Australia's first ever remote autonomous store: our most read retail technology articles from last week
Check out the articles on this here website that caught your fancy last week, including AiFi, Sodexo, Zedify, Sainsbury's, Amazon's Just Walk Out tech, Just Eat, Costco Wholesale Australia, DoorDash, Burberry, Ocado Retail, and Rituals UK and Ireland.
Sodexo taps AiFi spatial intelligence tech for launch of Australia's first remote autonomous store
AiFi reports deployment of its spatial intelligence platform with Sodexo for an autonomous store at a Rio Tinto mining village in Western Australia.
In a LinkedIn post, Sodexo said: "We officially launched Australia's first remote autonomous store, and it was smiles all around. From chatting with residents about the cutting-edge technology behind the store to soaking in the great vibes brought by the Red Bull DJ spinning some awesome tunes, it was a grand opening to remember."
It added: "To make the day even sweeter, we ran a draw where five lucky residents scored gift cards to enjoy shopping at the store - congrats to the winners! Plus, the freebies (thanks to Red Bull and Coca-Cola) and delicious snacks made sure no one left empty handed. We're excited to bring more choices, more convenience, and happier residents."
Sustainable last mile deliveries specialist Zedify falls on wrong side of rapid drying up of VC funds
Electric cargo bike logistics firm, Zedify, has gone into administration after failing to bag new funding.
The company, which includes Zara among its partners, operates from ten logistics hubs across the UK, with the latest launched in Birmingham in late 2024.
It had planned be active in 50 UK cities in the next few years, and laid claim to the UK's largest network of its kind.
Ravi Patel of Interpath, which is handling the insolvency process, comments: "Zedify was considered a pioneer within the logistics market, being the UK's first cargo bike delivery service with a zero-emission, last mile delivery model. We are working to explore all options and are seeking buyers for the business and its assets, including its fleet of electric bicycles and their associated intellectual property, as well as the Zedify brand."
Last year, Zedify secured a £4 million investment from Barclays Sustainable Impact Capital, Mercia Ventures which was investing from its own funds and from the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF), and Green Angel Ventures.
Sainsbury’s Local Holburn Circus in London till free store moves back to traditional checkout solutions
Clo Moriarty, Sainsbury’s Retail and Digital Director, said at the time: “We are always looking at new ways to make shopping easy and convenient for our customers. We are excited about launching SmartShop Pick & Go, which offers contactless, checkout-free shopping to our customers and are looking forward to hearing their feedback.”
Dilip Kumar, Amazon’s Vice President of Physical Retail and Technology, added: “We’re excited to bring Just Walk Out technology to our first customer internationally with Sainsbury’s. With no tills, no checkout lanes, and no self-service scanners, we can’t wait to hear how busy Londoners enjoy the experience.”
“We’ll be with our customers and colleagues all the way over the coming months, iterating continuously based on their feedback before we decide if, how and where we make this experience more widely available.”
The experiment is over, however, with Holburn Circus being converted back into a regular store featuring traditional checkout solutions. Shoppers will now find a customer kiosk with a till and two self-checkouts. They will also be able pay using the SmartShop mobile service.
Just Eat enters into Swiss partnership with Fleurop, promising flowers delivery within 45 minutes
Just Eat Takeaway.com has announced an extension of its partnership with Interflora/Fleurop to Switzerland.
Just Eat customers in Switzerland can now order flowers and plants from 39 Fleurop stores in 10 cities, including Basel, Bern and Zurich. The tie up will be expanded to other Swiss cities in the coming months.
Lukas Streich, Country Manager at Just Eat Switzerland, says: “Our goal is clear - we want to offer everything a city offers on Just Eat, and deliver it within 45 minutes. We are continually expanding our business in order to make everyday life easier for our customers.”
Costco Wholesale Australia groceries and essentials now available for delivery via DoorDash platform
DoorDash is tapping into the world of bulk shopping Down Under with on-demand, same-day and future scheduled delivery to customers through a partnership with Costco Wholesale Australia.
Available in major metropolitan areas across Australia, including Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, and Brisbane, DoorDash customers can now access Costco’s selection of groceries and essentials.
