Top Things You Missed IN Retail

Sneaker and streetwear retailer announces that all of its German stores will deploy iD Cloud before the end of 2022.

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Unilever Pakistan has teamed up with British company Exarta to explore ways it can use Web3 technology to transform marketing strategies and other business areas.

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Walmart, the leading U.S. hypermarket retail chain with more than 4,700 stores across the U.S., issued a mandate in January 2022 requiring suppliers in certain departments to begin providing RFID tags; joining retailers such as Nordstrom in expanding their use of RFID tags.

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Amazon’s latest fulfillment center robot moves individual products before they get packaged. The e-tail titan is rolling out “Sparrow,” a new intelligent robotic system that can detect, select, and handle individual products in its inventory. Leveraging computer vision and artificial intelligence (AI), Sparrow can recognize and handle millions of unique items for picking, stowing and packing before they are shipped – at scale.

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Convenience store chains are feeling increased competitive pressure from grocery stores and general merchandise retailers that offer a larger assortment of food and essentials through convenient delivery and pickup options. As a result, the channel is adopting new strategies to stay relevant, such as embracing flexible, speedy checkout methods; ramping up fresh offerings; reallocating store space; and catering to their local communities.

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Kraft Heinz is moving forward with its Microsoft partnership, now previewing the solution provider’s new Supply Chain Center, which will provide AI-backed visibility as well as the flexibility to adopt capabilities that meet Kraft Heinz’ specific needs.

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Lotus's, one of the largest modern retail chains in Thailand and Malaysia, has moved its finance and procurement operations to Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). Following the success and business agility that Lotus's gained by moving to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) and Oracle Exadata Cloud@Customer, the retail giant has expanded its collaboration with Oracle by implementing Oracle Cloud ERP to increase productivity, reduce costs, and improve process governance and controls.

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Panera Bread announced the opening of its updated urban store format in New York that includes updated ordering kiosks, the newest of several formats targeted at more densely populated and non-traditional trade areas, according to a press release.

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The wireless device and services retailer has performed a technology refresh at its over 1,400 brick-and-mortar stores, including nearly 15,000 new mobile POS tablets and more than 4,000 new payment terminals. Verizon says it is transforming its store technology infrastructure to increase the speed of service and flexibility for customers, while providing a unified shopping experience.

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Gap Inc. is expanding its distribution via a partnership with Amazon Fashion. The apparel giant’s namesake brand has launched a store on Amazon in the U.S. and Canada that includes what Gap described as “basic, modern essentials for the family.” The collection, which will feature thousands of items, marks the first time that Gap has sold its merchandise on Amazon.

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French jewelry brand Reza has deployed Perfect Corp.’s artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR) solution so that visitors to its new eCommerce website can virtually “try on” its rings, earrings and bracelets.

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Subway has unveiled a new format it believes will help it add locations in places like airports and truck stops: a smart fridge. The fridges, stocked with freshly made sandwiches, drinks and chips, are part of the chain’s Grab & Go program for nontraditional locations.

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The U.S. e-commerce market is reportedly gaining a major new entrant. According to a report in Semafor, China-based short video platform TikTok is officially testing an e-commerce feature called TikTok Shop in the U.S. TikTok Shop has previously been launched in the U.K. and Southeast Asia.

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A premium denim and sportswear brand is launching its new consumer app just ahead of the upcoming holiday shopping season. True Religion app features include limited-edition products, as well as exclusive and interactive content, including interviews with True Religion’s collaboration partners. The app also provides exclusive offers and promotions, and highlights user-generated content and styling tips.

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The GlobalG.A.P. IFA (Integrated Farm Assurance) Standard has become the third-party certifier for Walmart U.S. pollinator health commitments. The retailer noted on its website that it will source 100% of the fresh produce and floral it sells in its produce departments from suppliers that adopt integrated pest management practices, as verified by a third-party, by 2025.

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Retailers already know the importance of optimizing inventory. Yet almost one in three customers still report stockouts when utilizing click-and-collect or BOPIS.

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Historic Tours of America is upgrading its in-store technology platform to Oracle Retail Xstore Point-of-Service (POS). Leveraging this new solution, the retailer enables associates the freedom to move throughout the store and directly interact with customers looking to buy souvenirs and gifts, using mobile devices.

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Perry Ellis has been navigating the retail space since its founding in 1976. What first began as an American brand has exploded into a national presence, and that has required the company to shift and adapt to new needs. Among them, more efficient and expedited fulfillment to meet increasing consumer demands.

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A regional Northeast furniture and mattress retailer is eliminating manual enterprise processes with cloud-based automation. Raymour & Flanigan is now deploying the Oracle NetSuite ERP solution. Leveraging NetSuite, Raymour & Flanigan intends to consolidate, automate, and scale its operations on a single cloud platform.

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Think back to 2020 and 2021, when restaurant delivery was suddenly the pantry, kitchen and server to millions of Americans locked down at home. Operators fast-tracked solutions like the decision to open a digital front door that enabled diners to order online in brand-new ways. However, that heroic effort on the part of eateries was not without issue.

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The U.S. e-commerce market is reportedly gaining a major new entrant. According to a report in Semafor, China-based short video platform TikTok is officially testing an e-commerce feature called TikTok Shop in the U.S. TikTok Shop has previously been launched in the U.K. and Southeast Asia.

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Buy now, pay later specialist Clearpay has announced online payment partnerships with BrandAlley, Boden and UGG.

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Canadian Tire Corporation has made several changes across its store footprints, launching new stores and making upgrades. Among them is a new 135,000-square-foot store in Ottawa that has a six-car canopy where consumers can pick up their online purchases. This store also features a heavy lean on tech such as electronic shelf labels, scan and buy tech that assists with bulky items, and workforce capabilities that allow employees to access real-time information.

