Walmart store project shows 3D printing not a novelty: 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 Domino's, Cash App, Lidl Sweden, HappyOrNot, Road Runner Sports, Aptos, Jisp, Primark, Asda, New Look, Healthy Planet, and Grubhub.
Walmart
Walmart and Alquist have announced the completion of a second 3D Concrete Print (3DCP) project at the US retail giant’s Owens Cross Roads, Ala., Supercenter.
In Alabama, the five-person Alquist team, utilising two 3DCP systems, printed the 16 foot high walls on the expansion in 75 hours during seven operational days, which, the company claims, is significantly faster than traditional building methods.
“In a commercial construction world that pays so much attention to project timelines and costs, our work with Walmart shows that 3D printing isn’t just a novelty – it’s an innovation ready to scale,” says Patrick Callahan, CEO, Alquist 3D. “With this second project, we’re demonstrating how retail expansions can be faster, more cost-effective, and less wasteful, paving the way for broader adoption in large scale builds.”
Cash App and Domino's
Cash App has announced a partnership with Domino’s, marking one of the first restaurant tie ups for Cash App Pay.
The latter lets people pay for purchases either by scanning a QR code or by tapping Cash App Pay at checkout to be redirected to Cash App. It is available when you shop online or in person at Square sellers and select third party merchants.
“We’re all about providing convenience to customers, and that includes making sure their checkout experience is seamless,” says Mark Messing, Domino’s Vice President of Global Digital Marketing. “We are excited to give them another easy and convenient way to pay for their order.”
“We are thrilled to partner with Domino’s as this marks our first ever pizza restaurant partner for Cash App Pay. Through this integration we are able to help them unlock incremental value with next-generation consumers who we know are looking for convenience and flexibility at checkout,” says Alex Fisher, Head of Revenue, North America, Cash App Commerce.
Deliveroo and KFC
Deliveroo and KFC have announced a new partnership that will make the fried chicken brand available to customers via the former's platform.
The partnership, now live, will initially be available from select restaurants covering London and the South East, before rolling out to 924 KFC restaurants by the end of the month.
"With more than 900 KFC restaurants nationwide coming onboard, we’re thrilled to be working together again to expand access to one of the UK’s most loved brands and meet customer demand across the country," says Carlo Mocci, Chief Business Officer at Deliveroo.
"Our new partnership reflects the continued popularity of the chicken category on Deliveroo, and supports KFC’s ambition to evolve its digital offering and make it as easy as possible for fried chicken fans to order their favourites."
Lidl Sweden
HappyOrNot, a specialist in customer feedback solutions and creators of those smiley faced feedback buttons you have definitely seen in stores, airports and public spaces, has announced a partnership with Lidl Sweden.
This will see the company's terminals being deployed in the retailer's stores.
In a LinkedIn post, Niklas Lindros, CEO at Happy Team, HappyOrNot's official partner in Sweden, said: "We are really looking forward to creating even more positive customer experiences together. A big thank you for the trust placed in Lidl Sweden and to Amanda Eriksson (Senior Consultant Sales Organisation at Lidl Sweden) for a fantastic job in the process - without you this would not have been possible."
Road Runner Sports
Road Runner Sports is set to roll-out Aptos ONE, a mobile first PoS platform.
This will extend across its 50+ retail stores in the United States. Aptos ONE will work with the retailer’s existing SaaS applications from Aptos - Merchandising, OMS, CRM and Sales Audit - with the aim of providing highly personalised customer service, real-time inventory availability and connected offline/online interactions.
"We’ve redefined the traditional shoe buying experience - from our groundbreaking shoe-fitting technology to our comprehensive membership program to our curated assortment of top brands,” says Tom Compogiannis, Chief Financial Officer at Road Runner Sports.
“We’re always looking for ways to elevate our customers’ journey with us, which led to our interest in Aptos ONE. “With Aptos ONE, our team members will have everything they need to serve shoppers - whether that’s mobile checkout, looking up real-time inventory and placing an order for an item not at that store, accessing customer profile and loyalty information, processing returns, checking order status and much more – all on a single device.”
“We are proud of the experience we offer in our stores today, and we believe that equipping our team members with this next-gen PoS solution is going to make our store experience even better. With Aptos ONE, we can offer shoppers more personalised, streamlined and informed service - without ever leaving their side or asking them to wait in line. Aptos ONE has the power to transform customer and team member interactions.”
