Top Things You Missed IN Retail

Amazon is making a major effort to electrify and de-carbonize its transportation network across Europe. The e-tailer plans to invest roughly $1 billion over the next five years to help drive innovation in zero-emission vehicles and encourage the deployment of public charging infrastructure in Europe, including more than $330 million in the U.K.

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Perry Ellis has rolled out expanded and secure pickup options for customers who use the company’s buy online, pick up anywhere services, through a partnership with alternative delivery platform Via.Delivery. To help prevent the threat of package theft from in front of customers’ homes, the 21,000 Via.Delivery locations, typically located within retail stores, will hold packages for up to seven calendar days.

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Lightspeed Commerce reports that British health and beauty brand, Neal’s Yard Remedies, has implemented its X-series PoS technology. Lightspeed has partnered with the company across its 44 UK stores and online offering, implementing its Marketing & Loyalty technology, powered by Marsello and GiftUp.

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Two new Zippin Lanes have opened at Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, home of the Houston Rockets. The checkout-free stores, operated by Levy, the Rockets’ hospitality partner at Toyota Center, and Levy’s innovation studio, DBK Studio, are in section 108 on the main concourse and section 415 on the upper concourse.

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FreshDirect, the online grocery shopping pioneer and one of the leading grocery delivery services in the U.S., will partner with RELEX Solutions, provider of unified supply chain and retail planning solutions, to optimize their forecasting and replenishment processes. The RELEX solution will service FreshDirect’s distribution centers, providing flexibility and configurability to meet the unique supply chain needs required to deliver the freshest products possible.

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Teriyaki Madness has chosen Local Hero, a digital local marketing platform, to help the company’s franchisees expand their digital marketing capabilities and affordably capitalize on access to major digital media channels. After a successful test, Teriyaki Madness plans to roll-out Local Hero to its 125 franchise locations and to the more than 80 locations planned to open in 2023.

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Fresh Del Monte Produce has invested in blockchain startup technology with a view to improving food safety, tracking, and traceability across their products and services. The fresh and fresh-cut fruits and vegetables company invested a 39 percent stake in Jordanian and UK-based startup, Decapolis. Using QR codes and blockchain technology, Decapolis' solution aims to provide insight into every stage of production, from planting to purchase.

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And in the warehouse, built by Big Y’s partner Takeoff Technologies, 20,000 of the retailer’s top-selling products are waiting for customer orders.

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A fast-food hamburger chain is focusing on communications technology to reinvent its drive-thru experience. Chain Store Age recently had an in-depth conversation with Carl Bachmann, president of Smashburger, about the quick-service retailer’s efforts to redesign its drive-thru model and entire store layout around the needs of the post-pandemic customer.

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Woodman’s Markets, which owns 19 retail stores throughout Wisconsin and Illinois, is leveraging autonomous robots across its grocery stores to improve processes across pricing and inventory.

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Nykaa, India’s leading beauty and lifestyle retailer, has received board approval to sign an agreement with UAE-headquartered retail conglomerate Apparel Group. Nykaa will leverage the Apparel Group’s retail infrastructure network and deep market relationships to build GCC-focused beauty offerings in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain.

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BurgerFi will extend added-value offerings to further enhance the customer journey. BurgerFi will launch a new app in Q4 2022 with a better guest experience and more benefits. The brand will also revamp its website, allowing customers to earn points, redeem rewards and purchase e-Gifts. Plus, adding loyalty to online orders, in-restaurant loyalty look-up, and more. Customers will also be able to link, earn and redeem points through the digital kiosks located in the restaurants.

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Givex Information Technology Group Ltd. announced today it has launched its industry-leading point of sale system GivexPOS in 21 Prime Pubs locations across Canada, marking the next step in the global fintech company’s partnership with leading restaurant franchisor Foodtastic.

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Goodwill Industries International Inc. now is selling goods online after launching an e-commerce site called GoodwillFinds. It is the first centralized online storefront for the organization.

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California-based lifestyle brand Jenni Kayne, known for its minimal apparel pieces and hand-crafted, quality furniture, has selected Tulip, the retail platform powering the world's top omnichannel stores, to keep pace with evolving customer demands for a personalized and connected experience.

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As part of their plan to expand omnichannel fulfillment capabilities, Walmart has acquired robotics automation developer Alert Innovation. The goal is for Alert Innovation to help the retailer to streamline their warehouse space and reach more customers, faster.

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The discount giant is converting one of its Atlanta fulfillment centers into a dedicated facility supporting its growing Walmart Fulfillment Services business. Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS) is a fee-based program providing an array of services, including storing, picking, packing and shipping, along with the handling of returns and customer service and the Walmart Connect retail media platform, to retailers participating in the discounter’s third-party online U.S. marketplace.

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Zaxby's is introducing its new loyalty program and mobile app: Zax Rewardz. With the new program structure and features, the brand aims to refine and upgrade the mobile experience for Zaxby's most loyal customers, who will receive a free Big Zax Snak Meal with every new download or update of the existing app.

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There’s a better way to get your pizza delivered. The largest Pizza Hut franchisee in California, American West Restaurant Group, is partnering with ElectraMeccanica, manufacturer of the revolutionary single seat electric delivery vehicle, the SOLO Cargo, to disrupt pizza delivery. The goal is to make it fun for drivers and consumers, more profitable for businesses and better for the environment.

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Bojangles will modernize more than 20 of its restaurants in the Columbia, South Carolina market, according to a press release. The remodels are part of Bojangles' ongoing investment to enhance the guest experience through operational upgrades that meet current customer demands.

