Including Studenac, Co-op, and Kingfisher: check out our biggest retail technology articles on LinkedIn this week
We’re big fans of LinkedIn and are busy building an amazing community of retail tech enthusiasts on the social media platform. As we head towards the 20,000 followers mark, these are the articles that are currently on their radars, including InPost UK, Google Cloud, Cegid, emerchantpay, Constructor, EE/BT, Droppe, InPost UK, Crew Clothing Company, and Walmart.
Crew Clothing Company expands its Cegid Retail Store Excellence partnership to adopt Newsfeed feature
Cegid has expanded its partnership with Crew Clothing, with the brand now implementing the Newsfeed feature within Cegid Retail Store Excellence.
The British lifestyle label has been a user of the task management and retail operations platform since 2009 and has just rolled-out Newsfeed to its 105 stores.
This aims to bridge the gap between Crew’s management and store teams.
It’s helping the teams see not only company wide updates but also updates based on their store, role and interests.
The Newsfeed feature will also be rolled-out to Crew Clothing’s latest openings in Canterbury, Stow-on-the-Wold, and soon to launch stores in Monmouth and London Paddington.
Studenac focuses on sustainability and technology innovation as it preps new distribution centre near Zagreb
Croatian retailer, Studenac, has announced plans to build a new distribution centre near the country’s capital Zagreb that will open next year, deploying solutions to enhance the efficiency and capacity of its logistics network, ensuring shorter delivery times to stores and improving collaboration with suppliers.
The facility in Velika Gorica will cover 36,000 square metres and eventually create approximately 500 new jobs.
Studenac, which is owned by a fund managed by Enterprise Investors, a private equity firm in Central and Eastern Europe, currently has a central distribution centre in Dugopolje, near the coastal city of Split, which supports cross-dock operations in Zadar, as well as semi cross-docks in Dubrovnik, Pazin, Zagreb and Kutina.
“Since the change in the ownership happened in 2018, we have evolved from a local trader to one of the nationwide leaders in the retail sector in Croatia,” says Dragan Baškarad, a member of the Studenac management board.
“As we implement our growth strategy, we continue to invest across our business to ensure we continue meeting our customers’ expectations for high quality and fresh products. We expect that the solutions we’re deploying in the new centre will ensure the greatest possible efficiency all along our supply chain.”
Google Cloud teams with Kingfisher to streamline AI services and accelerate time to market for AI solutions
Google Cloud has announced an AI focused partnership with Kingfisher, an international home improvement company and owner of UK DIY brand, B&Q.
Athena, Kingfisher’s orchestration framework, now uses Google Cloud’s Vertex AI to make instant product recommendations, accurate predictions and demand forecasts.
By leveraging Google Cloud technology, Athena is now able to:
Combine the capabilities of Vertex AI Search with Kingfisher’s recommendation engine to help customers find the right tool for the job, in seconds.
Integrate LLM technology with Vertex AI Search to help streamline internal processes, such as answering employee queries.
Kingfisher developers can now experience the the flexibility of either building solutions from scratch or using an off-the-shelf solution, reducing development time from months to weeks.
UK omnichannel grocery retailer Co-op ramps up its parcel locker partnership with InPost
Co-op and InPost are expanding their roll-out of parcel collection and returns lockers, with the expectation that they will reach 150 locations this year.
Chris Conway, Co-op E-commerce Director, says: “Our focus is to make things easier and more convenient for our member-owners and customers.”
“And with our stores located conveniently in high streets, transport hubs, university campuses and residential developments, InPost lockers can help residents and time pressed shoppers in our communities pick up or return parcels at a time that is convenient to them, on their way to or from work or when they pop out to pick up their groceries, quickly, easily and conveniently.”
Finnish B2B distribution platform Droppe announces seed funding round and focuses on next stage of its journey
Droppe, a Finnish company focused on the B2B distribution space, has announced the closing of a Euro 3.9 million seed funding round.
This was led by European early stage venture capital firm OpenOcean.
Miki Kuusi, Wolt’s Co-Founder, Ilkka Paananen, Supercell’s Co-Founder, Robert Gentz, Zalando’s Co-Founder and Marianne Vikkula, Wolt’s COO, also took part via Illusian Ventures, along with Lifeline Ventures, Droppe’s previous investor.
Droppe’s Source-to-Order platform promises businesses an easy way to source, order and manage supplies, such as safety, paper, workwear and packaging supplies for their operations.
At the same time, enabling suppliers to serve and ship directly to customers at scale, it eliminates the need for intermediary storage, repackaging, and additional logistics when moving products from brands to businesses.
The aim is to create shorter, more sustainable European supply chains, helping businesses achieve their sustainability goals.
‘Pinch me moment’: Walmart’s Justin Breton added to Ad Council’s Emerging Media & Technology Committee
Justin Breton, Walmart Director of Brand Experiences and Strategic Partnerships, has joined the Ad Council’s Emerging Media & Technology Committee.
