Top Things You Missed IN Retail

Bikky, a customer data platform built exclusively for multi-unit restaurants to better understand their guests, today announced that Protein Bar & Kitchen, Chicago’s original healthy fast casual chain, selected Bikky as its customer data and analytics partner.

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L’Oréal Australia & New Zealand (ANZ) has selected the Productsup P2C platform to deliver rich, relevant, and accurate product information to consumers.

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Pet Supermarket, a retailer with locations across the US Southeast, is partnering with RELEX Solutions to boost its demand forecasts and replenishment orders.

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Mojix and Coriel were chosen by Tosca to provide a SaaS-based traceability solution that enables real-time, item-level visibility across all their sites in Europe. Tosca is a leader in reusable container solutions for the food industry.

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Alipay has teamed with Splitit to help customers make eCommerce payments in installments. The Chinese payments company said Sunday (Jan. 15) it was working with Splitit — a buy now, pay later (BNPL) firm — to offer shoppers on the Alibaba Group’s eCommerce market AliExpress the ability to “pay after delivery.”

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Ahead of NRF 2023, the retail industry's largest event, Google Cloud today introduced four new and updated AI technologies to help retailers transform their in-store shelf checking processes and enhance their ecommerce sites with more fluid and natural online shopping experiences for customers.

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Just Eat has launched a new partnership with Sainsbury’s, marking the food delivery platform’s second tie-up with one of the UK’s ‘Big Four’ grocery retailers (Asda being the first to get onboard).

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Valtech has partnered with Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group to launch a new digital experience. Mandarin Oriental had the foresight to invest early and put themselves at the forefront of the industry in preparing more personalized digital experiences to greet increased post-COVID traveler demand, which is forecasted to continue to increase sharply through 2026.

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PriceSmart has become the first retailer in Latin America to adopt the ELERATM Commerce Platform from Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions as the international membership warehouse club looks to transform the front-end experience for its members.

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Cradlepoint’s NetCloud Service for branch enabled Raising Cane’s to remotely manage its wired and wireless connectivity, delivered through all-in-one routers that support simultaneous use of multiple cellular operators. The service provides the flexibility, connection reliability, and information security required by an organization that is opening locations in a wide variety of regions.

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The Fresh Market has expanded its partnership with retail tech company Invafresh and will now use the company’s Fresh Retail Platform for its retail grocery operations. In 2021, The Fresh Market saw success with Invafresh in its fresh food operations, which led to the grocery chain choosing the tech company to handle operations including inventory management and replenishment of the center store across all The Fresh Market’s categories including produce, meat, deli, dairy, bakery, grocery, bulk and floral, the grocer said.

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Ice hockey team The Columbus Blue Jackets, Nationwide Arena and Zippin have announced the launch of checkout-free shopping for fans this season.

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Chicago Music Exchange, a premier authority on vintage, new, and used music equipment, is working with Oracle NetSuite to serve musicians, collectors, and friends who want straight answers expertise and first-hand knowledge. With NetSuite, Chicago Music Exchange has been able to take advantage of an integrated business system to enable increased productivity and profitability as it grows its in-store and digital presence.

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Build-A-Bear is pursuing a broad-based digital transformation plan that includes revamps to its e-commerce, loyalty and marketing offerings. Chain Store Age recently spoke with Jenn Kretchmar, chief digital officer of Build-A-Bear Workshop Inc., about the experiential retailer’s digital transformation efforts.

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Fuzzy’s deployed Cradlepoint’s NetCloud Service for branch, providing primary edge routing with built-in LTE and best-in-breed security while boosting cost-efficiencies and scalability

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Lululemon is in the process of rolling out a cloud-based RFID inventory management solution to its 600+ stores globally that will help the retailer optimize its in-store product assortments. The Nedap iD Cloud already has been deployed in lululemon’s nearly 400 North American stores, with plans to expand it to stores in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific in early 2023.

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Roots Corp. is transforming its order management and store fulfillment processes with artificial intelligence (AI). Roots is rolling out the NewStore Omnichannel Platform across its digital channels and network of more than 100 retail stores throughout Canada and the U.S.

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SpartanNash has joined forces with fresh food technology company Afresh Technologies to pilot the Afresh platform, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered predictive ordering and inventory management solution, at 10 Grand Rapids, Mich.-area Family Fare grocery stores.

