Including Gopuff, Deliveroo, Superdry, and Constructor: RTIH’s most read retail technology articles from last week
Check out the articles on this here website that caught your fancy last week, including SharkNinja, Google Cloud, Kingfisher, Amazon, The O2, Quorso, Tractor Supply Company, EE/BT, Waitrose, Blue Yonder, and the 2024 RTIH Innovation Awards.
Dafydd Moore departs Halfords to join troubled clothing retailer Superdry as Director Global Technology
Dafydd Moore has been appointed Director Global Technology at Superdry.
He joins from Halfords where he served as Group Director IT Strategy and Architecture (CTO).
Moore has also worked at Dyson (holding the role of Global Head of IT Strategy, Architecture and Innovation) and Waitrose (IT Communications and Engagement Manager).
‘Time to bid farewell’: Richard Staite departs Frasers Group and Missguided after ‘exhilarating’ five year journey
Richard Staite has left Frasers Group where over the past five years he held the roles of IT Change Consultant and Information Technology Service Desk Manager at Missguided.
Frasers Group is a British retail, sport and intellectual property group, named after its ownership of the department store chain House of Fraser.
It is best known for trading predominantly under the Sports Direct brand which operates both physical outlets and online.
It bought Missguided out of administration for £20 million in June 2022.
In October of last year, Chinese fast fashion giant Shein announced it was buying the brand name from
Frasers Group, with the latter retaining the real estate as well as Missguided's employees, both of which were integrated into its fashion division.
SharkNinja teams with Harry Redknapp as it takes over London pub for England v Denmark football game today
Last week in London, SharkNinja opened the doors of The Carpeters Arms, pitched as the only pub that encourages you to spill your drink, thanks to the Shark CarpetXpert Deep Carpet Cleaner with Built-In StainStriker.
This coincided with the release of data from SharkNinja showing that 45% of the nation feel anxious hosting in their home, because of mess left behind by guests.
To help show the nation how to take the stress out of hosting this football season, the brand has teamed up with former football manager Harry Redknapp for the event, which will not only give football fans the chance to enjoy a pint on them for one of England’s biggest sporting events of the year, but also offers a solution for the nation’s ‘spill-xiety’.
The aforementioned research reveals that the biggest worries when hosting at home are stains on the carpet (56%).
2024 RTIH Innovation Awards FAQs
The sixth edition of the RTIH Innovation Awards is now open for entries.
The awards, sponsored by CADS, 3D Cloud, and Retail Technology Show 2025, celebrate global tech innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.
This year, we’re bringing you three new categories: AI Innovation, Sustainable Retail Innovation, and Inclusive Technology Innovation.
Key 2024 dates
Friday, 25th October: Award entry deadline
Tuesday, 29th October: 2024 shortlist revealed
30th October-6th November: Judging days
Thursday, 21st November: Winners announced at the 2024 RTIH Innovation Awards ceremony, to be held at RIBA’s 66 Portland Place HQ in Central London.
Amazon reports that its Just Walk Out technology will be deployed at London arena The O2 this summer
The O2 will be one of more than a dozen third-party locations in the UK to offer Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology by the end of this year.
It will be the first indoor arena in England to use the solution, with a new store allowing people to tap their card or mobile wallet, grab their chosen drinks and snacks, and quickly get back to their seats.
The O2 adds to a growing list of UK venues that have opened stores powered by Just Walk Out technology, including ExCel London and The SSE Arena.
Jon Jenkins, Vice President, Just Walk Out technology, says: “We have stores in corporate headquarters like Bentley Motors and Santander Bank, as well as our own Amazon headquarters in London.”
“We’re also in hospitals and universities, including stores at Telford Hospital and Sussex University, and we recently launched a store at Gridserve’s EV Station at Gatwick Airport, with more Gridserve stores coming later this year.”
“By the end of 2024, we expect to be in more than a dozen third-party stores in the UK, as well as in all 20 UK Amazon Fresh stores.”
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.
‘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.
Waitrose makes major AI move as it extends partnership with supply chain technology firm Blue Yonder
Waitrose is extending its collaboration with Blue Yonder with the addition of the supply chain solution provider’s forecasting capability.
The move marks the first significant introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) into Waitrose’s forecasting – and is designed to improve the levels of availability across the retailer’s stores.
Rather than relying on historical sales data and human intuition, the AI forecasting capability – part of Blue Yonder Demand Planning – focuses on customer behaviour and analyses ‘why’ customers bought what they did rather than just ‘what’ they bought.
The capability understands and learns from the trading environment to provide a better forecast based on customer behaviour. For example, it will learn how customers responded to a variety of influences including weather variations, major sporting and cultural events and promotions.
The upgrade is part of a significant investment in technology across Waitrose’s supply chain.
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.”
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.”
Food and grocery delivery big hitter Deliveroo launches invitation only Plus Diamond loyalty programme
Deliveroo has launched Plus Diamond, an invitation only tier to its loyalty programme for top users.
The £19.99 a month subscription service offers exclusive access to restaurants such as IZAKAYA at Dreams in Notting Hill, London, and Ming Jiang in Kensington, as well as upmarket retailers such as Mayfair’s Hedonism Wines, and The Black Farmer.
Other benefits include priority delivery on every eligible order, the company’s most generous On-Time Promise, and ring-fenced customer service agents.
Deliveroo already has silver and gold level Plus memberships with free delivery on orders above £15 and £10 respectively. For Plus Diamond orders are free for orders over £10 from restaurants and over £15 from stores.
Plus customers now account for 40% of Deliveroo’s global order volume and spend three times more on average than non-Plus customers. It is aiming to have a majority of its orders from Plus customers by 2026.
Gopuff live in double quick time with new sports drink Mas+ by Lionel Messi in South Florida locations
And true to form, the quick commerce big hitter wasted no time in going live, stealing a march on its rivals.
In a LinkedIn post, Randy Ornstein, Sr Director of Beverages at Gopuff, said: “The power of Gopuff. We can launch a new brand the minute the supplier authorises us to release.”
“Mas+ by Lionel Messi was launched in all South Florida Gopuff locations Saturday exactly at 7:01pm.”
The company launched with the following:
- In app message featuring the sport drink
- SMS text
- Homepage banner in the Latest & Greatest section
- Premium placement in the Sport Drinks class
- All relevant search terms that consumers would choose
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