Top Things You Missed IN Retail

Online grocery retailer Akwaaba has partnered with payments orchestration firm CellPoint Digital. Akwaaba is leveraging the firm’s payments orchestration solution to optimize its operations as it expands beyond the six countries in Africa and the Middle East in which it is already active, CellPoint Digital.

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Cole Haan will deploy the Aptos ONE platform, beginning with the Aptos ONE POS. The platform’s microservices-based design and open architecture can accommodate new tools and services, allowing retailers to quickly adapt to shifting customer and business demands.

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In 2023 and beyond, business survival will require pivoting at lightning speed and rapidly adjusting to whatever new crisis comes our way. That’s why The Kroger Co. will begin using e2Cos.’ R3Di system (pronounced “Ready”) to improve power quality for its Ralphs distribution center in Paramount, Calif., which serves stores across Los Angeles County.

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Paytronix is boasting a new look that reflects the industry shift related to customer loyalty and indicates that brands need to think differently about how to keep guests happy and engaged. The company, which launched its restaurant loyalty solution more than 20 years ago, said it is positioned to help its clients better align all the components of the digital customer engagement ecosystem to power the industry into the future.

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Have you ever ordered an NFT with your takeout? Well, Wow Bao may just let you do that—kind of. The brand, which mainly spreads through “dark kitchens” and third-party delivery services, plans to connect its rewards program to Web3, which is the third iteration of the world wide web.

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Carrefour has produced its first ever video made with ChatGPT and generative AI.

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Asos has announced the expansion of its Partner Fulfils programme powered by the Mirakl Marketplace Platform. Through Partner Fulfils, brands fulfil orders placed on the Asos website and app directly, without products being stored in the firm’s fulfilment centres.

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The Kroger Co. is keeping the capabilities of its retail media network current with consumer and technology trends. Chain Store Age recently spoke with Michael Schuh, VP, media strategy & product at Kroger Precision Marketing (KPM), a division of The Kroger Co. focused on connecting brand partners with shoppers and supported by its 84.51° data analytics subsidiary, about how changes in the way customers consume media and search for products are affecting KPM’s operations.

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The convenience store chain, which operates across the Midwest and western parts of the country, is partnering with floor cleaning equipment and technology company Ice Cobotics to utilize Ice Cobotics Cobi 18 autonomous floor scrubbers.

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Queenstown Airport in Queenstown, New Zealand plans to install additional bag drop and kiosk technology to allow passengers to check in faster, according to a futuretravelexperience.com report.

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US Foods Holding Corp. added two transformative technology offerings to its CHECK Business Tools program: Bear Robotics and 7shifts. US Foods CHECK Business Tools program provides foodservice operators with a growing suite of technology solutions designed to help drive traffic, simplify staffing and reduce waste.

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UK convenience retailer Co-op has teamed with PayPal. The latter is now available for shoppers as a payment option for purchases of online home delivery orders and Click and Collect via Co-op’s online shop.

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ChicMe, a Geeko Tech fashion brand in North America and Europe, is deploying Forter's Trust Platform for digital commerce in a quest to improve payment rocessing, reduce fraud, boost the customer experience and increase order fulfillment efficiency.

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“We are just at the dawn of the robotics age. And I would say artificial intelligence and battery technology are all a part of that movement as well,” Cathie Wood said.

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Starbucks Reinvention Plan, announced last fall, detailed a five-phase approach seeking to "touch and elevate" the end-to-end Starbucks experience, and its latest earnings shows signs the overhaul is already paying off.

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Visual Matrix, a provider of advanced technology solutions for the hospitality industry, expanded the number of cloud-supported hotels on its platform by more than 80% in 2022 in addition to growing industrywide adoption of its product suite, including the expansion of its solutions across Prestige Hotels & Resorts’ portfolio of 15 distinctive hotels and resorts in British Columbia.

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Worldline has implemented an updated ATM fleet roll-out for French retailer Groupe Les Mousquetaires (GLM). This involved the migration of more than 700 ATMs as part of a one-year project. GLM is one of the first French retailers to upgrade its entire ATM fleet.

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Forever 21 is providing a digital shopping experience that includes seamless one-click checkout on its e-commerce site and app. The retailer launched a multi-year effort to overhaul its enterprise, digital and omnichannel technology during the COVID-19 pandemic. Among those technology initiatives was a focus on providing a frictionless, rapid, and safe online checkout experience.

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Guitar Center Inc. is redeploying its data centers to Oracle Corp.'s cloud platform for better support of its increasing online and in-store demand for instruments and services, including lessons and repairs.

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Mike Nettles, chief digital and technical officer at Zaxby’s, will tell you: when it came to technology, Zaxby’s was once woefully behind. “This may sound highly self-deprecating, but the simple truth is that Zaxby’s had greatly under-invested in technology for many years,” Nettles says. “We had an almost 15-year-old operating platform and had outsourced most of our digital capabilities to companies who really didn’t meet our outdated needs, let alone our needs to further our own growth strategy.”

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Foodcellar Market is the first retailer to fully deploy Instacart scan & pay technology, which is part of the grocery technology provider’s Connected Stores platform, in its stores. Foodcellar Market customers are now able to scan items with their phone as they shop, including loose items like weighted produce, and pay for them using their mobile phone.

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Over 220 retail leaders recently met at Microsoft’s New York headquarters to network for a great cause. The RetailROI SuperSaturday event – held annually at NRF – raised $384,000, which will go towards helping orphans and children in the foster care system.

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Google’s announcement that it would be enhancing Google Cloud for Retailers with shelf checking got people talking at the National Retail Federation’s conference in New York earlier this month, but the push to turn physical stores into digital assets has been underway for years.

