Run it back: RTIH pulls together the retail technology news you might have missed last week
Failed to keep up with the breaking retail technology news last week? Then have no fear as RTIH has you covered. Here are the major stories that you need to know about. Includes M&S, Carrefour France, Starship Technologies, Xiatech, OneStock, Rally House, and Drovo.
An exciting way to engage with customers: Superdrug explores TikTok live shopping experiences
UK health and beauty retailer Superdrug launched its first TikTok live shopping experience last week.
In a LinkedIn post, Paul Stafford, Head Of Digital Marketing, at Superdrug: “The jury is still out on whether this will take off in the west, like it has in China, but it’s an exciting way to engage with customers, and we're committed to exploring this channel further.”
“And while the scale may not be huge yet, live shopping is a great way to build brand love and stay relevant with our target consumers. And, it's fun!”
“Thanks to Ana Fisher (Assistant Marketing Manager at Superdrug) and Samantha Bullock (Social Media Marketing Manager at Superdrug) and the COTY team for their hard work on getting this up and running.”
Canada bound Jeremy Pee signs off from Chief Digital and Technology Officer role at Marks and Spencer
So, farewell then, M&S…Jeremy Pee has left the UK high street giant where he served as Chief Digital and Technology Officer.
Pee was hired in 2018 from Canadian supermarket chain Loblaw.
He took on the aforementioned role earlier this year. He was previously Chief Digital and Data Officer, and held that position for just over four years.
Pee is now moving his family back to Canada in a planned move. His responsibilities are being taken on by Co-Chief Executive officer Katie Bickerstaffe until a replacement is found.
In a LinkedIn post, Pee said: “After an incredible five-year journey at Marks and Spencer, my family and I have decided it's the right time to return home to Toronto.”
A2Z Cust2Mate subsidiary picked as supplier of smart carts to grocery retail giant Carrefour France
A2Z Smart Technologies Corp. has been selected to supply Cust2Mate smart carts to Carrefour's Connected Cart project for its newly merged Hypermarket and Supermarket division in France.
The first phase of the aforementioned project is the delivery of 2,000 smart carts, expected in the first half of 2024 at two Carrefour hypermarket retail locations in France.
Robert Dyas enlists IoT software firm Facilio to cut down CO2 emissions and reduce energy costs
Home and garden retailer, Robert Dyas, has partnered with PropTech firm Facilio and NJRobinson to streamline its energy management practices.
The company reported a 20% reduction in energy costs, equivalent to 600,000 pounds worth of savings in just three months of deploying Facilio’s Connected buildings platform across its 93 stores and distribution centre. It was also able to save 285 tonnes of CO2 through its energy savings programme.
Robert Dyas’ CFO Charlotte Walker says: “It took a combination of using the right technology and a cultural shift to get here. The change centred around instilling a cost conscious culture and encouraging responsible spending.”
“When we decided to tackle energy cost reduction as a strategic priority proactively, we found the perfect partner in Facilio - their platform meaningfully connects people, processes, and systems to achieve remarkable results.”
Annual retail technology investment gap could top £22 billion, creating innovation vacuum
This is creating an innovation vacuum which not only threatens retail performance, but also risks long-term sector health and business survival, the RTT’s latest quarterly whitepaper argues.
It suggests omnichannel retailers should be spending between 4-8% of their revenue on technology per annum. However, currently most retailers only spend between 1.5-3%, leaving an estimated best case of a 5% investment gap based on annual turnover.
With retail sector revenues in 2022 reaching £441 billion according to Retail Economics, the RTT estimates that this could see the potential annual tech investment gap topping £22 billion.
Starship Technologies suspends Oregon State University robot delivery service after bomb threat prank
Starship Technologies last week temporarily pulled its autonomous delivery service at Oregon State University (OSU) in the US, after a student sent a bomb threat related to its robots.
OSU had advised students to “not open robots. Avoid all robots until further notice. Public Safety is responding”.
In a statement posted on social media, dated 24th October, Starship said: “A student at Oregon State University sent a bomb threat, via social media, that involved our robots on the campus.”
