Top Things You Missed IN Retail

Yoti, whose technology was tested out by the likes of Morrisons, Tesco, Co-op, and Asda, has shared its initial key takeaways from the initiative. During the trials, shoppers in participating stores could try two new ways to prove their age.

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A regional New England pizza chain is rolling out a new digital experience for its customers. Massachusetts-based Papa Gino’s Pizzeria is introducing a new website and mobile app designed to offer a frictionless customer experience and enhanced online ordering process, from login to checkout. The retailer has upgraded its website with a more intuitive design and new features including a quick reference menu by category so customers don’t need to log in to view menu items.

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Over the next few months, the Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) plans to roll out 500 self-checkout units at its military department stores. The DIY stations will be available at AAFES exchanges, convenience stores and specialty locations all across the globe, according to Stars and Strips.

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Driverless technology company Faction Technology Inc., has teamed up with its first partner, Cocola Bakery, to offer driverless delivery to portions of the San Francisco Bay Area. Since July the bakery has been using Faction to deliver to its customers around the metro region. Deliveries are made ​​in lightweight, electric vehicles based on three wheel EV platforms from Arcimoto Inc. and from ElectraMeccanica.  

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A few Washington, D.C.-region Giant Food supermarkets are getting an interactive, visual lift in the form of end caps that can track product engagement using computer vision and AI. Unilever is working with retail marketing platform Perch to launch the tech at five stores, with plans to expand should the effort prove fruitful. 

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Australian beauty retailer MECCA has automated its ingredient compliance process with the help of Centric Software’s product lifecycle management (PLM) solution.

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Chewy will reportedly open at least two automated fulfillment centers as it tries to curb rising labor costs. Chief Financial Officer Mario Marte said the move will reduce the time workers spend tracking down and packaging products for the online pet supply retailer.

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Whether it’s for speed, convenience, precision or accessibility, the cosmetic industry is undergoing a major makeup makeover. While a challenging economy and changing consumer tastes and needs are always driving product innovation in this multibillion-dollar global business, the push toward bringing new technology and innovation to an industry rooted in manual processes is clearly on the rise.

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Noodles & Company, the national fast-casual chain known for spreading Uncommon Goodness with its globally inspired noodle bowls, best-in-class service and values-centric culture, today announced a partnership with BetterHelp, the world's largest therapy platform, to offer guests a total of up to $1 million in free BetterHelp online therapy, to guests who have not signed up for BetterHelp before.

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Pudu Robotics has successfully deployed its robotic solutions in more than 600 cities around the world as of the end of 2022. The company aims to expand its services and use cases in 2023, as Pudu continues to ramp up its international presence and step up its game in offering the best service robots.

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The “test center” stores will be purposed with finding solutions that enable Walmart stores to operate as physical shopping venues and as e-commerce fulfillment centers for online shoppers. In a first for Walmart, product and technology staff will be “permanently embedded” in these stores to “prototype” and test solutions in real time, with the goal of better serving customers in today’s omnichannel retail environment.

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Chipotle Mexican Grill is kicking off 2023 with a new lineup of Lifestyle Bowls as it looks to cater to contemporary wellness habits.

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Diebold Nixdorf Inc. has partnered with Phos, a London-based provider of POS software, to allow businesses to add point-of-sale orchestration as an option to existing payment acceptance solutions, according to a press release.

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McDonald's has installed a test restaurant located outside Fort Worth, Texas that allows customers to receive orders in their cars from a food and beverage conveyor, according to the company's corporate website. The conveyor is located at a separate drive-thru lane for app orders which the company cites as an option for customers to skip the traditional drive-thru lane.

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Schnuck Markets is expanding a work program that allows employees flexibility in choosing their shifts and store locations. The “Schnucks Flexforce” program, launched in the St. Louis area last October, has now expanded to 26 areas in Illinois, along with two stores in Indiana and three in Missouri.

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Walmart is rolling out a “Text to Shop” feature that allows customers to add items to their online shopping basket using text messages. To work, the free feature must be linked to the shopper’s Walmart account so their usually ordered items can be reordered, according to a blog entry. For instance, if an individual texts “ice cream,” the application knows what flavor, brand and size they typically purchase. If a shopper texts an item they haven’t purchased before, they are provided with options from which to choose.

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Budget Sport, a Finnish sports retail chain, has driven significant improvements to shelving costs through their partnership with RELEX Solutions, provider of unified supply chain and retail planning solutions. Since 2018, RELEX has provided demand forecasting, replenishment and allocation solutions for Budget Sport’s 10 stores and 1 distribution center and wanted to expand collaboration to pre-pack replenishment and allocation.  

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DoorDash is now delivering prepaid packages from consumer homes to select third-party parcel carriers. The on-demand delivery provider is rolling out a new offering called Package Pickup. Timed for holiday returns season, Package Pickup enables consumers to request a DoorDash delivery associate to pick up their prepaid packages from their home and drop them off at a local delivery service, including UPS, FedEx, and USPS.

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Kohl’s discontinues curbside pickup and more retailers are considering canceling the omnichannel service. Curbside was a boon to retailers during the pandemic’s early days, but adoption has plateaued as consumer shopping returns to normal.

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Julie Barber, Walmart’s executive vice president of general merchandise, said the retailer continues to face an overabundance of inventory in some categories and inflationary pricing pressures. She said the company hopes to mitigate the issues with the help of its suppliers.

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The Woolworths Group is partnering with Gr4vy, a cloud-native payment infrastructure provider, to power the retailer's Wpay payment platform. Woolworths is using Gr4vy's payment orchestration technology to accelerate its product development and innovation agenda and offer advanced payment options to its brands and other Wpay merchants in Australia.

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Amazon Prime Air, the company's drone service, said in July that it would begin operating in Lockeford, Calif., 40 miles southeast of Sacramento, and College Station, Texas, two hours northeast of Austin. And on Dec. 22 the drones took off. "First deliveries from our new sites in Texas and California," David Carbon, vice president of Prime Air at Amazon, said on LinkedIn.. "These are careful first steps that we will turn into giant leaps for our customers over the next number of years."

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When Anheuser-Busch InBev wanted to better understand the impact of its price elasticity decisions — and do so quickly — it faced a daunting task. For one thing, the massive global company operates in more than 50 countries, each with varying levels of digital maturity. For another, government regulations surrounding the alcohol beverage market turn pricing into a comparatively complicated affair on a good day.  

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Retailers are expected to continue increasing their spending on technology in 2023. According to a new study from analyst firm IHL Group, “Building an Insurmountable Lead – How Technology is Separating Leading Retailers from Competitors,” successful retailers will make strategic investments in technologies to extend the lead against their competitors in 2023.

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Salsify, the Commerce Experience Management platform empowering brand manufacturers, distributors, and retailers to win on the digital shelf, announced it is helping The Kraft Heinz Company update retailer product content in just minutes, a process that previously took days. The partnership helps Kraft Heinz create best-in-class consumer experiences for their customers and retail partners at scale through optimized and relevant product content across the digital shelf.

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Grupo Vinoteca, a wine and spirits retailer, distributor, and consumer brand representative, has partnered with RELEX, a provider of unified supply chain and retail planning solutions, to improve the accuracy of their demand forecasts and optimize their replenishment and distribution processes.

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