Featuring Walmart, Wilko, Asia Jewellers, MUJI, and 7-Eleven: 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 Polytag, RELEX Solutions, BigCommerce, Trustly, Cegid, Walmart Data Ventures, Blue Yonder, Zitcha and Venvee.

Polytag and Marks and Spencer

Polytag has announced M&S as a founding member of its Ecotrace Programme, an initiative focused on the tracing and recycling of single-use plastic packaging in the UK.

This will deploy a network of Polytag’s Invisible UV Tag detection equipment in strategically chosen recycling centres that handle high volumes of waste.

FMCG brands, retailers, and waste management businesses are invited to get involved in the programme to unlock granular data on over 50% of the UK’s household waste recycling stream.

As a founding member of the programme, M&S, will gain real-time insights into where, when, and how much of its single-use plastic packaging is collected and sorted at recycling centres across the UK.

This data – at barcode level – will provide a verified benchmark for understanding recycling rates of its used plastic packaging.

7-Eleven

ATM solutions provider, FCTI, has extended and expanded its long-term relationship with 7-Eleven, the largest convenience store chain in the United States.

Under the terms of its new agreement, FCTI will continue to operate ATMs in 7-Eleven branded locations, expand its services to Speedway branded locations, and roll-out new retail financial services to 7-Eleven customers.

It expects to increase its number of ATM locations from about 8,600 to 11,600 by the end of 2025.

Along with this expansion comes a variety of new services that FCTI plans to test and introduce to 7-Eleven customers and its ATM users.

Walmart

In 2021, Walmart established Walmart Data Ventures, a division dedicated to bringing to life new business applications of the US retail giant’s first-party data. The aim here is to enhance the customer experience across the entire value chain through Walmart Luminate, a data analytics product suite.

And it has now announced the international expansion of the Walmart Luminate platform beginning with Walmex in Mexico followed by Walmart Canada later this year.

Mirroring the strategy used in the US, this will be a phased launch, starting with shopper behaviour followed by channel performance and customer perception.

SideChef and Amazon Fresh

SideChef has added Amazon Fresh as a retailer grocery partner in the United Kingdom and Germany. This marks the first delivery party for the company in the European region. 

Founded in 2013, SideChef is an all-in-one home cooking and online grocery platform. Its app provides over 20,000 interactive shoppable recipes with audio and visual guidance.

Key features include hands free voice commands, step by step photos, how to videos, built-in timers, one click shoppable recipes, and curbside pick-up or grocery delivery through its partners.

SideChef partners with retailers, publishers, home hubs, consumer brands, and kitchen appliance companies such as Walmart, Amazon, and Google.

As a marketing partner, it builds technology tools to integrate step by step cooking experiences, AI solutions, shoppability, and content creation for brands.   

Fortnum & Mason

Fortnum & Mason has selected RELEX Solutions for forecasting and replenishment capabilities.

By replacing its existing legacy system with RELEX, the retailer’s goals for the project align with its strategic objectives to reduce waste and ensure world class customer satisfaction.

RELEX partner Demandtex will support the project with implementation and consulting services. 

As well as its flagship store at 181 Piccadilly, London, Fortnum & Mason operate several additional travel terminal stores in the UK and Hong Kong; a wholesale and e-commerce business; and several seasonal pop-up stores at various events, all supported through three DCs. 

With the new tech, Fortnum & Mason will be able to align demand with supply, ensuring optimal stock levels for both seasonal and event specific products.

The aim is to optimise product availability, increase sales and ultimately elevate the customer shopping experience.

By automating and refining replenishment processes, Fortnum & Mason will be able to accurately stock shelves with the right products across a broad range of categories, boost team efficiencies, reduce waste, and streamline supply chain operations. 

Faborit

Spanish coffee shop and health food chain Faborit has chosen nsign.tv as its partner to digitise with menu boards the 28 locations it has in the country.

This initiative aims to optimise the operation of the chain’s stores, improve customer experience and increase turnover.

“We were looking for functionality and improved responsiveness when implementing and displaying the changes that we as a 'live' company are known for, in order to increase customer satisfaction and make their experience the best it can be every time they visit our stores,” says Kristina Szasz, IT Manager at Faborit.

nsign.tv installed 50” and 55” LCD displays with the company’s digital signage player integrated in all of the chain’s establishments.

Heineken

Heineken has announced a supply chain planning capability partnership with Blue Yonder.

The global brewer will implement Blue Yonder Cognitive Demand Planning, a cloud native, microservices-based SaaS solution, that utilises artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to improve forecast accuracy and reduce bias by considering dynamic external and internal variables.

Heineken has been implementing Blue Yonder solutions for multiple years.

It has selected the company as one of its current major supply chain solution providers, as it looks to future proof its demand planning process and leverage AI/ML, autonomous scenario planning, planning process orchestration and solution extensibility.