“While the student has subsequently stated this is a joke and a prank, Starship suspended the service. Safety is of the utmost importance to us and we are cooperating with law enforcement and the university during this investigation.”
Argentine Football Association names Fanatics as official e-commerce partner of Argentine national team
The Argentine Football Association (AFA) and Fanatics have announced a long-term agreement that will see the latter build and operate the former’s official e-commerce store.
This will offer Argentine fans a significantly expanded range of merchandise, with people able to purchase official Argentina adidas clothing, official AFA merchandise and a range of products developed and designed by Fanatics.
In addition, fans will be able to participate in promotions for access to unique items and experiences such as autographed t-shirts or tickets for major tournaments.
The new online store, which will launch in 2024, will utilise Fanatics’ Cloud Commerce Platform.
JRTech Solutions inks supply agreement with Associated Grocers for Pricer digital shelf solutions
Associated Grocers, a grocery wholesale company based in Western Canada, (a division of the Pattison Food Group), and serving a network of over 650 independent retail locations, has selected Pricer's partner JRTech Solutions to supply members with the former’s in-store automation and communication solution and the latest generation of fully graphic Pricer electronic shelf labels (ESLs).
The first complete grocery store installation of the newest range of Pricer ESLs, SmartTAG Colour, with Black, Red, White, and Yellow colour display capabilities, took place at Liberty Foods in Fruitvale, British Columbia.
This represents the first grocery store in Canada to employ four-colour ESLs.
Xiatech and OneStock release results of Business Value of MACH Technologies Survey
Xiatech, the company behind machine learning powered composable hyper-integration platform, Xfuze, and OneStock, a distributed order management specialist, have released the results of their 2023 Business Value of MACH Technologies Global Survey.
This ran between June and September 2023, and included responses from business and technology executives at end user organisations from 12 countries around the world.
Supported by Adyen, Bloomreach, commercetools, Mercaux and the MACH Alliance, the findings reveal that organisations are creating quantifiable competitive advantage by tapping MACH (Microservices, API-first, Cloud native SaaS, Headless) technologies.
Nearly half of the survey respondents witnessed a return on MACH investment.
AdTech startup Drovo pulls in £3m following Series A round led by Maven Capital Partners
Drovo, a UK-based startup specialising in transit media advertising technology, has raised £3 million of funding following a Series A investment round led by Maven Capital Partners.
It plans to use the cash to further develop the dynamic digital rooftop screens element of its offering as well as expand its human resource and hardware acquisition. And also onboard new users for its proprietary technology platform.
Drovo pairs vehicle owners with advertisers to deliver targeted and measurable out-of-home (OOH) advertising campaigns through on-vehicle digital screens and wrapping.
Its geo-targeting and programmatic capabilities allow clients to customise their message to be seen at the right place and time.
The offering is used by Deliveroo, Paco Rabanne, Uniqlo and American Express, and features 28 real-time data points including location (down to borough, street and vehicle level), outside temperature, footfall and proximity to specific landmarks or stores.
Swedish retail technology company Sitoo hooks Rally House as its first major US customer
Sweden-based Sitoo has rolled out out its first major US customer, sports merchandise retailer Rally House.
Rally House has deployed the Sitoo Point of Sale solution and the underlying Unified Commerce Platform in around 200 stores across 18 states.
UK retailers raise £540 million for good causes with micro-donation technology playing key role
A new report by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) has found that UK retailers and their customers raised £540 million for good causes in the last financial year.
It also shows that in 2022/23:
Retailers raised £200 million for good causes through fundraising, with an additional £150m donated directly by the businesses themselves.
A total of 69 million meals and £76 million worth of products were donated to charities and organisations supporting those in need.
Colleagues across the industry volunteered 1.7 million hours of time supporting retail community programmes.
And they also donated £20 million through payroll donation schemes.
This is despite economic headwinds and a rise in the cost-of-living.
2022 saw UK retailers donate huge amounts – both cash and emergency goods - to support the Ukrainian people in the aftermath of the Russian invasion.
Many retailers also set up fundraising efforts so that customers could offer their support, often matching donations to amplify the impact. Overall, tens of millions of pounds were donated to this cause.
Continue reading…