Avon calling, Paul UK baking, and Matalan transforming: 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 Co-op, Walmart Commerce Technologies, Amazon Italy, Lenovo, Pricer, The UVESCO Group, RELEX Solutions, Blue Yonder, Komodo Fashion, and Makip.

Hawesko Group

Geekplus has teamed with Körber to deploy more than 20 autonomous mobile robots for the wine distributor Hawesko Group.

The project is focused on the company's Tornech, Germany, facility, where in-house logistics service provider IWL handles 20 million bottles of wine and champagne annually.

Geekplus robots now operate 330 shelves across an expanded 6,000 square metre area.

Alliance Supermarkets

Channel Island convenience store chain Alliance Supermarkets has partnered with Henderson Technology to roll-out the EDGEPoS EPoS system across its entire estate on Jersey and Guernsey.

This will give Alliance full control of its five stores from one central location, helping to simplify processes such as ordering and stock control.

Alliance is an independent and locally owned supermarket with five stores - four in Jersey and one store in Guernsey.

Lenovo

Technology giant, Lenovo, is launching a new Open Banking at online checkout service for its customers in the UK and continental Europe. 

It says that this will provide customers with an alternative payment method that is less vulnerable to fraud, compared to the likes of credit or debit cards. 

Jussi Lindberg, Chief Revenue Officer, Trustly, comments: “We are thrilled Trustly is now available as a payment method for Lenovo’s customers. Our technology provides customers with a simple, fast, and secure way to pay.”

“Using Open Banking means payment speeds are as low as 10 seconds, making the checkout significantly quicker. We’re excited for Lenovo’s customers to use our technology for an enhanced payment experience.”

Amazon Italy

Nexi has signed a new deal with Amazon.it, enabling customers to make purchases using Bancomat Pay.

Through the collaboration, Nexi becomes a technical provider for Amazon.it, making its technology platform available to the e-commerce site.

The agreement offers the latter’s customers more choice at checkout, with an additional payment method.

Avon International

Avon International has chosen Blue Yonder’s platform with Cognitive Demand Planning, Enterprise Supply Planning and Control Tower solutions as it looks to create an end-to-end next generation supply chain.

Avon International operates in over 40 countries across Europe and Asia Pacific. The brand Avon has been in operation for over 135 years and has a business model based on relationship selling.

Millions of independent representatives offer personalised beauty advice to their customers through offline and online channels. It is also accessed through wholesalers, retail stores and marketplaces.  

Avon International was seeking to optimise its manufacturing and distribution processes in both Europe and Asia Pacific by establishing a "Planning Hub" for centralised demand and supply planning.

To streamline demand planning, respond more quickly to its market and enhance decision-making, it selected Blue Yonder’s SaaS supply chain solutions, based on advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) capabilities.  

Co-op and Walmart Commerce Technologies

Co-op is gearing up to work with Walmart Commerce Technologies, implementing its online fulfilment technology, Store Assist, to enhance the convenience retailer’s colleague and customer experience and support quick commerce growth ambitions.

The Store Assist app allows retailers to manage pickup, third-party marketplace, ship-from-store, and last mile delivery orders all in one place.

According to those involved, a streamlined omnichannel fulfilment workflow will enhance in-store processes and operations, remove the need for colleagues to switch between quick commerce apps or different devices, and allows for faster delivery times.

Store Assist technology will have a focus on: ease of use; scalability; specialised and tailored use to meet the diverse demands of grocery fulfilment and, a unified platform to simplify systems as online orders are picked fresh in the local Co-op store, and delivered quickly and conveniently in the community.

The UVESCO Group

Spanish grocery retailer, The UVESCO Group, has selected RELEX Solutions to optimise and unify its supply chain.

The UVESCO Group is well known for its BM and Super Amara supermarket chains, and has 331 stores in Spain, seven distribution centres, and more than 16,000 SKUs.  

It recognised the need to evolve its supply chain strategy and selected RELEX for a range of AI enabled forecasting and replenishment capabilities, to optimise inventory management, supply chain planning, and demand forecasting.

“We believe we’ve made the right choice by trusting RELEX as our technology enabler and advisor as we make the leap from manual supply chain processes to a more sophisticated approach to managing fresh products from store to store,”  says Miguel Carrero, Chief Technology Officer at the UVESCO Group. 

“This strategic move is crucial for supporting our rapid regional growth, while enhancing our operational excellence and providing superior customer service levels.”

Komodo Fashion

Komodo Fashion is working with sizing technology specialist Makip to help reduce online returns.

Brand Manager at Komodo, Tony Mountford, had been on the lookout for an online sizing specialist but had failed to find a partner that was the right fit.

He says: “I first started looking at online sizing technology about five years ago, but what I discovered at the time was technology that required a lot of heavy lifting from us.”

“The providers had good features, but other features were less relevant to us - it just didn’t feel like the right time to make an investment.”

“Online purchasing behaviour definitely changed with many online fashion shoppers ordering the same item in at least two sizes.”

Matalan

Fashion and homeware retailer Matalan has launched its new careers website.

It worked with Genius on this, with the aim of creating “a fresh, modern and engaging experience, reflecting our brand and promoting all things careers and life at Matalan.”

The site includes various new features to improve the candidate experience, including employee testimonials, videos, news and events and key insights into the retailer’s values and culture.

It has also made the offering more accessible with the help of Recite Me, so everyone can tailor the site to their needs.

“This is another fantastic milestone in our ongoing transformation journey,” says Jo Whitfield, Chief Executive and Founder at Matalan.

“The new site is designed to be more engaging and accessible, reflecting our Matalan values and brand. I'd like to say a huge thank you to the talented team at Genius, and a massive well done to all our Matalan colleagues who made this possible.”

Paul UK

Paul UK, a bakery chain that has 37 stores in Great Britain, primarily Central London locations, is getting ready to implement Sona’s end-to-end workforce management solution.

Dawn Humphries, Head of HR & Training at Paul, says: "Our decision to choose Sona was made easy for us once we explored the features and met with the team. It was the most effective solution we found that had the answers to the challenges that we are facing with the needs of today’s workforce.”

“It is integrated with most of our other HR platforms which will reduce the amount of admin and human intervention that we have currently.”

She adds: “Based on all the help and support received during our initial discussions, I can only be excited for the journey that is to come. Our teams are enthused about the time that they will get back for all the great stuff like engagement and team development."

Pricer

Pricer’s partner JRTech Solutions has inked an agreement with an unnamed large Tier 1 North American grocery retailer for the cloud-based platform Pricer Plaza, which allows for in-store automation and communication, within an initial 50 of its locations.

The value of the contract is approximately 90 MSEK. The roll-out of Pricer Plaza and electronic shelf labels within the initial 50 stores is expected to be completed by the end of 2024.

This installation by one of the largest grocery chains in North America with over 1,500 grocery and pharmacy stores, is pitched as the first large scale full-store deployment of four colour labels in North America.