Bringing you up to speed: check out the retail technology news stories you might have missed last week

Failed to keep up with the breaking retail technology news last week? Then have no fear as we have you covered. Here are the major stories that you need to know about. Includes Hasbro, Zippin, Currys, Boca Rosa, NewStore, Hy-Vee, Fortnum & Mason, Scurri, Skipify, UNTUCKit, and RetailNext.

Hasbro announces senior appointments focused on digital transformation and supply chain push

Hasbro has announced three senior appointments that aim to build on the company’s digital transformation and ongoing turnaround efforts.

Dan Shull will join as Chief Digital Information Officer, Stephanie Beal has been promoted to Chief Supply Chain Officer, and Dan Rawson is taking on an expanded role overseeing direct and e-commerce, as well as continuing as Global Play Lead for Dungeons and Dragons and RPGs.

Beal and Rawson’s new roles are effective immediately, and Shull will join on 15th July.

British clothing brand Regatta taps One iota retail technology for launch of in-store staff mobile app

One iota’s in-store staff mobile app has gone live at Regatta’s stores across Ireland, using Adyen’s omnichannel payment solutions.

In a LinkedIn post, Chris Brooks, CEO at One iota, said: “A lot of hard work from all involved and another piece of Regatta’s omnichannel strategy falling into place to further elevate their customer experience.”

“The teams are now into the final stages of the next in-store app and experience, due to land in stores in the very near future.”

Currys preps makeover for 50 stores as customers demand blended in-store and online omnichannel model

Currys, a UK omnichannel electricals retailer, has announced new investments in its store portfolio.

It says that the blended in-store and online omnichannel model continues to be important to its customers, with two-thirds using stores to make their purchases.

50 of Currys largest locations will undergo a makeover which will see the inclusion of new categories, seasonal showcases, and a focus on reinvigorating megastore entrance space.

New categories include health and beauty, pet tech, portable power, and fitness – in line with customer needs and the latest trends. Seasonal ranges will include the launch of categories such as BBQs and gardening equipment in summer, back to school tech and supplies in the autumn, and new gifting ranges and services in winter.

Boca Rosa teams with Banuba to deliver immersive and interactive shopping experience for customers

Banuba reports that it has played a pivotal role in the success of Brazilian cosmetic brand Boca Rosa's pre-launch.

The event, held over four hours, saw the latter sell 64,413 items, totalling more than $900,000 in sales.

Banuba's virtual try-on functionality (VTO) boosted the beauty shopping experience for over 1.1 million attendees.

By leveraging this technology, customers were able to virtually test Boca Rosa's cosmetics, allowing them to visualise how the products would look on them before making a purchase.

Hy-Vee puts focus on digital transformation and sustainable retail with deployment of VusionGroup tech

Hy-Vee has implemented a series of digital solutions from VusionGroup to help streamline the shopping experience for its customers.

The employee owned chain of supermarkets in the Midwestern and Southern United States has more than 280 locations in Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wisconsin, with stores planned in Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama.

It is using the VusionGroup platform to digitalise more than 230 of its stores, which are now able to update product prices and data automatically, rather than the labour intensive process of printing and hanging paper price tags.

The technology allows it to update prices and product information in real-time.

Additionally, the digital shelf tags let employees focus on other tasks such as replenishment, merchandising, and most importantly customer service.

NewStore: Retailers must invest in mobile tech as consumers continue to demand more from frontline workers

NewStore has published a blog post summarising the results of its annual consumer survey.

Each year, the company asked more than 1,000 people about the shopping experiences they expect modern store associates to provide.

NewStore revisited the annual survey to better understand how consumer sentiment has shifted over time. And the key takeaway is this: consumers continue to demand more from frontline retail workers.

In fact, consumer expectations for store associates’ capabilities increased in 22 of the 24 omnichannel categories that were assessed year over year.

For comparison, in 2023, expectations were up in 18 of 24 categories. Not only that, but expectations for each capability increased by an average of 5% across the board.

Represent taps Cart.com technology and fulfilment network as it grows reach and customer community in USA

UK-based luxury fashion brand Represent has selected Cart.com as its US fulfilment partner.

The streetwear label will initially leverage Cart.com’s logistics capabilities and nationwide network of omnichannel fulfilment centres to optimise its retail and wholesale fulfilment operations Stateside.

“We’re proud to partner with Represent, an incredible British luxury streetwear brand that has built a loyal customer following not just at home in the UK, but around the world,” says Joe Barth, Chief Logistics Officer at Cart.com.

“We look forward to leveraging our expertise, 3PL capabilities and nationwide network to support the brand’s continuing growth in the US.”

Delivery management firm Scurri brings in David Dempsey as Chairman and Fionnula Higgins as Independent Director

Delivery management platform, Scurri, has announced two appointments to its board of directors.  Dr David Dempsey, former Senior Vice President at Salesforce, becomes Chairman, while Fionnula Higgins joins as an Independent Director.

“Fuelled by accelerated growth last year, we are focused on extending our robust capabilities and exceptional customer service offering to retailers, brands and partners across Europe,” comments Rory O’Connor, Founder and CEO at Scurri.

