Top Things You Missed IN Retail

Rising customer expectations have retail brands working overtime this summer, and alice + olivia is no exception. The luxury fashion brand is launching a new program designed to provide its in-store associates with tools to deliver more consistent and relevant shopper experiences as a way to increase brand excitement and loyalty.

Full Article ›

Peter Piper Pizza has launched its first loyalty program and app.

Full Article ›

The partnership expedites delivery and pick-up services to customers across the retailer's 430-plus network. Rebel Convenience Stores signed a national agreement with Waitr Holdings Inc. As part of the collaboration, Waitr will provide delivery and pick-up services for Rebel across the retailer's footprint, which now spans from California to the East Coast and Florida.

Full Article ›

Choice Market is targeting electric vehicle (EV) consumers and giving a nod to the future of mobility through the digital signage of its convenience store in the Denver neighborhood of City Park. The retail site, located at 2200 East Colfax Ave., lists the price of electricity right below the price of gas so EV consumers know what they'll pay.

Full Article ›

As Tovala expanded its business, managing its staffing and operations became increasingly difficult. Manual business processes took the Tovala team away from high priority customer-facing development work and it was clear Tovala had outgrown its legacy business systems. After careful review, Tovala decided to make the move to Oracle NetSuite to streamline and automate its financial processes and establish a scalable foundation for the future.

Full Article ›

FoodStorm was founded 14 years ago and has developed partnerships with a number of Instacart’s retail partners including Albertsons Companies banners Balducci’s and Kings Food Markets, as well as Bi-Rite Market, Mollie Stone’s Markets, Uncle Giuseppe’s and Roche Brothers Supermarkets.

Full Article ›

PizzaHQ, the company charged with revolutionizing the pizza industry by placing pizza makers alongside automated pizza robots in stores, is expanding its business operations by tapping Picnic Works to further automate its pizza making processes. Picnic is a Seattle-based innovator of food automation technology, and it will become the automation backbone to PizzaHQ operations with its award-winning, certified Picnic Pizza Station.

Full Article ›

Lush MENA was able to navigate the general challenges of specialty retail, as well as those unique to the Middle Eastern market, with StoreForce’s Retail Workforce Management tools.

Full Article ›

Consumers got some relief in July — at least online — as overall prices dropped after 25 straight months of inflation. Online prices dropped 1% year-over-year and 2% month-over-month in July, according to the Adobe Digital Price Index. Most (14 out of 18) of the categories tracked by Adobe saw month-over-month price decreases in July.

Full Article ›

More than 65 Whole Foods Market stores across California will soon offer theAmazon One palm-based payment systemthat allows customers the option to use their palm to pay for purchases. This is the first broad roll out of Amazon One at Whole Foods Market stores following previous launches in Seattle, Austin, and select stores in New York and Los Angeles.

Full Article ›

Inflation reached 9.1% in June 2022, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index (CPI), which is the highest rate in nearly 41 years. High inflation is weighing on shoppers’ budgets, with 62% expecting their living costs to increase even further over the next six months, according to data from Ernst & Young’s (EY) Future Consumer Index. As a result, retailers need to rethink how they attract and retain customers by looking at data not just from recent months but also from the last time shoppers felt this much economic pressure — the Great Recession of 2008-2009.

Full Article ›

Burger King to trial £1 returnable packaging to combat waste and littering. The items would then be professionally cleaned by its partners at the Loop.

Full Article ›

Co-op has expanded a trial with tech recirculation startup, Spring. The pair first partnered in October 2021 with the launch of self-service pods in 20 of the retailer’s convenience stores in London.

Full Article ›

Flying Tiger Copenhagen has deployed MishiPay's self-checkout kiosk in its London Tottenham Court Road store, according to a press release. The self-service kiosk works alongside MishiPay's mobile self-checkout technology that the brand is rolling out across its U.K. stores, enabling autonomous checkout.

Full Article ›

Nær, the first retail chain of cashierless stores in Iceland, has opened its first location. Nær uses LS Retail technology to operate store locations that are completely automated, with no employees on site.

Full Article ›

For order fulfillment, Levi Strauss relies on TGW’s smart piece-picking system, known as FlashPick. It enables the company to fulfill both small and large orders, regardless of order channel, from just one distribution center. As a result, the complicated batch processes that were previously required are now rendered obsolete, and the long walking time spent filling orders is eliminated.

Full Article ›

Rent the Runway, an online platform that allows users to rent, subscribe, or buy designer apparel and accessories, has migrated its entire IT infrastructure and e-commerce platform to Google Cloud.

Full Article ›

Asda and Deliveroo have launched a new partnership for the rapid delivery of groceries, with a roll-out launching across 15 stores. Beginning this month with Wakefield, Leeds and Manchester among the first cities for the rollout, households can choose from over 2,400 products from the Asda range and have them delivered to their door in minutes by Deliveroo’s network of riders

Full Article ›

Associated Wholesale Grocers is partnering with DoorDash to offer on-demand grocery delivery solutions to independent grocers through the DoorDash marketplace app and website.