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Grocery giant Albertsons is the latest retailer expanding into the world of healthcare. The company announced Monday (Feb. 6) the debut of Sincerely Health, a digital health and wellness platform accessible on 16 of its grocers’ apps and websites, including Safeway, Vons, Acme and Albertsons itself.

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Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. is optimizing the management of its electric vehicle (EV) network through a new partnership with Driivz. Circle K migrated its network of more than 600 public EV charging stations in Europe and North America onto the Driivz platform, an end-to-end smart EV charging and energy management software solution.

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Giant Eagle is deploying advanced category management technology from Plantensive in order to better respond to consumers' changing needs. The goal is to improve customer experience for 216 supermarkets and 274 GetGo convenience stores.

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H&M has installed a Proto hologram display in its Williamsburg store, in Brooklyn, New York, as part of the H&M Move concept. The concept combines a brick-and-mortar experience with a promotional campaign for H&M Move (an athletic clothing line), along with dance and exercise classes that feature active class providers including Grind House and Good Move.

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The fast-casual chain remains committed to being on third-party delivery sites while also promoting its direct channels. Plus, the new technology it will begin testing this month that will reduce guest friction in the order pickup experience.

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Business at the Mountain Lodge Telluride is simply sensational, especially since the slope-side sanctuary built for adventure seekers transitioned its back-office accounting solution to PVNG by Aptech. With business on a steady incline, the property needed an accounting system that streamlined data entry – especially when it comes to uploading payroll for its large seasonal workforce.

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Movado Group has kept a tight focus on its core while undergoing a digital transformation. Movado Group President of Commercial, Chief Digital Officer and Chief Technology Officer Behzad Soltani told PYMNTS how the brand has navigated from the pandemic’s shift to digital, to the great retail reopening, to inflation-fueled belt-tightening, by fine-tuning and diversifying its sales channels, tech and territories.

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Pick n Pay is now accepting Bitcoin in all of its 1,628 stores following a three-month pilot testing phase in 39 locations. As part of its nationwide rollout, store customers will be able to pay for items using cryptocurrency via smartphone apps or by scanning a QR code and accepting the South African rand’s conversion rate at the time of payment.

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The discount grocer, which is transitioning from a retail to a licensed wholesale model, is deploying solutions from the artificial intelligence (AI)-based SymphonyAI Retail CPG suite. Specific applications Save A Lot is implementing include Master Data Management (MDM), Core Merchandising, Insights, Vendor Portal, and Retail Operations.

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Fujitsu has deployed its AI demand forecast service at 823 Marugame Udon noodle shops in Japan, operated by TORIDOLL Holdings.

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Henkel has implemented a new workforce solution aimed at streamlining internal IT support services for their global network of remote employees. The integration aims to increase efficiency, simplify workflows, and make their IT systems more secure.

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Stinker Stores selected AccuStore to implement a retail intelligence platform with a package that includes a survey of all stores in January and February in advance of the software launch. The move will provide Stinker Stores with detailed store profile data to drive strong executions, according to the company.

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Weigel's tapped retail solutions provider GSP for the convenience store chain's point-of -purchase (POP) marketing across its 73 locations in East Tennessee. GSP will provide Weigel's stores with specific kits that reduce wasted print materials, shipping costs and fuel needed in the fulfillment process.

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Renner is deploying the RFID-based inventory intelligence solution from Sensormatic Solutions, a Johnson Controls company. After implementing the Sensormatic technology across all its stores, Renner has seen an 87% reduction in stockouts and a 64% increase in inventory accuracy.

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Lux Vending, LLC dba Bitcoin Depot Inc., a U.S.-based bitcoin ATM operator, has signed agreements with convenience store brands with locations spanning across several states, including FastLane, Gas Express, High's, Majors Management and Stinker Stores, according to a press release.

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The retailer is counting on digital innovation to help drive store growth in North America and Europe, according to Fast Retailing CIO Takahiro Tambara.

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In conjunction with American Heart Month in February, Hannaford Supermarkets is installing automated external defibrillators (AEDs) at all of its stores. AEDs are lightweight portable devices that deliver an electric shock through the chest to the heart. The shock can potentially stop an irregular heartbeat and allow a normal rhythm to resume following sudden cardiac arrest.

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Cargo volume at the nation’s major ports continues to slow and is expected to drop to a level not seen in nearly three years, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF).

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REMA 1000 Norge has partnered with RELEX Solutions, provider of unified supply chain and retail planning solutions, to optimize and unify their store forecasting, replenishment, and space planning processes. RELEX will service REMA 1000’s 670 stores throughout Norway, driving their efforts to increase availability, improve store efficiency, and reduce waste.

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Two Wegmans Food Markets stores are testing a clip-on device that turns a standard grocery shopping cart into a multifunction “smart” cart. Shopic’s Shop-E artificial intelligence-powered, clip-on touchscreen device employs computer vision algorithms to identify items placed in the cart in real time, while displaying a running total of their purchases as well as product promotions and discounts on related products.

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For Bad Ass Coffee Co., 2022 was a year of growth after strategic systemwide investments and enhancements to strengthen overall brand infrastructure and support.

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Optimizing Salesforce's unified customer data platform has yielded higher open rates on messages, higher click-through rates and higher conversion rates.

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Compass Group has opened a second checkout-free location in a UK stadium. Situated at Premier League football club Aston Villa, this is a bar powered by AiFi technology. The first bar can be found at Leicester City F.C.

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Microsoft says it plans to integrate OpenAI technologies throughout its product lineup, but one entrepreneur has already put ChatGPT into Microsoft Word, and he’s eyeing additional Microsoft Office products next.

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Poolwerz, a franchise pool service brand, is driving a digital transformation strategy with the deployment of Spryker, an enterprise marketplace platform. The brand is using the tech to connect its digital and retail store experiences and enable commerce across its entire network.

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