Artificial intelligence is everywhere: RTIH rolls out the biggest retail technology news stories of the week
It’s Friday, the weekend is almost upon us, so let’s kick back and reflect on another eventful week for the retail systems space. Here's your briefing on the most important stories from the past five days, including Best Buy, Marks and Spencer, Rohlik Group, B&Q, and Retail Technology Show 2024.
1. AI, AR, 3D, and immersive experiences: The second RTIH Retail Technology Innovations Report goes live
This highlights the top 50 retail tech plays of the past 12 months as decided by our Editor, Scott Thompson, and an independent advisory panel.
We were looking for groundbreaking technology deployments, launches, and pilots from across the omnichannel retail landscape, be they payments, supply chain, online, mobile, physical store etc related.
Thompson produced a longlist which then went to the advisory panel, consisting of:
Mike Cadden, Chief Technology Officer, Marie Curie
Matt Taylor, Technology Transformation Leader at EY, Retail and Consumer Products
Christine Russo, Retail Industry Analyst
Carole Kingsbury, Former Director of IT, Ted Baker
Peter Waugh, Director, International Digital (EMEA, LAC & AP), Starbucks
Nadine Neatrour, Marketing Director, Selfridges
Matt Bradley, Director and Founder, Retail Technology Show
They picked their stand out retail technology plays, put forward their own favourite innovations, and, based on this, Thompson drew up the final 50.
Innovation and technology play a critical role in the success of the retail sector, and it is great to celebrate this with the 2024 Retail Technology Innovations report.
Many thanks to 3D Cloud by Marxent, which provides 3D product visualisation software trusted by top furniture and DIY retailers, for sponsoring it.
Download the report in pdf format here.
Or read via Issuu.
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2. Best Buy Envision apps lets customers explore, discover and bring new technology to life in their living space
Best Buy has launched Envision, an app designed by the retailer’s team exclusively for the Apple Vision Pro that helps users plan their ultimate home technology setup.
This uses augmented reality to let people preview 3D models of some of their favourite products.
That means while wearing Apple Vision Pro, they can see 3D images of how a variety of different products will look and feel in their space before they buy them. It includes big screen TVs, large and small appliances, fitness equipment, and furniture.
Shoppers can put on their Vision Pro, open the Envision app and scroll through hundreds of options to see them appear digitally in their physical space.
Once they find the right option, they can access product ratings and pricing, send the product directly to a friend through text/email, or open the product page within the Vision Pro Safari app to make their purchase online.
“Best Buy Envision is another way we’re utilising innovative technology to humanise consumer electronics like no one can,” says Brian Tilzer, Chief Digital, Analytics and Technology Officer at Best Buy.
“The app allows our customers to see, in a lifelike way, how technology will look and feel right in their own homes, delivering an immersive and personalised shopping experience.”
3. Marks and Spencer hands Brits the chance to give pre-loved clothing a second life via Oxfam postal donation tie up
M&S is calling on the public to donate their unwearable clothing, alongside their wearable clothing, through the trial of a free postal donation service, in partnership with Oxfam.
It is estimated that UK homes contain 1.6 billion items of unworn clothing which have the potential to be used, re-used or recycled.
However, new research conducted on behalf of M&S found that one third of the UK doesn’t know what to do with clothes that cannot be re-worn – with three in yen consumers admitting to disposing of unwearable clothes in their household waste bin.
The bag, which is made from 100% recycled plastic, allows for preloved clothing to be separated into two groups - those that are good quality and wearable and those that are unwearable - but equally too good to waste - and return them for free via a local courier where they will then go directly to Oxfam to be resold, reused, or recycled.
4. Rohlik Group invests in automation technologies as AutoStore powered warehouse goes live in Berlin
European e-commerce grocery delivery firm Rohlik Group has gone live with Knuspr.de in Berlin, Germany, powered by an automated warehouse and AutoStore technology.