Futon Company

Trustly, a specialist in Open Banking payments, has announced a partnership with Futon Company to introduce its 'pay by bank' service to their customers.

Pay by bank is an account-to-account payment method. It enables consumers to make direct payments to merchants from their bank accounts. 

When opting for it, consumers are directed to their mobile banking app or online banking portal, where they can execute instant payments.

The solution automatically fills in all necessary payment details, such as the recipient's bank information and the payment amount, streamlining the transaction process.

Slerp

Slerp, a technology solution for restaurants and the hospitality sector, has activated an integration with Order with Google, with the aim of enhancing direct ordering capabilities for all its partners that have a Google Business Profile.

This collaboration introduces an online ordering call-to-action button directly linking to their checkout process, simplifying the ordering experience for customers who can now order directly.

Most of us are familiar and frequent users of the options to call, email or make dine-in restaurant reservations via Google Business Profiles on the search engine.

Now, online ordering, powered by Slerp, will be given the same weighting as reservation buttons, enabling customers to order directly, without having to visit a third-party marketplace.

L'Oréal China

Hai Robotics has announced the inauguration of L'Oréal's SMART Fulfillment Centre in Suzhou, China.

Located inside Suzhou Industrial Park and with an area of 46,000 square metres, this houses Hai's goods-to-person solution, HaiPick System 1, including 39 HaiPick A42 Multi-Layer Autonomous Case-handling Mobile Robots (ACR), as well as HaiPort and conveyor picking workstations.

The facility will be a key hub in the beauty brand's handling of D2C and B2B orders in Mainland China.

L'Oréal says that it is now able to handle orders with elevated flexibility, efficiency and scalability, without compromising on intelligence and sustainability for its supply chain operations.

Asia Jewellers

Cegid, a specialist in cloud management solutions for the finance (treasury, tax, ERP), human resources (payroll, talent management), accountancy, retail and entrepreneurship sectors, has been chosen by Asia Jewellers to support its store expansion in Bahrain.

Based in Bahrain, Asia Jewellers is the official retailer for over 60 luxury brands which include Cartier, Bottega Veneta, and Van Cleef & Arpels.

It had previously been using another system to manage its retail operations but sought a more user-friendly, streamlined solution that provided superior reporting capabilities.  

Following research into the innovative technology tools used by other luxury retailers, Cegid was the name that kept coming up.

MUJI

MUJI has launched new online storefronts on the BigCommerce platform.

With more than 1,000 physical stores around the world, MUJI sells over 7,000 Japanese influenced items ranging from clothing to household goods to food.

In Europe, it operates physical stores in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Finland, and online stores that ship to 15 European countries.

“We have an ambitious growth plan in Europe, and we needed a platform to replace our outdated system and provide immediate access to industry leading technology,” says Chuan Huang, Head of E-commerce at MUJI Europe.

“BigCommerce quickly emerged as our best option because of its total cost of ownership, fast deployment, platform agility and flexibility to future-proof our operations. We are already seeing improvements in traffic and conversions since our launch on BigCommerce.”

Wilko

Paul Stewart, Group Digital Product Manager at Wilko, has taken to social media to discuss the retailer’s relaunch after it entered into administration.

With 400 stores across the UK, 93 year old Wilko became well known for its affordable everyday items. But in 2023, it collapsed into administration.

There is life in the old dog yet, however, with its brand, website and intellectual property being bought by The Range. Plans are afoot to open hundreds of new outlets.

In a LinkedIn post, Stewart said: “When Wilko went into administration, I and the other team members who were retained felt a huge responsibility to ensure the many team members who were impacted and ex-colleagues who gave so much over the years would see their work was not wasted.”

“We achieved the relaunch within 25 days of purchase through our previous dropship range.”

This was closely followed by:

- Integration of home delivery fulfilment channels, including Wilko branded products by mid-November

- Onboarding of seven payment providers including BNPL and express payment options

- SAP Commerce major upgrade to 2211 version

- Development and launch of in-store browser and chip and PIN payment (five stores with more to come)

- Recruited a new Product, UX and CRO team

- Relaunch of Click & Collect to over 200 pick-up locations

Stewart concluded: “Fair to say, it's been a busy eight months! Thanks to all involved at wilko, The Range and our partners.”

Zitcha and Venvee

Zitcha and Venvee have teamed up with the aim of closing the loop on in-store retail media measurement, enabling retailers and brand advertisers to create more targeted, effective and measurable advertising campaigns.

Venvee is a specialist in using spatial AI for retail media networks to understand and activate audiences and measure campaign performance based on in-store behaviour.

The integration of its shopper journey data with retail media platform Zitcha’s sales and conversion data means advertisers have a clearer understanding on the return of their digital advertising spend to make more informed investment decisions.