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Fresh Thyme Market has rolled out a kiosk highlighting the premium loose teas of Tiesta Tea in all 71 of the food retailer’s stores across 10 states.

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L.L. Bean is improving its sales and merchandise forecasting. The iconic outdoor retailer is leveraging Blue Yonder merchandise financial planning, forecasting and replenishment technology to more accurately predict sales, appropriately buy products from its vendors, and get the right merchandise to the right stores, based on localized customer demand.

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Tim Hortons customers can now pay for their orders through a new Scan & Pay feature in the Tims app. The function allows Tims Rewards members to pay for orders, earn points and redeem rewards with a single scan.

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Joining other intimates brands in enhancing the bra fitting experience, Victoria’s Secret & Co. has partnered with NetVirta to introduce new fit technology within the retailer’s app for Victoria’s Secret and Victoria’s Secret Pink bras, according to a company press release.

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DoorDash and Wing are working together to make drone delivery available via the former’s app in Australia, providing access to food and essentials from local restaurants and retailers in 15 minutes or less.

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It’s an age-old problem in procurement: Corporate buyers lack the time to negotiate fully with all suppliers. Historically this has left untapped value on the table for both buyers and suppliers. To address this challenge, Walmart deployed AI-powered negotiations software with a text-based interface (i.e., a chatbot) to connect with suppliers. So far, the chatbot is negotiating and closing agreements with 68% of suppliers approached, with each side gaining something it values.

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Matas, the leading health and beauty retailer in Denmark, has increased their total inventory turnover ratio by 15% through their partnership with RELEX Solutions, provider of unified supply chain and retail planning solutions.

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The independent flooring retailer co-operative is rolling out the new merchandising and digital marketing system, which includes more than eight million product SKUs and is a completely integrated digital platform at Carpet One Floor & Home stores as Room by Room, and at Flooring America and Flooring Canada stores as Room to Explore.

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A new e-commerce platform uses machine learning (ML) to provide a highly personalized shopping experience. Shoptrue offers fashion items from over 2,000 brands in a single online marketplace linking to retailers’ e-commerce sites, with one-click, unified checkout across retailers. Shopping begins with an onboarding quiz to establish a customer’s baseline preferences and generate a personalized experience with an initial set of curated recommendations, as well as editorial content mapped to the users' interests.

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Sweetgreen will test fully automated restaurants next year. The two restaurants will be operated by Spyce technology, which the fast-casual chain acquired in 2021. The robotic units will have a fully automated makeline, similar to the plans that Chipotle rolled out earlier this year with technology company Hyphen, and if successful could be rolled out systemwide as soon as 2024.

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Hospitality Technology (HT) magazine is proud to announce the winners of the 2022 Hotel Visionary Awards. The Hotel Visionary Awards honor hotel companies for outstanding achievement, vision and leadership in technological innovation.

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Albertsons has shortened the time to identify defects, resulting in quicker deployment of software to POS systems in more than 2,200 stores, as well as automated over 800 checkout regression test cases, becoming the first retailer, globally, to automate the testing of fuel pump payments including EMV card transactions.

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Kum & Go is bringing Upside's consumer technology approach to driving store traffic to more than 200 of its convenience stores. Upside identifies nearby users, driving them to participating locations through its mobile app and encouraging them to transact using personalized cash-back offers.

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Brightpearl’s scalable retail operating system – which includes a plug and play integration to every leading e-commerce provider, an Automation Engine feature and demand forecasting – was selected to help Passenger automate its time consuming manual workflows, end its use of stopgap spreadsheets and expand its B2B business.

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Checkout.com has been appointed by Sainsbury’s to simplify and modernise payment infrastructure across the grocery giant’s business.

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Hospitality software company Agilysys has added the upcoming Mohegan Inspire Entertainment Resort to its Asia-Pacific customer portfolio. When completed, the resort is expected to be the largest hotel-retail-entertainment complex in South Korea.

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Amazon is testing a voluntary program that uses biometric data to verify the identity of sellers applying to utilize its online marketplace. As of Nov. 15, 2022, the e-tail giant is starting to test a new, optional solution for prospective sellers that uses forgery detection, facial recognition, and liveness detection technology to verify the authenticity of government-issued identity documents and whether they match the individual applying to sell in the Amazon online store.

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B2B eCommerce furniture and home décor marketplace HomeRoots has announced that its payments solution will be powered by B2B payments firm Balance and will bring a buy now, pay later (BNPL) option to its customers. With this new option, HomeRoots customers will be able to check out with net terms at the click of a button, the companies said Wednesday (Nov. 9) in a press release.

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The Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA) has teamed up with deep discount retail giant Dollar General to help shoppers answer a persistent question in the aisles: Which over-the-counter medicine should I pick?

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Fast-fashion eCommerce retailer Shein is reportedly piloting a B2B program in Brazil that allows brands to offer their products for sale on the firm’s platform. The trial program began in March and is now handling 50,000 orders a day in Brazil, Tech in Asia reported Thursday (No. 10).

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Amazon shared details about its newest delivery drone, expected to begin operating in 2024. The MK30 is designed to endure a wider range of temperatures, as well as light rain, according to a company blog post. It will also have a greater range, which the company said will provide more opportunities for consumers to leverage the Prime Air fulfillment service.

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Wakefern Food Corp.’s electric vehicle (EV) charging initiative provided by EVgo Inc., the new station features charging from 100 kilowatts up to 350 kilowatts and can serve four vehicles simultaneously.

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