RTIH Editor, Scott Thompson, brings you his top ‘future of retail’ systems launches and deployments from the past week, including Żabka Polska, Ikea, Prada, River Island, Casper, Amazon, and M&S.
AiFi and Żabka Polska
Autonomous retail firm, AiFi, has hit an active stores milestone.
In a LinkedIn post, the company said: “The launch of our store with Żabka Polska in Poland marks our 100th active store worldwide, a testament that autonomous retail isn’t just a trend; it’s here to stay”
“In cooperation with AiFi, we have created an innovative concept of Żabka Nano, which on a global scale, makes a revolutionary change in the perception of consumer experience,” says Tomasz Blicharski, Managing Director at Żabka Future.
“The idea of an autonomous store makes shopping the most convenient experience ever, since it only requires taking a product from the shelf and paying for it at the checkout without scanning.”
KNAPP
Check out this autonomous #robostore from Knapp at #euroshop2023. Absolutely love the concept #retail #retailtech pic.twitter.com/Kmn1P98qBh
— 𝔰𝔥𝔦𝔰𝔥💻🛒⛵🧭📡 (@5h15h) March 2, 2023
SES-imagotag and Kavanagh Group
SES-imagotag has announced the opening of the UK’s first VUSION 360 powered store.
Leveraging the firm’s VUSION Retail IoT Cloud platform, Kavanagh’s location in Belsize Park, London taps various retail applications to improve its daily operations, providing a 360° view on all store activities and delivering data and feedback on actions in-store.
The store features automated price and promotion execution with real-time shelf visibility, helping to both drive sales and prioritise replenishment of high value and margin products.
RTFKT
RTFKT, a specialist in avatars, sneakers and collectibles for the metaverse, has announced the release of three bespoke RTFKT designed Ledger products and new content to educate people on Web3 and crypto security best practices.
The offerings made their official debut on stage at NFT Paris.
👟Our latest [ Ledger ] Market partner is none other than @RTFKT!
The partnership will kick off with all-white custom RTFKT editions of the Nano X and Nano S Plus, as well as a limited edition Nano X case accessory, with more to come down the line! https://t.co/qq80kdQFOz pic.twitter.com/qGaTF2OrvZ
— Ledger (@Ledger) February 24, 2023
Prada
Prada has announced the tenth instalment of its Timecapsule NFT Collection.
The drop on 2nd March, which is the final release in a three-part series of shirts, features special prints by Italian photographer Enzo Ragazzini from his archives of the 1960s and 1970s.
Titled INTERFERENZA OTTICA ART PRINT BY ENZO RAGAZZINI, 1969, the March shirt will feature a design made in 1969 for the Enzo Ragazzini exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London (ICA) with the optical interference technique, using mechanical devices of his own invention (the “rotating plane” for the circular patterns and the “rotating drum” for horizontal ones).
This work was then digitised in 2017.
Outform
Outform has launched what is pitched as a first of its kind interactive digital mannequin at retail trade fair EuroShop.
This serves as a visual merchandising platform that lets the shopper control which products they see and how they’re represented in-store through their smartphones.
Shoppers who scan a QR code on the digital mannequin display can take control of what content is displayed.
They can choose which products they see from different perspectives, and which model wears them.
From there, they have the option to purchase the product directly through their mobile device on a microsite.
We had an amazing 1st day at @EuroShop! Our team spirit is strong & we’re ecstatic to be here with others who are curious about shaping the future of retail. Cant wait for tomorrow! Come by Hall 10, Booth A60 & let us show you how we dare to innovate!#euroshop #euroshop2023 pic.twitter.com/HOpIe2gpwr
— Outform (@OutformInt) February 26, 2023
River Island
Mercaux is delivering RFID self-checkout into stores of River Island, the British high street retailer, alongside key strategic partners.
Shoppers will be encouraged to use self-service devices to speed up the last step in their path to purchase.
After dropping the items into the “RFID Bucket”, said items appear instantly in a digital basket on Mercaux’s self-service kiosk where the customer completes the transaction.
This is made possible, in part, with Mercaux’s composable platform, allowing retailers to surface the checkout process on any device in-store (store associate or customer), eliminating the need for customers to join a line to be served by a store associate at the traditional cash register.
Mercaux’s technology was deployed and integrated with River Island’s existing omnichannel commerce platform with the support of system integrator, Cabiri.
We’re excited to announce a brand new partnership with iconic British fashion retailer, River Island, to deliver self-checkout via RFID in-store, making checkout a fun, fast & frictionless experience for shoppers. Find the announcement here: https://t.co/FwsRHSmQwy
— Mercaux (@Mercaux) February 28, 2023
M&S
M&S says that it is the first major retailer to green light a reduced packaging initiative for Click & Collect orders following a customer trial.
It is rolling out a new BYOB – Bring Your Own Bag – offering to 251 of its stores.
This takes away the need for the traditional plastic carrier across online orders that are picked and packed at the collection store by asking customers to, yep, you’ve guessed it, bring their own bag.
M&S says the move will save 10 million units of plastic annually.
During the aforementioned trial, which took place at 16 M&S stores, customers were reminded at point of checkout to bring their own bag when coming into store to collect an order placed online.
They were then reminded again when notified that their order was ready to collect. Over the course of seven months, 39,347 orders were fulfilled this way, removing over 109 thousand units of plastic.
Shopify and thirdweb
LAUNCH! 🚀
Introducing CommerceKit, in collaboration with @Shopify.
The future of commerce is here.
Details. 🧵 pic.twitter.com/bG7xgSHJwA
— thirdweb (@thirdweb) March 2, 2023
Casper
Checkout technology company, Bolt, has announced a partnership with Casper, a company that sells sleep products online and in retail locations.
Casper is leveraging Bolt’s API-based, modular checkout experience without replacing its existing user interface, which is currently hosted on Salesforce Commerce Cloud.
“Casper is customer obsessed and always looking to turn its shoppers into loyal, repeat customers,” says Jason Sauser, VP of Technology at Casper. “We’re excited to take our customers on a seamless journey, from checkout to snooze.”
It’s official: @Casper is live with @Bolt.⚡
Providing a better one-click checkout experience for shoppers was a driving force behind Casper x Bolt.
Read how Bolt’s platform-agnostic, one-click technology will streamline Casper’s checkout:https://t.co/Nte8LZMIfw
— Bolt (@bolt) February 28, 2023
Amazon
Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology and Amazon One solutions have touched down at Kansas City International Airport in the US.
Two &GO stores deploying these offerings can be found in the new Terminal B and baggage claim area.
The new terminal officially opened for business yesterday. It replaces a 50 year old facility and cost $1.5 billion.
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