Pringles Poptopia goes live and Wow Bao apps its game: 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 Moss, Gander, SPAR, AiFi, Halfords, The Save Mart Companies, GoCardless, and Topps Tiles.
Gander and SPAR
Gander is laying claim to a major milestone in its journey towards reducing food waste and fostering sustainability within Australia's grocery retail industry.
Since making its debut in Australia in July 2023, the SaaS company has launched with independently owned SPAR Chevron in the Gold Coast.
Operated by Managing Director Nash Attwal, it is the first store within the SPAR Australia network to partner with Gander.
In 2021, SPAR International, the world’s largest food retail voluntary chain with over 13,900 stores in 48 countries, embarked on a global partnership with Gander to provide its worldwide network with the tools to tackle food waste head on.
After a tie up in Northern Ireland with the Henderson Group, Gander has continued to expand out into the wider UK market. The milestone in Australia sets the stage for wider implementation across all SPAR markets.
Acrisure Arena
Acrisure Arena in Greater Palm Springs, USA has rolled out frictionless checkout stores powered by AiFi.
The Grab & Go Stands within the venue enable people to select food and drink items they’d like to purchase and walk out without waiting in line or scanning to pay so they can get back to their seats faster.
They are located near the fuzzbox premium cocktails bar and inside the South Main Entrance, and serve soft drinks, water, beers, and pizza.
Boxbar Tech
Boxbar Tech reports an activation at Premier League club West Ham United’s London Stadium.
The company worked with London Stadium and Delaware North to introduce a 3x self-serve Amstel unit for pre-game and half time pints.
In a LinkedIn post, it said: “We made our Premier League debut with West Ham United.”
“Terminal highlights: plug and play: setup in less than ten mins; contains all stock inside, perfect for tight spaces (think concourses and arena floor bars); suitable for outdoor and indoor events; can serve any drink type: beer, cider, spirit and mixer, cocktails; fully branded to leverage sponsorship; no expensive setup costs.”
This follows deployments for teams and stadiums in Premiership Rugby and the EFL Championship.
Pringles
Dentsu agencies, Dentsu Creative and Merkle, have announced the launch of Pringles Poptopia, which promises an immersive, innovative, and engaging experience offering exclusive content and unforgettable connections for lovers of the snack.
Poptopia invites users to embark on a journey through a series of themed islands, each offering unique interactions. From the football themed Pringoooals to the sorting challenge of Stack & Sort.
At the heart of the offering, Mr. P, the brand champion for Pringles, comes to life as the guiding force in this realm.
Drawing inspiration from the Pringles can and its crisps, this has come to life via a partnership with Adobe.
Leveraging Adobe's technology, dentsu can collect first-party data, enabling Pringles to craft personalised experiences.
Poptopia is launching in 39 markets across Europe.
PubMatic and Klarna
PubMatic has announced a partnership with Klarna, the FinTech big hitter that made its name in the buy now, pay later space and is now repositioning itself as an AI powered payments network and shopping assistant.
Via the former’s Convert offering, this will allow advertisers to reach and engage with Klarna’s global audience of 150 million shoppers directly at the point of purchase.
Klarna’s programmatic advertising offering rounds out its full suite of media solutions that encompasses affiliate, search, and influencer marketing, helping advertisers reach shoppers across the complete consumer journey, from awareness to consideration and conversion.
Moss
Formal menswear specialist, Moss, has implemented OneStock’s distributed order management system (OMS) to improve operational efficiencies and enhance its customer experience.
With 107 UK stores and a global online presence, the brand was looking for a technology partner who could help it leverage its entire stock pool to efficiently fulfil orders both online and in-store.
As a predominantly event-based retailer with a versatile range of menswear, Moss customers’ order sizes are large, with items often sourced from various locations.
It was keen to reduce lead times and delivery costs for customers by better utilising its distribution centre and stores around the UK.
Following a discovery phase, OneStock’s order management system was implemented and integrated with Moss’ existing systems including Remarkable Commerce, Dolphin ERP and Xiatech’s Xfuze platform.
The retailer says that it now has end-to-end visibility of every order with access to all pools of inventory in all locations, and full control of fulfilment processes across all channels.
Halfords
Halfords is now powering B2B wholesale orders with Kriya PayLater.
In a LinkedIn post, Anil Stocker, CEO and Co-Founder at Kriya, said: “This is the first big milestone in our partnership with Halfords, but also a big moment for Kriya. We’re delivering on our vision to help enterprises grow by removing the friction from B2B commerce.”