“In the UK and Ireland, we are seeing both mid-market and enterprise e-commerce brands and retailers embrace Scurri’s proven, customer centric approach to take back control of the most fundamental pillars of their business – delivery.”

“Drawing on the David’s unparalleled experiences at scaling out SaaS products and with Fionnula’s vast experience in the postal sector, which will be a key focus for the business moving forward, Scurri is even better placed to capitalise on the surging demand for our solutions by brands wanting to enhance the delivery experience.”

Subscription management firm Recurly expands C-suite with new Chief Customer Officer Rachel Sheriff

Recurly, a subscription management and billing platform, has added a C-suite hire to the executive leadership team with the appointment of Rachel Sheriff as Chief Customer Officer (CCO).

In this new role, Sheriff will leverage over two decades of experience delivering exceptional customer experience (CX) through technology, data, scale and creativity.

She has built revenue oriented CX teams with a focus on value realisation across the customer lifecycle.

Skipify hires payment industry veterans from Visa, Airbnb, PayPal as company's new COO and VP of Sales

Skipify, a PayTech firm focused on the checkout experience, has announced the appointment of Sam Shrauger as its new Chief Operating Officer and Lucy Morse as Vice President of Enterprise Sales.

Shrauger most recently served as Global Head of Payments and Chairman and CEO at Airbnb Payments.

Prior to that, he was the Senior Vice President of Digital and Consumer Products at Visa, where he played an instrumental role in designing and deploying Visa’s entire digital product and services portfolio.

Earlier, he also served as the VP of Global Product and Design at PayPal, responsible for defining, designing, and commercialising all of its P2P, consumer payment, merchant acceptance, and digital products globally.

Morse joins from PayPal, where she led enterprise level revenue strategies and focused on expanding strategic merchant relationships. Prior to that, she spent a decade at Microsoft as a senior sales leader.

Irish luxury retailer Brown Thomas Arnotts gears up to deploy Aptos Sales Audit and CRM solutions

Brown Thomas Arnotts, an Irish luxury retailer, is upgrading to the latest versions of Aptos’ Sales Audit and CRM solutions.

Once deployed, it says it will benefit from new capabilities that unlock greater levels of customer engagement and loyalty whilst promoting omnichannel agility.

Aptos Sales Audit and CRM will be delivered via SaaS.

Zippin Walk-Up store live at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, home of Super Bowl champs Kansas City Chiefs

Zippin has announced the opening of a new Zippin Walk-Up store at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Super Bowl champions Kansas City Chiefs.

This marks the second such location launched at the venue with Aramark Sports + Entertainment.

The store opened in Section 109 this week during a COPA América game and offers an assortment of freshly prepared hot foods, snacks, and beverages.

Tea, biscuits and preserves: Fortnum & Mason launches Fortnum's Dispatch online subscription service

Fortnum & Mason has launched Fortnum's Dispatch, a new subscription service for customers, allowing them to order some of the retailer’s best known products on repeat.

In a LinkedIn post, Lisa Camm, Head of Digital Transformation at Fortnum & Mason, said: “It is not often that the digital team get to work on something related to our key products (tea, biscuits and preserves), this has been so rewarding and we've snacked on a biscuit or two.”

She added: “Available exclusively online, it is a great gift, or a treat for yourself. This is just the start of our Fortnum's Dispatch offering and we are hoping to add more functionality and products in the future.”

“Top tip from myself: if you order toffolosus try putting them in the fridge for extra crunch and chew! (Sorry FoodTech and buying teams, I know it isn't recommended to store chocolate under 16 degrees!)”

Focus on influencers as online fashion retailer boohoo taps LoudCrowd technology for social commerce journey

In 2022, LoudCrowd started working with boohoo to scale the online retailer’s influencer programmes.

In a LinkedIn post, Gary Garofalo, CEO at LoudCrowd, said: “They were already working with hundreds of influencers in a one-to-one capacity. And like most brands, they had roughly reached their capacity in cost/effort.”

“We were able to set up automated creator programmes and scale their relationships into the thousands. Now, we're taking the next step and giving all of those creators their own storefronts on the respective boohoo properties.”

He added: “With the content machine in place, it's time to shift the focus to monetisation. Now boohoo will be getting the full funnel benefit of working with creators. Top of funnel brand awareness, and a best-in-class conversion experiences with our native creator storefronts.

“Congrats to Stephanie Riddell (Senior Influencer & PR Manager at boohoo), Edith Batchelor (Senior Digital Marketing Manager) and team! Excited to be part of boohoo’s social commerce journey.”

Understanding physical traffic: Men's apparel brand UNTUCKit taps RetailNext in-store analytics platform

UNTUCKit has announced a partnership with RetailNext.

Founded in 2011 by Chris Riccobono after he struggled to find a shirt that looked good untucked, UNTUCKit was known first as a digitally native brand, but has rapidly increased its global store estate since opening in New York in 2015, taking its network to 88 outlets, including one in London, with more on the way.

As a digital first brand, UNTUCKit was used to accessing a wealth of insight from across its e-commerce operations to improve online performance. 

However, as the brand grew its store footprint, it felt it lacked access to data from its store estate, especially around store traffic and in-store conversion reporting. This, in turn, was limiting its ability to track, analyse and improve bricks and mortar operations and performance.