This is part of its plan to reach €10 billion in revenue by 2030 and to expand into 15 additional German cities. The service reaches across the entire Berlin area, extending to neighbouring Potsdam and parts of Brandenburg, and operates from a Schönefeld distribution centre.
"In my experience in the online grocery industry, it is only a true leader who can transition a brand, automate a warehouse and launch with a large SKU range in four months,” says Vineta Bajaj, Group CFO at Rohlik Group, and formerly of Ocado Group.
“I'm extremely proud of what Rohlik Group is doing as a business, and excited about our future.”
5. Retail Technology Show 2024 review: panel debates innovation and trends including AI and RFID
AI usage was inevitably identified as another key trend, alongside RFID, and the need to better integrate technology.
“Security is crucial at the moment, especially in the self-checkout environment, and during a Cost of Living (CoL) crisis when the need to protect colleagues and stock has never been higher,” said Martin Rushton, Head of Commercial Projects at AF Blakemore, the owner of the Spar chain of convenience stores.
Speaking at RTS 2024 at London Olympia on 24th April, Rushton wondered, however, how far you could take preventive measures to stop theft, or shrinkage as it’s euphemistically known in retail?
“For example, would you really want to roll-out camera-linked customer face recognition AI in-store and only let customers in if you knew them?,” he said.
That is highly unlikely to ever happen in the West, but even the thought illustrates the scale of the present security and theft problem. Online fraud is also an issue.
6. Rithum tapped by B&Q to drive e-commerce growth by cutting time it takes for brands to list new products
Rithum has been appointed by UK home improvement retailer, B&Q, to support its online marketplace expansion by reducing the time it takes for brands to be onboarded to its website.
Philip Hall, Managing Director for EMEA at Rithum, says: “Consumers are more often than not shopping around for the best price, and even traditionally bricks and mortar sectors are becoming more present online.”
“Home improvement became a big focus during lockdown and being able to bring new products online quickly and efficiently will be essential to success as trends evolve.”
“Our collaboration will mean B&Q can easily expand its inventory catalogue and strengthen customer and supplier relations.”
“Tools like automated SKU conversion, product discovery, and supplier and product performance insights give them the flexibility to launch and manage any partnership model. All essential factors in helping to support growth.”
7. Retail Technology Show 2024 review: retailer panel discusses how to increase competitive advantage
“AI is everywhere,” said John Bates, Technology Director at Morrisons at Retail Technology Show (RTS) 2024 in London this week. Fellow panellists from B&Q, Deliveroo and Morleys Department Store certainly agreed, as they laid out how to use it for competitive advantage.
Bates discussed AI’s use in the supply chain and on store replenishment, where linked cameras can identify gaps and feed a visual and data AI model to get product back on shelves quickly.
“We use it for demand forecasting and have lots of Proof of Concept (PoCs) at the moment,” he commented.
“I’m interested in using AI to fill in meta data blanks via the ChatGPT application at present,” said Paul Wilkinson, Product Director at Deliveroo, while pointing out that AI had built and enabled the company’s business.
“There wouldn’t be a Deliveroo without AI. Without it, we couldn’t organise all our riders, shops, pick-ups and so on. There would be too many inputs and too much data to handle without AI helping us.”
8. Store workforce scheduling firm Orquest named winner of Retail Technology Show 2024 Innovation Awards
Artificial intelligence driven in-store workforce scheduling solution, Orquest, has been announced as the winner of the 2024 Innovation Awards by Retail Technology Show 2024.
Announced at the BIG Retail Party at the end of day one, Orquest was chosen from a shortlist of ten companies also selected as finalists as part of the 2024 Innovation Awards programme, which champions best-in-class technologies and solutions.
Each year, the RTS Innovation Awards seek out the foremost examples of future forward innovation from across the RTS show floor, selecting those disruptive technologies that that can transform retailers’ operations – from building sustainable retailing practices, to next-generation in-store solutions and new retail formats.
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