He added: “In this first phase we’ve tackled wholesale. It’s a complex, analogue sales channel which we’ve digitised with our Merchant Portal. Now, Halfords’ B2B buyers are onboarded in seconds and wholesale orders can be processed with ease.”
This helps the retailer to convert a bigger base of buyers by offering payment terms, process bigger order values, more often, and reduce friction and cost of sale.
Stocker concluded: “This is just the beginning. We have exciting projects in the pipeline to bring PayLater to Halfords e-commerce, Trade Card, and much more too!”
“A big shout out to Anthony Caie (Director of B2B, Services & Financial Services at Halfords), Stuart Zissman (Head of Consumer Financial Services) and Chloe Roberts (Proposition Manager) for your vision, it’s great to be working with you. And a big thank you to my team for making it happen.”
Topps Tiles
Topps Tiles has tapped FinTech firm GoCardless to power the payments behind Trade Pay, its newly launched trade credit scheme which gives traders the ability to regularly pay on credit in the retailer’s stores.
Traders can now pay their monthly instalments through direct debit, with the funds automatically collected on the day they’re due.
The Trade Pay launch accelerates Topps Tiles’ push into the trade market.
The retailer knew that lines of credit were important to these customers and had previously offered its trade credit scheme through a third-party finance provider. The arrangement was convenient but costly, with fees charged per transaction.
Wow Bao
Wow Bao has unveiled a new mobile app with a fresh interface and all-in-one navigation that allows guests to order delivery anywhere, anytime from its over 700 virtual kitchens.
Platforming with Lunchbox, an enterprise restaurant technology solution provider, users can now purchase Wow Bao from over 6,000 retailers across the US all from the palm of their hand, via a fully branded custom UI.
Wow Bao was one of the first in the industry to unveil a mobile ordering app in 2010. After several advances to its Hot Buns Club rewards programme, the brand required an app that consolidated ordering, earning, and tracking points and rewards.
The app also incorporates Wow Bao’s CPG vertical and through Smart Commerce, enables users to link to their local grocer to purchase the product from their personal device.
Additionally, users can enter Wow Bao’s exclusive Dim Sum Palace Roblox experience through the app. Once in the experience, they can uncover clues and claim a free box of Wow Bao and enter to win bao for a year.
Brora
Voyado has been selected by luxury Scottish cashmere and clothing brand, Brora, to enhance customer engagement by integrating data across various touchpoints and personalising shopping experiences.
This will enable it to implement targeted marketing campaigns and communicate with individual customers more effectively.
The tie up will help to streamline Brora’s outreach efforts by providing a unified customer data overview.
Karl Stone, VP of Voyado UK and Ireland, says: “Our partnership with Brora is a testament to our ability to adapt and serve the unique needs of luxury brands.”
“By integrating diverse customer data streams, we are setting new standards in personalised customer experiences, driving both customer satisfaction and business growth for Brora and our other partners.”
The Save Mart Companies
Quad has announced a new partnership with The Save Mart Companies to launch its in-store retail media network.
This positions digital screens and kiosks throughout the store, giving retailers and consumer packaged goods companies more impactful opportunities to deliver relevant promotions, share key product information and connect adjacent product options to shoppers.
“Physical stores continue to account for the vast majority of retail sales, especially for grocers,” says Kevin Bridgewater, Senior Vice President of Strategic Retail Initiatives at Quad.
“Teaming up with The Save Mart Companies on the In-Store Connect roll-out is a first of its kind partnership that demonstrates how retailers can generate value for the brands on their shelves, the customers in their aisles and their own bottom lines by deploying high impact, in the moment, in-store retail media networks that bridge physical and digital consumer connections.”
VoCoVo
VoCoVo has launched VoCoVo Link, a new wearable headset device specifically designed for the needs of small and medium retail environments, such as convenience stores, aimed at improving team communication and safety.
For use by up to eight team members concurrently, this improves safety by allowing people to be in constant contact with each other, and often acts as a deterrent to criminals.
Global research conducted by VoCoVo has found that 85% of small retail stores admit to having challenges with communication in-store, with the leading issue cited as team members having no way to speak with each other discreetly without customers hearing.
The survey revealed that 51% of small retailers currently rely on making calls over personal mobile devices to communicate with each other in-store.
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