Ad Council is a non-profit organisation that brings together major players in advertising, media and tech to address worthy causes and complex social issues.
In a LinkedIn post, Breton said: “I’m incredibly honoured to share I’ve joined the Ad Council’s Emerging Media & Technology Committee, led by Laurie Keith, alongside some inspiring leaders, including Avery Akkineni of VaynerX, Dong Chen of Reddit, Stephanie Latham of Roblox, Lane Dilg of OpenAI, Julie Towns of Pinterest, and several others.”
He added: “The EMTC is a select group of visionary marketers who lead emerging media and technology at their companies and are committed to helping the Ad Council drive impact across various campaigns.”
“The committee will guide the Ad Council on how to leverage emerging platforms and new technology to harness meaningful good.”
“This is another one of those pinch me moments in my career. It’s not everyday you get to surround yourself with individuals who are leading the charge on the future of socialising, shopping, learning, and more.”
“I’m looking forward to sharing my knowledge and learnings with the committee, but also learning from all them as well.”
US retailer Tractor Supply Company enlists Quorso to boost store operations with data and AI powered insights
US retailer Tractor Supply Company has completed a chain wide roll-out of data and AI powered co-pilot capabilities with Quorso.
This provides store team members with personalised, top priority actions, and intelligent workflows for store operations.
Founded in 1938, Tractor Supply Company is an American chain of stores that sells products for home improvement, agriculture, lawn and garden maintenance, livestock, equine and pet care for recreational farmers and ranchers, pet owners, and landowners
In a LinkedIn post, Glenn Allison, Vice President, IT Applications Development, said: “The data driven insights include improvement opportunities such as proactively addressing out of stock inventory, product facing issues with store planogram, damaged product, and various other use cases to improve operations.”
“Thank you to the team and Quorso that helped support the chain wide roll-out.”
‘It was a blast!’ EE/BT veteran Alan Dickson set to depart with Retail IT Refresh project close to completion
Alan Dickson has announced that he will leave EE/BT later this year.
Dickson, who currently holds the position of Principal Technology Partner for Retail, said in a LInkedIn post: “With mixed emotions it is time to say that after 23 years, I will officially be leaving EE/BT at the end of September this year.”
“From the call centre floor as a team manager, to now being responsible for the technology delivery to 400+ retail stores and 4,000+ guides.”
“What a journey, the highs and lows too many to count. The experiences and opportunities I will be forever grateful for. Trips around the world to places I would likely never have visited including Slovakia, India and The Philippines.”
He added: “But it’s all about the people, the people who filled my inbox, various chat tools and calendar every day, the probably, thousands of people I’ve worked with over the years who made the journey that little bit brighter. And all the laughs we shared on the way!”
“To everyone in Greenock call centre but especially those who sat in the front corner of the building (if you know, you know), some briefly, others for the whole time, my home from home for so long, it was a blast!”
“To my current Retail team, you are all legends, keep doing what you do. And to everyone involved in getting our Retail IT Refresh project so close to completion, thank you all, your brains, drive and determination is making this the success we all knew it would be.”
Dickson concluded by stating that the search for new opportunities starts now.
emerchantpay survey flags UK attitudes towards Open Banking and opportunities for early adopting businesses
Its survey of 2,103 UK consumers found that one in two people are unknowingly using Open Banking during checkout, with 51% of the UK population being unfamiliar with the term.
Once consumers were informed about what this is, 45% of respondents that had not heard of the term claimed they had in fact used Open Banking for purchases. Of those who had heard of it, usage increased significantly to 58%.
The outlook for Open Banking is also positive, with 19% of respondents saying that they will use it more frequently in five years’ time.
This compares to 14% saying the same for buy now pay later (BNPL) and 7% for crypto. 44% of Brits would use it for online retail, 36% for utility bills, 34% for hotels, 30% for airline tickets, and 25% for online subscriptions.
Constructor announces $25 million Series B led by Sapphire Ventures, tripling valuation to $550 million
Constructor, an AI powered product discovery and search platform for enterprise e-commerce firms, has closed a $25 million Series B round, bringing the company’s valuation to $550 million.
This marks a nearly triple valuation since its 2021 Series A and brings total funds raised to date to more than $85 million.
Sapphire Ventures led the round with participation from existing investor Silversmith Capital Partners.
With this new capital, Constructor will accelerate product development and innovation and continue its international expansion.
“In today’s competitive e-commerce environment, having a powerful AI search solution that can best capture shopper intent is crucial to driving topline revenues – yet until now, existing tech has remained rudimentary,” says Rajeev Dham, Partner at Sapphire Ventures, who will be joining as a board director.
“With more than a decade of experience in the field, Eli and the team at Constructor have developed a state-of-the-art, AI e-commerce search engine that has delivered best-in-class ROI for many household enterprise brands.”
“We are incredibly excited to partner with the team as they set a new standard in powering a hyper-personalised shopper experience.”
Continue reading...