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Retailers using Salesforce Commerce Cloud can now offer their customers new pickup and delivery experiences with Walmart’s store fulfilment technologies and local delivery services.

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Several notable customers of Impact Analytics will be presenting their successful retail planning and execution analytics journeys at the 2023 National Retail Federation Big Show this week at the Javits Center.

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In an effort to expand accessibility for beauty consumers, L’Oréal last week showcased its new handheld, computerized makeup applicator called HAPTA. The beauty corporation’s HAPTA technology aims to help those with limited fine motor skills apply makeup more easily using an ergonomic handle with a magnetic attachment at the top.

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The National Retail Federation is partnering with the Retail & Hospitality Information Sharing and Analysis Center (RH-ISAC). The two groups announced a collaboration to strengthen their collective efforts to improve cybersecurity within the retail and related consumer-facing sectors. This partnership will bring together RH-ISAC’s expertise in cybersecurity and threat intelligence with the resources and advocacy of NRF.

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South African retailer Pick n Pay Group is to implement Blue Yonder’s SaaS-based category management solution for its grocery business, and allocation and assortment management solutions for its clothing business.

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Qu is pleased to announce its unified commerce platform has been selected to power Huey Magoo’s rapidly expanding locations for the chicken tenders brand. Headquartered in Orlando, Florida, Huey Magoo’s currently has over 40 restaurants operating in seven states, with over 225 franchises sold in 12 states.

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Smith Oil Co., operator of 12 convenience stores in the Ohio Valley area of Ohio and West Virginia, tapped Liquid Barcodes to develop a loyalty mobile app with fuel pay and a digital customer rewards program. Building on the success of Smith Oil's current rewards program, Liquid Barcodes will develop a mobile app that will include rewards in addition to a special fuel pay program, powered by C-StorePay, which allows consumers to pay for fuel using the app.

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The Fresh Market has deployed VoCoVo’s wireless headsets in 44 stores, with the aim of improving both in-store and external communications. It has also installed customisable keypad devices across six checkouts in every store to enable employees to call a manager or request a price check at the push of a button. Out of five segments within the keypad’s button face, the food retailer has configured three of them to improve store security.

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When The Kroger Co. ran its “Save $10 when you spend $75 or more on your trip” digital coupon, the food retailer was hoping it would bring in new customers and increase sales. While this ultimately wasn’t the case, findings from its retail data science arm, 84.51°, helped Kroger carefully plan out its next steps regarding the promotion.

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As digital operations increasingly overlap with core retail operations in the store for options like Click and Collect and store fulfillment, retailers need more accuracy and flexibility from their technology.

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Potbelly Corp. plans to rapidly expand the digital kitchen program it began testing last year, which has improved order accuracy and helped cut labor costs, the company said Monday.

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New Balance and several brands within the VF portfolio, including Dickies, The North Face and Timberland, are adopting Aptos ONE POS, a cloud-native and mobile-first solution built on the Aptos ONE microservices-based platform.

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As retailers and brands seek virtual fitting tools, Volumental, a shoe-fitting technology company, has introduced its self-service foot scanners that use AI to measure shoppers’ feet and provide shoe recommendations.

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Expect drones to play a more prominent role in the last mile, including through goods retrieval, as retailers like Walmart pursue faster and more sustainable fulfillment alternatives. Walmart, which has conducted about 6,000 drone deliveries thus far, is expanding its drone operations to an additional 34 hubs, bringing the retailer to 37 hubs in seven states and 26 different municipalities.

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Weis Markets had added its third online grocery delivery partner with the launch of same-day service via Instacart. Sunbury, Paennsylvania-based Weis said Tuesday that, under the partnership, Instacart delivery will roll out to 133 stores in Pennsylvania, New York and Delaware. The Mid-Atlantic grocer noted that the launch covers most Weis locations in those states.

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Albertsons has completed its rollout of an inventory management platform specifically designed for the rapidly changing nature of fresh products, deploying the solution across its more than 2,000 supermarkets in just seven months’ time. The Afresh Technologies predictive ordering platform will power forecasting, inventory and store operations, providing department managers with easy-to-use ordering tools that leverage real-time insights.

