A major step toward making drone delivery a part of everyday life: this week's coolest retail technology plays
RTIH Editor, Scott Thompson, brings you his top ‘future of retail’ systems launches and deployments from the past week, including Ground Up, Currys, Walmart, REWE Group, Deliveroo, Fila China, Costa Coffee, Travis Perkins, and Safeway.
Zippin, Sodexo Live!, and Fujitsu
A new checkout-free store debuted at this year’s French Open. Launched in collaboration between Zippin, Sodexo Live!, and Fujitsu, this represents the first public autonomous store in France.
Housed in a historic building at the Auteuil Greenhouses near Court Simonne-Mathieu, the 630 square foot store offers a variety of cold sandwiches, pre-packaged beverages, and snacks.
Tennis fans tap a payment method to enter, select their items, and leave. Zippin’s checkout-free platform uses AI, computer vision, and sensor fusion to accurately determine purchases and automatically bill shoppers upon exiting the store. There are no lines, no scanning, and no mobile app required.
This follows on from a Zippin powered American Express Shop at the US Open during the past two years.
Ground Up
Sneaker company, Ground Up, showcased its new Experience Room in its NYC headquarters during the FFANY Week event this month.
This, according to a press release, is part of its vision to “create a one of a kind engaging space where guests can step into the world of their favourite characters; creating personal connections with fandoms they love”.
"Showcasing our innovative products through the eyes of our fans sets us apart from our competitors. We enable our partners to understand the emotions that drive our consumers when they encounter our products in retail stores," says Jack Gindi, Ground Up International's CEO.
"We are focusing on increasing our in-store activations across our partner base, elevating and bringing these installations to life with our retail partners.”
Volvic
Wavemaker UK, Global and DOOH.com have collaborated on a 3D programmatic digital out-of-home (DOOH) ad campaign for the launch of a new Touch of Fruit Sparkling range from Volvic.
For the next seven weeks, commuters and passers-by at Kings Cross and Waterloo London Underground stations will see Touch of Fruit Sparkling 3D cans popping out from digital screens.
The experience includes digital outdoor ads situated in close proximity to stockists, encouraging consumers to discover the new sparkling fruity flavoured drinks at their earliest convenience.
The campaign marks the first time a 3D DOOH campaign has been programmatically bought and activated and it has been made possible thanks to the offering from Global via its Digital Ad Exchange (DAX).
Yusen Logistics
Yusen Logistics, whose end customers include electronics manufacturers, has implemented DexoryView from Dexory, a specialist in AI powered robotics and visibility solutions.
As a result, it is now able to conduct wall to wall scans of its entire warehouse within two hours each day.
This process used to take over one and a half weeks each month and over 100 hours of manual labour.
Previously, Yusen Logistics carried out two annual wall-to-wall checks of the entire warehouse, but through generating real-time data each day, the company has also been able to remove this task completely, saving an additional 205 hours of work annually.
Safeway
Safeway, which is operated by Albertsons Companies, has announced results from the implementation of Divert’s solution to reduce wasted food and accelerate food recovery efforts.
In three months, Safeway increased its food donations by 20%, reducing the edible food going to waste by an average of 1,252 pounds per store per month.
“We are committed to help put food on the table to nourish our neighbours in need,” says Karl Schroeder, President of Safeway’s Northern California Division.
“Divert is a critical partner in helping us increase our food recovery efforts, sharing strategies and key insights across our business to drive immediate results. We value their tailored, collaborative approach to food recovery.”
Boxbar Tech and Parklife 2024
This took place at Parklife 2024 in the UK.
In a LinkedIn post, the company said: “What can we say? WOW! Over the weekend, as well as running several other events and venue installations across the country, we teamed up with Parklife and delivered the world’s largest self-serve auto-pouring festival bar dispensing a full drinks menu.”
This featured: 35 terminals, two bars, ten products, including beer, cider, spirit and mixers, Prosecco and the world’s first self-serve automated Aperol Spritz cocktail bar.
Currys
Bambuser, a video commerce provider, has announced a partnership with home electronics retailer Currys.
"We are excited to embark on this journey with Bambuser," says Andy Gamble, Group CIO at Currys.
"Video commerce presents a unique opportunity for us to engage with our customers in a more meaningful way and showcase our products to buyers one-on-one in a personalised and interactive way.”
“We believe that this partnership will enable us to create enhanced shopping experiences that drive customer loyalty."
By teaming up with Bambuser to implement its virtual consultation solution, Currys says that it aims to leverage the capabilities of shoppable video calls, allowing shoppers to interact with product experts, ask questions, and make informed purchasing decisions during virtual consultations – wherever they are.
Walmart
Walmart Discovered users can have real-life items shipped directly to their doorsteps.
They are greeted with a new storefront showcasing virtual twins of select items sold at physical Walmart stores. The feature is gated specifically to users aged 13 or older in the United States only.
“There is a traditional sort of checkout flow where you put your name, your address and your credit card information, and that’s all powered by a Walmart API that handles all of the information super securely - it’s very safe,” Walmart Director of Brand Experiences and Strategic Partnerships Justin Breton, told Digiday.
“And once you hit checkout, you’ll get your confirmation email from Walmart. All of that is handled by us on the back end, the user will then get their item in the mail, but the virtual twin is granted immediately back on Roblox.”