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Krystal has selected to Sparkfly modernize and elevate the brand’s customer experience at each of its 300 locations. Krystal will leverage Sparkfly’s intelligent middleware platform to modernize its digital guest experience at all touchpoints including real-time connectivity to their in-store POS, web and mobile app ordering technologies developed by Plein Air, and all digital engagement channels to enable personalization at scale.

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Lowe’s Cos. Inc. is partnering with Yahoo to expand its capability to connect advertisers with its customers. The leading home improvement retailer launched Lowe's One Roof Media Network, a retail media service designed to provide a portfolio of omnichannel advertising services, in October 2021. The platform includes data-driven insights integrated with analysis of consumer behaviors and home category trends, as well as customized advertising products.

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River Island is working with Scandit as part of its plans to modernise store operations. The UK high street fashion retailer has issued each store associate a Scandit enabled Samsung Galaxy XCover rugged smartphone, equipped with Microsoft Teams, to replace shared hardware-based scanning devices.

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Jitterbit has announced a partnership with THG Ingenuity, the end to end e-commerce business of THG, formerly known as The Hut Group. This will see the latter use Jitterbit’s API integration technologies to connect to clients' existing business systems, such as warehouse and logistics platforms, ERP software and third-party delivery.

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Walk into any Westgate Resorts lobby, stop and listen. Above the voices of resort staff greeting people at check in, or the concierge discussing places to eat, or guests asking about the pool operating hours, you’ll hear music being played at a comfortable, welcoming level.

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Health and beauty retailer, A.S. Watson, has taken the wraps off Skinfie Lab, a tool that creates personalised skincare product recommendations based on customers’ selfies.

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Strategy and consulting firm Accenture is working with confectionery giant Mars to transform and modernise its global manufacturing operations with artificial intelligence (AI), cloud, edge technology and digital twins.

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Hollister Co. is rolling out a new way for third parties pay on its mobile app, using in-house-developed technology. The global teen retailer, a division of Abercrombie & Fitch Co., is unveiling Share2Pay. The new, patent-pending mobile payment option allows customers to share their digital shopping bag with their purchaser (such as a parent or grandparent) to complete the purchase.

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Lilly Pulitzer's iconic fashion brand has amassed a loyal following with their happy prints, chic styles, and personalized store experience. So, when looking at how to evolve their customer engagement and clienteling strategies, Tulip's mobile-first cloud solution was the natural choice.

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Rawden Joint Ventures Corp. has adopted Carousel cloud software to run employee-facing digital signage in 47 of its McDonald's franchise locations in Pennsylvania and Delaware, according to a press release. The digital signage serves a rotation of relevant content to employees on signs in restaurants in locations such as spaces near clock-in stations.

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D2C beauty brand, Trinny London, says that it has modernised its business operations and in turn enhanced its customer experience with the help of digital agency Excellent Zephyr and the Patchworks (iPaas) platform.

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Wayfair Inc. has completed a full migration of its data center applications and services to a Google Cloud foundation. As a result, the direct-to-consumer online home furnishings titan seeks to increase business agility and technical innovation, handle burst capacity during major sales events such as its “Way Day” online sales extravaganza, and scale new uses of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) for uses such as fraud detection to personalized customer outreach.

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Convenience retailer 7-Eleven is teaming up with retail and consumer investment and innovation firm, True, to find innovative ways to simplify store operations in the US and Canada.

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Apóla Greek Grill is known for serving the ‘Most Authentic Greek Gyro you can get without buying a plane ticket!’ Now, it’s fans won’t even have to leave the comforts of their own Southern California homes or offices to get one. Apóla today announced a partnership with Cloud Kitchens to open a location this November within its ghost kitchen in Anaheim. The agreement will allow the emerging Greek concept to further expand in the competitive SoCal market without the additional expense of a brick-and-mortar location.

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Hudson Group, a travel experience provider with more than 1,000 stores in airports, commuter hubs, landmarks and tourist destinations across North America, today unveiled its combination Decanted and Hudson Nonstop concept at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. The Hudson Nonstop, which adjoins Decanted, is powered by Amazon's Just Walk Out technology and Amazon One.

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Jamba, a provider of on-the-go freshly blended fruit and vegetable smoothies, will introduce a new design for its Jamba by Blendid robotic smoothie kiosk along with a marketing campaign led by Gestalt Brand Lab, according to a press release. Jamba and Blendid, a manufacturer of robotic foodservice solutions, have launched six Jamba by Blendid autonomous robotic smoothie kiosks across the country including locations such as universities and colleges, travel stops and malls.

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Interface Systems, a leading managed service provider delivering business security, managed network, UCaaS, and business intelligence solutions to distributed enterprises, today announced that Pressed, a leading cold-pressed juice and plant-based treats brand, has deployed Interface’s managed services in over 100 stores nationwide, resulting in a 50% reduction in fixed costs in all stores after consolidating multiple services.

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Rite Aid Corp. is migrating key applications to a Google Cloud infrastructure. Rite Aid is entering a multi-year technology partnership with Google Cloud that will include migrating key applications to Google Cloud Anthos, a managed platform for application deployment. Applications being migrated include Rite Aid's vaccine scheduling tool, customer messaging infrastructure, and digital engagement platform.

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The rural lifestyle retailer is deploying Honeywell mobile technology in an effort to streamline operations for store associates and offer customers a convenient, end-to-end, omnichannel experience. By arming associates with Honeywell CT40XP computers and Operational Intelligence Professional cloud-based software across its more than 2,000 stores, Tractor Supply says it has increased employee productivity and enabled them to spend more time building relationships with customers.

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Apparel brand, UNTUCKit, says that it has streamlined communications, operations and training for store staff, in partnership with YOOBIC.

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