Including Colruyt Group, The Home Depot and Mountain Warehouse: 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 Asda, StrongPoint, Snappy Shopper, Stuart, Erewhon, Jisp, Metapack, Adyen, BigCommerce, Instacart, Amazon and Lucky Supermarkets.

Simply Lunch

Simply Lunch is using Podfather logistics software to support its sustainable business strategy.  

The family run firm produces around 25 million products a year and makes more than 175,000 deliveries to organisations ranging from independent coffee shops to multi-national catering companies, from its headquarters in South London and its satellite depot in Birmingham.

It is using Podfather’s fleet planning, route optimisation and electronic proof of delivery software to eliminate paperwork through digitisation, minimise mileage and boost customer service.

Colruyt Group

StrongPoint reports that Belgian retailer Collect&Go, Colruyt Group’s online shopping service, is trialling its grocery lockers for e-commerce orders. 

The lockers will be installed at a number of Colruyt Group locations, providing customers with a way to collect their online groceries.

“We are thrilled to partner with Collect&Go, Colruyt Group’s online shopping service, and have them use our grocery lockers,” says Jacob Tveraabak, CEO at StrongPoint.  

“Our Click and Collect e-commerce locker solution is designed to provide a high level of convenience, security, and efficiency, which perfectly aligns with Collect&Go’s commitment to exceptional customer service. We are proud to have been chosen for the pilot and look forward to the next steps.”

Asda

Asda  has extended its technology partnership with Retail Insight, a provider of store operations execution software, with a view to improving on-shelf availability and the in-store experience.

The tie up involves a full store roll-out of Retail Insight’s Inventory Insight solution.

Asda now operates over 800 locations across its UK wide store estate - from supercentres, superstores, supermarkets, Asda Living stores, petrol stations and depots, and serves 18 million customers every week. 

With its significant store footprint and the sheer number of SKUs it stocks, it has inevitably felt the impact of inaccurate inventory and wanted to improve stock accuracy across its store network. 

Fender

Guitar maker Fender has partnered with Bluecore as it looks to offer customers a more personalised shopping experience.

In the last three years, Fender has significantly increased sales and new shoppers who buy across its network of national, regional and local retailers, as well as its e-commerce site.

The company is tapping Bluecore to move from what has previously been a marketing channel driven approach to one based on being able to recognise each individual customer and automatically give them the right experiences based on the signals they’re putting out through their behaviours. 

Jisp

Jisp has recruited the first new wholesalers to its Confex Savings Club offering.

Following an official launch at the Confex Trade Show in March, the new wholesale specific loyalty platform has been attracting interest from Confex members up and down the UK.

That interest has resulted in a number of wholesalers, both delivered and cash and carry based models, registering with Jisp to take Confex Savings Club into their businesses in order to offer their customers loyalty rewards and discounts on a range of big brand products.

One such wholesaler is Lion Catering. "We are thrilled to join Jisp’s loyalty programme as a wholesaler and look forward to offering our customers additional savings for shopping with us through the Confex Savings Club powered by Jisp,” says Ergun Ozdil, Director at Lion Catering.

The Home Depot and Instacart

Instacart and The Home Depot have announced a Stateside partnership to offer same-day delivery in as fast as an hour from nearly 2,000 store locations.

Customers can now order a wide range of home improvement items – from home appliances and building supplies to light fixtures and garden essentials – directly to their doorstep.

This follows a pilot in select markets earlier this year.

The service also includes Instacart’s Big & Bulky fulfilment solution, which ensures same-day and scheduled deliveries for heavy items up to 60 pounds, such as grills, ladders, and large boxes.

Gelson’s Markets

Invafresh, a fresh grocery platform, reports that Gelson’s Markets has expanded their partnership to include in-store production and centralised kitchen operations.

By using the AI enhanced capabilities of the Invafresh Fresh Retail Platform, Gelson’s says it has been able to improve operational efficiency across its 27 full service specialty grocery stores by reducing shrink, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements and having a centralised repository of over 4,700 recipes.

Based on this, it has strengthened its partnership with Invafresh with the addition of Production Planning and Commissary solutions, providing visibility across its entire fresh food retail operations for both in-store and central kitchen operations.

Mountain Warehouse

UK outdoor clothing company, Mountain Warehouse, has extended its relationship with Metapack.

Already using Metapack Delivery Manager, Mountain Warehouse has added the Delivery Options and Intelligence solutions to its operations as it invests in its shipping infrastructure with the aim of providing customers with exceptional e-commerce experiences across the UK and Canada.  

L’azurde

L’azurde Company for Jewelry has launched on the BigCommerce platform.

With a presence in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, L'azurde produces over 3,000 different jewellery models each year.

After dealing with performance and integration limitations on Magento, it turned to BigCommerce and a composable commerce approach to scale with the company’s growth.

Since its launch on BigCommerce, L’azurde says it has seen its conversion rates double in addition to overall sales growth and improved uptime and site stability.

Erewhon

Legion Technologies, a specialist in workforce management (WFM), is working with Erewhon, an organic market in Southern California.

Erewhon will leverage Legion’s AI driven WFM platform in automated scheduling, demand forecasting, and frontline communications to improve labour efficiency and deliver an improved experience for hourly employees across the business.

Erewhon is an independent, family owned market that is committed to sourcing healthy, pure, and nutrient rich products. In addition to its grocery business, it offers meal options through its organic Cafe and Tonic Bar.

Vapiano

Adyen has announced a partnership with Italian restaurant group Vapiano.

Adyen’s technology is enabling guests to customise their checkout experiences, and making it possible for them to order food on their phone using digital wallet payments for the first time.

The announcement follows a pilot in one of the group’s London branches, in which data analysis found that 80% of orders were made via a mobile ordering platform on customers’ phones.

While the pilot revealed a demand for faster and more seamless ordering services, it highlighted the limited choice of payment options for customers.

Amazon and Lucky Supermarkets

Amazon is now offering same-day two-hour grocery delivery from Lucky Supermarkets in select cities across the San Francisco Bay Area.

An Amazon spokesperson told RTIH: “Our goal is to build a best-in-class grocery shopping experience - whether shopping in-store or online - where Amazon is the first choice for selection, value, and convenience.”

“As part of that, we’re teaming up with third-party retailers we know our customers already love, like Lucky, to offer more selection at great prices and delivery directly from our website.”

To celebrate the launch, Amazon is offering Prime members free delivery on their first three Lucky orders of $10 or more. Customers who live in the Bay Area where Lucky delivery is available can shop on Amazon here.

Snappy Shopper and Stuart

Snappy Shopper, a platform for online grocery shopping, has partnered with Stuart with a focus on local delivery across the UK.

By integrating with Stuart's platform, Snappy Shopper retailers can now enable delivery in as little as 60 minutes.

One of the key advantages of partnering with Stuart is access to its on-the-ground network of independent couriers. Utilising bicycles, mopeds, and cars, these operate across the local area from 9 am to 11 pm, 364 days a year.

The tie up also provides real-time tracking updates for both retailers and end-customers. With SMS and email live tracking, customers can stay informed every step of the way, from order confirmation to delivery at their doorstep.