A pilot ran through the month of May, during which time Roblox received a cut of item sales, with all revenues going directly to Walmart. The short-term aim here was to gauge users’ willingness to purchase physical goods on the platform.
And now, the next real-world commerce drop in Walmart Discovered on Roblox is here, just in time for summer.
Travis Perkins
Travis Perkins, a British builders' merchant and home improvement retailer, is fitting its latest batch of electric forklift trucks with what is pitched as an industry first ‘best in test’ sound alert, SIVAS.
A total of 1,200 forklifts across the group are now electric, and so far around 600 of these have now been fitted with SIVAS to address concerns about the electric forklifts’ operational quietness compared to their diesel engine counter parts, and the potential safety risk this could pose.
This mirrors how warning sounds have been fitted into electric vehicles to warn off pedestrians and other road users.
SIVAS was developed as part of a study commissioned by Travis Perkins’ Technical Fleet Director, Karl Wilshaw, on behalf of the Group that was conducted by the University of Salford Manchester’s specialist acoustics testing team.
The alert came out top when tested by the group’s forklift drivers based on its detectable and unique sound.
REWE Group
REWE Group has opened its first autonomous PENNY store in Romania.
The 349 square metre location can be found in Bucharest.
In a LinkedIn post, Christoph Eltze, Chief Digital and Technology Officer at REWE Group, said: “After more than 80,000 hours of work and 4,000 hours of testing with a team of more than 50 colleagues, the time has finally come: the first autonomous PENNY store has been launched in Bucharest – not only in Romania, but worldwide.”
Eltze added that in Germany, REWE Group are pioneers with hybrid test stores in Cologne, Berlin, Hamburg and Düsseldorf as well as a store with fully autonomous check-out via REWE Pick&Go in Munich.
In Lithuania, it was the first to launch autonomous stores with IKI Go a year and a half ago – and to this day is the only one in the country with five locations.
Michael Kors
Michael Kors is adopting Shopping Muse, a retail assistant from Dynamic Yield, a Mastercard company.
Michael Kors is the first retailer to make Shopping Muse and its generative AI capabilities available to consumers through an integration on its website in the US.
The aim is to recreate the in-store experience by translating consumers’ colloquial language into tailored product recommendations, meaning consumers can quickly find the perfect look that matches their inquiry as well as their demonstrated behaviour and preferences.
Dynamic Yield CEO Ori Bauer says: “As a trailblazer in ready-to-wear fashion, Michael Kors is a perfect example of how to put our ready to use technology to use.”
“Shopping Muse is helping translate the signature Michael Kors service to the digital world, delivering a satisfying shopping experience as singular and impactful as the brand’s aesthetic.”
Deliveroo and Mob
Deliveroo has announced a partnership between its UKI grocery delivery service and online cooking and content platform Mob.
In a LinkedIn post, Suzy McClintock, Deliveroo's VP of Grocery and Retail, said: “Mob is on a mission to instil a love of cooking in everyone and we can get you the ingredients in 20 minutes or less, so this is a match made in heaven.”
“More broadly recipes, inspiration and discovery are an area that we're really interested in exploring, so I'm thrilled that we're able to partner with a leader in the space. It's the icing on the cake that Benjamin Lebus was a Deliveroo rider back when he was getting the business off the ground.”
Mob will be releasing a series of lunch and dinner recipes, the ingredients for which people be able to get through Deliveroo and its partners including Co-op, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Waitrose, Asda and Whole Foods .
The pair have also created a new Mood Tool which you can check out here. You can pick your mood, pick a dish, get the ingredients from Deliveroo and get cooking.
Fila China
Fila China has chosen Volumental’s 3D foot scanning and footwear recommendations solution for its flagship stores in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Guangzhou, and Xiamen.
In a LinkedIn post, Volumental said: “This partnership between Fila and Volumental FitTech marks a new era in personalised shopping experiences, helping shoppers in China find their perfect fit with ease.”
Costa Coffee
Costa Coffee has opened an Innovation and Development Centre, located in Loudwater, UK.
This will enable its Innovation and R&D teams to test and develop technologically advanced equipment to fuel Costa Coffee Professional’s portfolio of coffee solutions, both now and in the future.
Walmart
Walmart began trialing drone delivery in 2021 and has completed over 30,000 deliveries to date.
Earlier this year, working with Wing, it announced the largest drone delivery expansion of any US retailer, bringing this to up to 75% of the Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) population.
As a next step, Walmart is focused on bringing the experience directly to its app.
Starting later this month, customers in DFW will begin to be notified of the new ordering capability through the app if they are eligible for drone delivery based on the address associated with their account.
The integration will be done in phases as more drone delivery sites launch and drone providers receive additional regulatory approvals to fly more goods across greater distances.
Wing, CEO Adam Woodworth, says: “Our goal is to make drone delivery completely seamless for our partners and their customers.”
“When Wing delivery is available within the Walmart app later this month, customers will have a wider selection and a better shopping experience than ever before. This is a major step toward making drone delivery a part of everyday life.”
List of Walmart stores where Wing drone delivery is now available:
9101 N Tarrant Pkwy, North Richland Hills, TX
6401 NE Loop 820, North Richland Hills, TX
801 W Main St, Lewisville, TX
8555 Preston Rd, Frisco, TX
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