Jisp
Jisp has launched JispWin, a new online prize draw platform giving customers the chance to win daily and monthly prizes.
It’s possible to play for free through a postal route or purchase pay as you go or subscription-based ticket bundles. Entrants can win cash amounts up to £50.00 every day or much larger prizes in the monthly prize draw.
JispWin follows the approach of platforms such as Omaze but also offers retailers the chance to earn revenue for promoting the prize draw in-store. While the platform is being plugged online and through social media channels, retailers promoting the service in-store can earn 15% of their store generated ticket sales.
In addition, 20% of revenues are donated to local charities and good causes. There are multiple daily and monthly prizes available. And, as more people play JispWin, the benefits will be passed along in the form of larger and larger prizes running into many tens of thousands of pounds.
Primark
.Primark has announced a new €40 million investment in five new stores in Italy: one each in Rome, Biella, Perugia and two in Naples, which will bring its Italian store footprint to 26.
Primark has been in the country since 2016, opening its first location at the ‘Il Centro’ shopping centre, Arese, Milan. Since then, it has expanded to 18 across the country, including a flagship store and regional office in Milan.
The new additions will feature self-service checkouts alongside traditional cashier checkouts.
Luca Ciuffreda, Director of Primark Italy, says: “I’m so proud of our growth journey in Italy: in just nine years, we’ve expanded to 18 stores across ten provinces and there’s so much more potential. We’re thrilled to unveil a further €40 million investment to continue our expansion, create new jobs and support local communities.”
“We know our Italian customers love our kidswear, as well as brilliant basics including pyjamas and underwear, and our incredible team work hard every day to bring our unbeatable value in fashion, beauty, and homeware to customers across Italy. And we’re not stopping here - stay tuned, because there’s even more to come.”
Asda
LS Eleven Media Services has selected LiveRamp as its data collaboration partner to bring Asda Access to market.
The solution will leverage LiveRamp's platform to enable planning, audience activation, and campaign measurement powered by Asda's first-party data. This is underpinned by LiveRamp's global Data Collaboration Network and supported by an identity infrastructure, with the aim of improving brands' ability to deliver a more personalised advertising experience to Asda customers, as well as measuring the impact across upper funnel media channels.
Utilising Plan-Apps, brands have the opportunity to pick from approximately 3,000 predefined first-party audience segments or build custom audiences to suit a brief, supported by access to in-flight measurement and reporting. To further scale campaigns, brands can reach these customers across multiple offsite channels including Meta.
In addition, they can work with the Asda Creative studio team to produce bespoke creative to better engage with customers online.
Healthy Planet
Healthy Planet, a health and fitness supplements retailer in Canada, Ontario, has partnered with LEAFIO AI to implement its Shelf Efficiency solution.
"We believe that every small decision can lead to meaningful change. This philosophy drives everything we do,” says Moe Muhamedy, General Manager at Healthy Planet. “Our partnership with LEAFIO AI is one such decision that not only enhances merchandising efficiency but also aligns with our broader goal of delivering quality, value, and sustainability."
Before adopting Shelf Efficiency, Healthy Planet relied on manual processes for merchandising and planogram management. A team of three to five individuals from the merchandising and IT departments managed these processes using data from the ERP system. However, the approach was time consuming and limited the ability to harness data driven insights effectively.
New Look
New Look has onboarded its core supplier base to TrusTrace, a platform for supply chain traceability and compliance data management.
The retailer says that it is also committed to ensuring that all future suppliers are onboarded to the platform.
It can use this technology to monitor and manage supplier data with greater accuracy and depth, enabling the business to fully understand and measure the social and environmental impact of its sourcing decisions and meet emerging regulatory requirements.
These insights are also fed through to the retailer’s proprietary Enterprise Data Platform, to allow for real-time changes to its supply chain.
Grubhub and Nash
Grubhub has announced a new partnership with Nash, a specialist in digital infrastructure for delivery orchestration and automation.
Nash centralises delivery operations into a single platform, offering end-to-end management with AI powered support agents, live tracking, and branded updates.
“Partnering with Nash allows us to strengthen our delivery offerings while continuing to provide merchants and diners with the reliable service they expect,” says Stephanie Grammel, Director of Integrations & Solutions at Grubhub. “We’re always looking for ways to improve efficiency and reach, and this partnership is a big step forward.”
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