What do you do with a problem like Kroger?: our most read retail technology articles from last week
Check out the articles on this here website that caught your fancy last week, including Ocado Group, WHSmith, PMC, Primark, Pinterest, Just Eat Takeaway.com, Manna, Lowe's, Aldi, and Ikea.
Here's why there's a dark cloud hanging over loss making retail technology trailblazer Ocado Group
There's a dark cloud hanging over Ocado Group and it goes by the name of Kroger. That's the view of Brittain Ladd, a supply chain consultant and former Amazon executive.
Ladd was speaking as Ocado Group said it would scale back its research and development workforce in the UK and globally as it remained loss-making last year despite a strong performance from its online retail arm. The company specialises in robotic warehouses for other retailers alongside its Ocado Retail business as a joint venture with M&S.
In a LinkedIn post, he said: "I’m a fan of the technology created by Ocado Group, and I believe the company should be respected for pushing the grocery industry to think differently about how they operate."
"I believe Ocado Founder and CEO Tim Steiner, has fought the good fight to keep pushing grocery retailers globally to embrace the use of Ocado’s customer fulfillment centres (CFC), even as the company has experienced over $1.5 billion in losses, and encountered stiff resistance to their business model. Like Jeff Bezos when he launched Amazon, Steiner has learned that sometimes the only person who believes in a company is the founder."
He added: "For the eternally optimistic Steiner, there are many reasons to be cheerful. He points out that back in 2012, the average time for Ocado to fulfil an order was 25 minutes. Today an Ocado CFC is capable of fulfilling a 45 to 50-item order with around 10 minutes at 1/7th the cost of using human labour."
"Ocado has also expanded the use cases for CFCs to include fulfilling non-grocery items for retailers and orders for B2B clients, and the company is finding success."
But regardless of the improvements made to Ocado’s technology, or the expansion into other retail categories, Kroger poses a big problem. It is Ocado’s largest and most important customer. The goal is to build 20 CFCs, and eight CFCs have been opened. However, the eight CFCs actually convert into 13 standard sized Ocado CFCs with three more being built.
Customers fume as Ocado once again cancels grocery delivery orders due to operation issues
Ocado was experiencing operation issues on Friday morning, resulting in a large number of customers having their orders cancelled.
Customers have taken to social media to hit out at the online retailer, with one fuming on X: “Abysmal service @Ocado just cancelling orders, no explanation no reason just cancelled, you can rebook for tomorrow with a voucher. Great, but I need the shopping today! No answer from your customer service number either!”
Another commented: “@Ocado this is more than inconvenient. How do I tell my boss I didn’t make it to the mega important meeting because ‘Ocado was late’ lol I will be fired. There should be an option to change delivery to a convenient time or cancel the delivery.”
“Any @ocado orders in the midlands I’ve just spoken to customer service and their warehouse outside Tamworth has had operational issues, 5,000 orders cancelled! What a great start,” another said.
An Ocado customer service representative responded: “We are sorry to hear that your order has been cancelled due to operation issues and due to this your voucher has expired and you are unable to get another delivery. We would love to look into this further, if you could please send us a DM?”
Ocado lays claim to the most advanced grocery automation in the world and is well known in the retail tech world for its customer fulfilment centres (CFCs).
A spokesperson told RTIH: “Unfortunately, we’ve had an operational issue at one of our sites and this has resulted in the cancellation of some customer orders. We’re working hard to get this resolved as soon as possible and we’re really sorry about the inconvenience this has caused to customers.”
WHSmith partners with PMC as retailer looks to enhance in-store experience across UK and Ireland
PMC has announced an expanded partnership with WHSmith to deliver a new programme of managed services that will support the retailer’s ongoing transformation across its UK and Ireland stores.
It will provide critical service desk, application support and remote monitoring assistance to ensure operational stability throughout the transition and beyond.
“PMC’s deep understanding of our business and their ability to provide seamless support were key factors in choosing them for this project,” says Paul Rodgers, IT Services Director at WHSmith.
“Their commitment to empowering our store teams with efficient technology solutions is vital to ensure our colleagues can deliver the exceptional service our customers expect.”