To mark the launch, they will receive $20 off their first Costco order when they spend $150 or more.
Yapily inks deal to power Adyen European merchant services with Open Banking technology
Open Banking infrastructure platform, Yapily, has agreed a partnership with PayTech firm Adyen.
The latter says it will use the former's data features to "streamline onboarding and strengthen account verification, giving even more merchants across Europe a faster, more seamless, secure experience".
This also marks the beginning of a relationship in which Yapily and Adyen will continue to explore additional Open Banking driven services, including creditworthiness assessments for loan decisions and beyond.
Adyen will go live with Yapily’s data products in various European regions which will be embedded into its Open Banking product, and offered via a standalone solution.
Verity, On, Maersk pilot RFID tech with drones in warehouse inventory management
Verity has collaborated with On and Maersk on a pilot project that aims to bridge the gap between the physical and digital supply chain environments by augmenting Verity’s autonomous inventory tracking system with radio frequency identification (RFID) capabilities.
The pilot explores the potential of RFID technology and drones to enhance inventory visibility in one of On’s warehouses.
Verity’s AI driven, vision-based system delivers inventory insights in more than 100 warehouses globally, in collaboration with various warehousing operators. One limitation, however, has been tracking inventory beyond line of sight. By integrating RFID, Verity says it is able to extend its vision inside and beyond boxes, enabling precise tracking and identification of individual items, such as products and packages, at every stage of the warehouse lifecycle.
Its drones autonomously navigate warehouse aisles, scanning RFID tags with over 99.9% accuracy at rates of up to 1,000 tags/items per second, it is claimed.
Online supermarket Ocado Retail tie up with LiveRamp sees launch of new offsite self-serve media solution
LiveRamp has announced a partnership with Ocado Ads, the retail media network of online only supermarket Ocado Retail. The tie up marks the launch of Audience+, a new offsite self-serve media solution.
Audience+ will allow agencies and brand partners to leverage Ocado’s first-party shopper data insights via LiveRamp’s technology. According to those involved, they will be able to plan, activate and measure offsite media campaigns across a wider network of ad platforms with greater precision and transparency, with the aim of reaching their target audiences in a more streamlined and effective way.
Hugh Stevens, UK Managing Director at LiveRamp, says: “As advertisers continue to prioritise retail media’s insights, retailers who deliver this capability in the most collaborative manner enabling enhanced targeting opportunities and more transparent attribution will be best placed to meet this demand.’
“That is why we’re delighted to partner with Ocado Ads, supporting it to unlock greater value from retail media activation and further differentiate its media network offering with transformative self-serve features through the LiveRamp Clean Room.”
Charlotte Baldwin departs Costa Coffee to take on Chief Information Officer position at Burberry
Burberry has announced the appointment of Charlotte Baldwin as Chief Information Officer.
Baldwin, who will join from Costa Coffee (where she holds the role of Global Chief Digital & Information Officer) at the end of March, will be responsible for leading its global technology team. She will be part the executive committee and will report to Burberry Chief Executive Officer Joshua Schulman.
Schulman comments: “Charlotte is a highly experienced technology and digital leader with a track record of leading large scale digital transformation. I am delighted that Charlotte will be joining our leadership team and look forward to working with her to advance our technological capabilities and drive our strategy forward.”
Baldwin says: "Whilst I am sad to say goodbye to my team and colleagues at Costa, the time has come for a new chapter. I am thrilled to be joining Burberry as CIO at the end of March, helping to drive the company's strategy forward."
Industry veteran Adrian Sherry takes on loss prevention role at luxury brand Rituals UK and Ireland
Adrian Sherry has started a new position as Loss Prevention Manager UK & Ireland at Rituals UK & Ireland, describing it as "a dream opportunity to be a part of such a fabulous success story".
He was previously at Next, joining as Regional Loss Prevention Manager - Scotland, before becoming Security Solutions and Compliance Manager and finally Head of Security Solutions.
Sherry's CV also includes stints at Argos and Home Retail Group (as Security Solutions Manager).
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