presence with PAR MENU.
Beyond its mobile app and web interfaces for first-party ordering channels, this integrates with third-party delivery marketplaces like UberEats, DoorDash and Grubhub.
URBN
Stripe has announced a partnership with URBN to power online and in-person retail payments for Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie Group, Free People, and FP Movement.
With Stripe as its primary payments infrastructure, URBN says it will introduce a more consistent checkout experience for its customers with the goal of increasing authorisation rates and enabling future innovation.
“Payments are a critical link between our brands and millions of URBN customers who expect checkouts to be as easy as trying on an outfit or adding items to a cart,” says Dave Hayne, Chief Technology Officer at URBN.
“Stripe lets us stay focused on building the best unified commerce experience possible by removing the complexity of payments across our brands.”
The Range
The Range has chosen Virtualstock as its technology partner to enhance its capability to sell more products online through dropshipping.
The UK retailer struck a multimillion-pound deal to buy the 93 year-old Wilko brand in 2023. This included the wilko.com website which was already utilising the Virtualstock platform.
Now, both brands will tap the company’s cloud-based SaaS platform.
Cegid
Cegid, a European specialist in cloud management solutions for professionals in the finance (treasury, tax, ERP), human resources (payroll, talent management), accountancy, retail and entrepreneurship sectors, is to launch a new Point of Delivery (PoD), built on Microsoft Azure, in Dubai for retailers based in the Middle East.
Cegid says that it is strategically extending its global footprint by investing in the Middle East.
By situating its newest PoD in Dubai, Cegid is aiming to play a significant role in the fashion and luxury market of the Middle East, which is projected to flourish, reaching €30-€35 billion as per insights by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
Homebase
Quadient has announced a new partnership with Homebase, a UK home improvement retailer.
This allows Homebase to host parcel lockers as part of Quadient’s Open Locker Network, with the aim of offering convenient, secure delivery and pickup solutions for carriers and consumers at its stores across the United Kingdom.
Neil Robinson, Head of Property at Homebase, says: “The introduction of smart lockers makes it even easier for customers to pick up or return their online deliveries in-store, as well as acting as an extension of our own click and collect service.”
The partnership is a step on Quadient’s journey to roll out 5,000 open locker locations across the UK.
Hectare
Hectare, a provider of agricultural technology supply chain solutions, has announced the launch of Advance Pay, a new embedded finance product that, according to a press release, “gives arable farmers access to instant cash flow from their grain contracts at a fair market interest rate”.
This aims to solve the challenges of financing last mile grain supply chains, with Hectare laying claim to being the first to market to offer an independent solution without the heavy costs or administration headaches of traditional finance, lock-in contracts for grain pools, or input financing.
With Advance Pay on grain trades, farmers receive instant payment for up to 80% of the contract's value.
Continue reading…