Ikea ramps up digital accessibility and inclusion push with introduction of new solutions and tools
Ikea has announced the roll-out of new digital accessibility and inclusion initiatives.
This includes partnering with the Vantaa store in Finland to test out a live navigation tool to help blind and low vision customers. Additionally, the tool can help those who do not speak the local language by providing voiced directions in over 30 languages.
Ikea is also investing in an automated crawler to enhance accessibility checks across the company. This will complement the existing self-assessment guide and template that product teams already use, with the aim of ensuring more comprehensive and consistent accessibility improvements.
Primark notches up a social first as it goes live with Pinterest inspired Spring home collection
Primark is for the first time ever officially launching a Pinterest inspired new Spring home collection.
As new research (which involved a survey of 2,003 Brits) reveals a lack of money (51%) and a lack of inspiration (22%) are some of the biggest challenges when it comes to redecorating, the pair say that they are partnering to make it easier than ever to design and transform your space with stylish, budget friendly pieces.
The new collection, launching in Primark stores and available to purchase via Pinterest using Click & Collect, is inspired by the social media platform's search data and features products from Spring floral crockery, to soft pink frill bedding. The three hottest trends that have informed the collections are - Cosy Cottage, Minamaluxe and Dainty Décor.
To style the new collection before they buy it, people can head to Pinterest and use Collages - an interactive tool to pull together their vision, using cutouts of products from the Primark range. It’s then possible to bag the collection in a new way, as the Collages link directly to Click & Collect, which is now available in over 130 Primark stores across Great Britain. Shoppers can also purchase the range in stores throughout March.
Sinead McDonagh, Head of Design at Primark, says: “Pinterest is where so many of us go for home inspiration, but sometimes turning those saved Pins into reality isn’t always easy, especially on a budget. That’s why at Primark Home, we’re committed to making trend led interiors affordable and effortless."
Just Eat Takeaway.com global drone delivery partnership with Manna kicks off in Dublin, Ireland
Just Eat Takeaway.com has inked an international partnership agreement with Manna to roll out drone operated deliveries.
Customers will have the choice to receive their orders from participating partners via drones, which will be deployed from local delivery hubs operated by Manna. Once the food has been loaded onto the drone, they will receive their orders in as little as three minutes, it is claimed.
This service is now available in Dublin, Ireland. The aim is to roll this out internationally to more Just Eat Takeaway.com countries. Manna operates under the pan-European regulatory framework set by EASA (the European Union Aviation Safety Agency) and is developing roll-out plans in collaboration with partners, local authorities, and communities to expand its services to more countries in Europe.
Aldi taps Digital Wave Technology GenAI Solutions to automate product copy, boost product data accuracy
Digital Wave Technology reports a partnership with Aldi in America, the aim of which is to enhance automation of digital channel product descriptions.
Aldi says it will be able to expedite the delivery of precise, customer focused product information to be used on the retailer’s digital touchpoints including website, app and email.
Digital Wave’s AI Copywriter creates high quality, search engine optimised product descriptions and multilingual marketing copy. The AI Product Attribution solution extracts key product attributes from images and packaging, closing data gaps to improve digital discoverability.
Lowe's invests in AI and emerging retail technology as Mylow home improvement virtual advisor goes live
Lowe's has launched Mylow, which is designed to help customers navigate the many questions that come with owning a home from project know-how, to how to advice to top-rated product searches and more.
This has been developed in collaboration with OpenAI.
"Home improvement is inherently complex and can feel overwhelming even for the most experienced DIYer - that's why Lowe's has invested in AI and emerging technologies to create solutions that truly help our customers," says Lowe's Chief Digital and Information Officer Seemantini Godbole.
"We're aiming to deliver the best customer service in retail and Mylow represents an industry leading step forward in helping us do that. This solution will not only help our customers be more informed, but our associates too."
"The development and introduction of Mylow exemplifies the tech forward vision of the Lowe's brand," says Lowe's Senior Vice President of Technology, Chandhu Nair. "We're doubling down with emerging technology collaborators like OpenAI to solve problems for our customers and because we want the home improvement experience at Lowe's to be a cut above."
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