Top 10: last week’s most read retail technology articles
These are the RTIH articles that caught your fancy last week, including Clarks, TikTok, Made.com, Pinterest, Printemps, Gopuff, AiFi, and Sephora.
Shoe retailer Clarks is winning at TikTok. Here’s why
After a retailer that is successfully tapping TikTok? Then look no further than Clarks.
In a LinkedIn post, Elle-Louise Wilmot, Rotational Graduate at TikTok and Founder at Truly Twenties, says: “Not enough people are talking about the Clarks TikTok channel. So I’m going to.”
The company can teach a lot of brands how to maximise their potential on the platform, she argues
“They’ve been jumping onto trends with reactive content. Sometimes being the first out of brands to take the opportunity,” Wilmot comments.
“AKA; getting their graphic designer editing corn into the shoes for the viral corn song AND then photoshopping Rodger Cleye into their content.”
She adds: “They are on it and they are quick.”
Walmart preps Electric Fest music festival experience in the metaverse
Walmart has announced Electric Fest, building on last week’s Roblox metaverse announcement.
This past weekend, users could jump back into Walmart Land’s Electric Island, which was inspired by the world’s greatest music festivals.
For the first time on Roblox, the retailer was hosting a festival experience, featuring Madison Beer, Kane Brown and YUNGBLUD, for people to enjoy from the comfort of their own homes.
Electric Fest was a motion capture concert that aims to “celebrate self-expression through music”.
It was available in Walmart Land on Roblox from Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 7 pm EST each evening.
Made.com notches up a social commerce first with Pinterest campaign
Furniture and homewares retailer Made.com has launched its first Idea Ads with Paid Partnership campaign on Pinterest, making it the first brand to do so in the UK.
To support its Never Ordinary campaign, the company’s collaboration with two creators on the platform (Kerry Lockwood and Little Big Bell) aims to inspire Pinners to style unique spaces in their houses with bright and colourful touches.
Pinterest recently launched Idea Ads with Paid Partnership to enable businesses to collaborate with a creator to produce “immersive, interactive branded content that consists of images and videos to tell a story and inspire the creator’s audience to action”.
It also provides companies the ability to scale collaborative content beyond the creator’s audiences by promoting it to their target audiences and measuring performance on Pinterest’s ad platform.
Star Concessions teams with Amazon on checkout-free store at DFW International Airport
Star Concessions has announced the opening of Grab & Fly, a checkout-free shopping experience at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW).
Powered by Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology, this lets people grab what they need and leave the store, without having to wait in checkout lines.
Cold drinks, snacks, travel accessories, electronics and souvenirs are among the products offered.
To enter Grab & Fly, travellers insert their credit card at the entry gate. Once inside, anything they take off the shelf is automatically added to their virtual cart, and anything they put back on the shelf comes out of said cart.
After they have left the store, their credit card will be charged for the items they took. Associates are available in store to assist customers, answer questions, and re-stock shelves as needed.
Sephora goes live with Fluent Commerce OMS in Australia
Beauty retailer Sephora has implemented a new distributed Order Management System (OMS) from Fluent Commerce.
The platform, deployed in partnership with Accenture, has been launched in Australia, marking the start of a broader roll-out across the rest of its markets in Southeast Asia and Oceania.
Gopuff SVP Daniel Folkman is right to predict tough times for quick commerce rivals
The majority if not all of Gopuff's direct rapid delivery competitors will be extinct within the next 6 to 12 months.
So said the company’s Senior Vice President, Business, Daniel Folkman, in a recent interview.
“When money grows on trees, there’s an opportunity to do anything,” he commented.
However, when profit becomes “the pure focus […] if you don’t have a structurally sound core business, it is going to be very hard to endure especially when you have astronomical cash deployment rates,” Folkman added.
He’s right to say this, according to Brittain Ladd, a supply chain consultant and former Amazon exec.
Printemps opens first virtual department store in the metaverse
Printemps, a retailer focused on beauty, fashion, accessories and menswear with 20 department stores in France, is inviting people to visit its first ever immersive, virtual location in the metaverse.
AiFi opens 80 computer vision powered autonomous stores
AiFi has reached the milestone of 80 autonomous retail stores open worldwide.
By working with technology providers and retailers such as Verizon, Microsoft, Carrefour, Aldi, Compass Group, Sodexo, Choice Market and Żabka Group, AiFi says that it has deployed the largest number of camera only, computer vision powered stores across North America, Europe, Middle East, and Asia.
September: retail technology deals and deployments at a glance
RTIH rounds up the stand out retail systems deals, deployments and pilots from September, including Walmart, Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology, Kwik Trip, Marks & Spencer, Currys, Boots, Lowe’s, Ikea, and Aldi.
Here’s what happened in the retail technology space during September
RTIH takes a look back at an eventful month for the retail systems sector, including Starbucks, Walmart, Amazon, Swiftly, Klarna, Serve Robotics, and Walgreens Boots Alliance.