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The Coresight Research team is attending NRF 2023: Retail’s Big Show in New York City. In this report, we present insights from the first day of the event, with highlights covering agile business strategies, inclusivity (adaptive apparel), personalization, omnichannel retail and more.

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With a menu that already suits its customers’ needs thanks to innovation in recent years of both lighter and more indulgent items, Noodles & Company will be focusing on digital innovation in 2023.

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Starbucks is expanding an existing partnership with DoorDash. On Wednesday, January 17, 2023, the coffee giant will offer online delivery via DoorDash in Northern California, Texas, Georgia, Florida, and other select markets. The joint delivery offering will expand to additional markets over the coming months, with full nationwide availability anticipated in all 50 states by March 2023.   

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The Home Depot is enhancing its associate experience with a new app developed to help them prioritize tasks more effectively, and a new pay policy that rounds clock-ins and clock-outs to the nearest minute rather than the nearest 15 minutes. The new app, dubbed Sidekick, is aimed at improving the customer experience as well.

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Titán, a leading department store chain in Panama, has partnered with RELEX Solutions. The RELEX solution will be implemented across Titán’s nine stores, distribution center, and the company’s e-commerce channel to drive greater product availability and optimization of inventory levels in their supply chain.

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Progressive Grocer was lucky enough to get to speak with Rom Kosla, EVP and CIO of Ahold Delhaize USA, who graciously took a few minutes’ break from a workshop where he was exchanging ideas with his counterparts at other companies, to speak with the publication about technology currently being implemented at his organization, and what lies ahead in the retail technology realm. The conversation, edited for length and clarity, is as follows.

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Mister Auto, a global e-commerce auto parts seller, is deploying Algolia's API-first platform for search and discovery to boost the customer experience. The Algolia capabilities will speed parts searching in the retailer's 1.5 million products catalog and also increase customer personalization, according to a press release.

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The Coresight Research team is attending NRF 2023: Retail’s Big Show in New York City. In this report, we present insights from the second day of the event, with highlights covering drones in the last mile, voice tech, inclusivity, sustainability, data analytics and more.

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Presto Automation Inc. is expanding of its partnership with Del Taco Restaurants Inc. to provide automated voice ordering at several drive-thru restaurants nationwide. Its artificial intelligence (AI) powered solution, Presto Voice, is already operating 24/7 at select Del Taco locations where it is significantly helping operations by improving labor productivity, increasing suggestive selling, and boosting guest and staff experience. Del Taco has 600+ locations nationwide.

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The 600-unit Mexican chain said the technology from Presto has exceeded expectations. It’s another step forward for restaurant automation.

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Guess? is committed to its six key strategies and has made remarkable progress against each of them. The core strategies include organization and culture, functional capacities, brand relevance with three main consumer groups (heritage, Millennials and Generation Z customers), customer focus, product brilliance and international footprint.

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US-based restaurant chain Panda Express is providing its 50,000 associates with WorkJam’s digital workplace tools.

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The annual “Store Experience Study” represents the 20th year of collaboration between RIS News and IHL Group. As such, it brings the retail industry the definitive study that examines trends for the coming year in terms of technological advances that impact retail operations, growth plans, budgets, and planned technology purchases for 2023 and beyond.

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Two Amazon-owned retailers are teaming up to ease the process of returning items purchased online. E-commerce company Zappos.com is introducing a new label-free, box-free returns service which is available at Whole Foods Markets stores nationwide starting Friday, Jan. 13, 2023.

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Wakefern Food Corp. has launched The Pantry, an autonomous convenience store powered by Trigo, for associates to test at the retailer cooperative’s campus in Edison, N.J.

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Del Taco Restaurants Inc. is streamlining its drive-thru process with artificial intelligence (AI). The nation’s second-largest Mexican quick-service restaurant chain is providing customers with automated voice ordering at several drive-thru restaurants nationwide. Del Taco is running the AI-based Presto Voice solution on a 24/7 basis at select store locations.

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Deposco has signed skincare company, Dermalogica, a Unilever brand, as a new customer.

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Supply chain consultant and former Amazon executive, Brittain Ladd, has provided a first look at an AutoStore micro fulfilment centre (MFC) installed in a H-E-B store in Plano, Texas, USA.

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Rite Aid has joined the Kubra retail cash network. Customers can now pay bills at the brand's 2,257 locations across 17 states, according to a press release.

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