Full Article ›

Afresh reports that it tripled its customer base in 2021, bringing on both regional and national chains including Cub Foods and Albertsons. The company will launch at more than 2,300 Albertsons stores before the end of the year, and aims to serve 10% of U.S. grocery stores within that time period.

Full Article ›

Communication in the retail environment, whether between a brand and customers or store associates and customers, or simply between store leadership and store staff plays a critical role in crafting a rewarding customer experience. That's a prime reason GameStop Italy, following in the footsteps of GameStop U.S. Inc., deployed the Opterus Opscenter cloud store communications and task management solution across its 271 locations.

Full Article ›

Speedy Eats, an operator of automated kitchens, inked an agreement to use Picnic Works' robotic pizza-making technology in its initial wave of locations—a deal that's valued at more than $800 million.

Full Article ›

At Zunzi’s, we took a layered approach to embracing technology that set our brand up for success in today’s times and beyond. We implemented a new POS and management system—Toast—comprised of an order and pay at the table system, self-ordering kiosks and Toast Go Handheld POS.

Full Article ›

Tesla has deployed large cube lounges at a Supercharger station in Germany that is equipped with automated vending machines for coffee, food, and more. The new partnership with bk World to deploy these lounges could reshape Tesla’s Supercharger networks in regions where it is more challenging to deploy charging stations near amenities.

Full Article ›

Ulta Beauty has launched Prisma Ventures, a digital innovation fund that will invest $20 million in technology startups. Prisma Ventures, which was unofficially announced at Ulta’s 2021 investor day, has already “partnered with and invested” in several startups including Haut.ai, Adeptmind and ReStyle. It is focused on investments in augmented reality, metaverse, personalization, technology-powered custom beauty services, and more.

Full Article ›

Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, announced that Virgin Voyages is deploying an end-to-end Aruba ESP (Edge Services Platform) network to deliver world-class, premium experiences aboard all four of their inaugural fleet of “lady ships.”

Full Article ›

Walmart has added several API partners to its Walmart Connect retail media network, according to a company blog post. The new partners are in addition to a previously announced integration with e-commerce platform CommerceIQ.

Full Article ›

This spring, Sodexo decided to do something different with its campus convenience stores at the University of Denver. They wanted to give students a convenient way to access meals when dining halls and other campus food venues are closed. They also wanted to give students more fresh products—the kinds of ingredients you’d take back to a shared dorm kitchen or campus apartment to make a meal from scratch.

Full Article ›

Charleys Cheesesteaks has signed on with the marketing platform SOCi Inc. for multi-location brands as its global platform of record for localized marketing. By utilizing the SOCi platform, Charleys has been able to consolidate multiple tools and functions, saving time on digital marketing efforts while still driving impactful results across its local store communities.

Full Article ›

The push by consumer-goods suppliers to sell directly to consumers is giving a boost to technology companies that help untangle the complexities of retail supply chains. Footwear, apparel and electronics manufacturers are among the sectors that have been stepping up direct-to-consumer business, a trend that has accelerated during the Covid-19 pandemic as shopping at bricks-and-mortar stores crumbled and suppliers sought new paths online to reach customers.

Full Article ›

The leading retailer of tires and wheels is operating a RoboTire tire changing system at a store in Fountain Hills, Arizona. Systems from Michigan-based RoboTire use machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), high-definition cameras, proprietary software, and advanced robotics to change four tires on a passenger vehicle in less than 25 minutes.

Full Article ›

Following a competitive review by its marketing team, e-grocer FreshDirect has formed a strategic partnership with digital agency BAM Strategy to create a new loyalty program.

Full Article ›

LONG Building Technologies has selected the Microsoft Dynamics 365 ERP and CRM platform, as well as the full suite of SIS Construct 365 solutions, built for Microsoft Dynamics 365. The SIS cloud-based solution will help Long Building Technologies continue its exponential growth and provide a flexible, robust, and connected system.

Full Article ›

Native Foods has launched a mobile app and rewards program built by Paytronix Systems Inc., a digital guest experience platform. The app allows guests to place orders for takeout or delivery, earn and redeem rewards, receive special offers and be the first to know about new menu items and limited-time offers.

Full Article ›

Aiming to serve consumers’ growing demand for same-day delivery of retail products, Uber Eats will soon be offering same-day delivery of products from almost all The Body Shop’s retail stores across the U.S. The expansion of an existing partnership between the companies marks Uber’s ongoing commitment to meeting consumers’ desire for on-demand delivery of products from retail stores, grocery stores and other merchants.

Full Article ›

A new cashierless grocery store has opened in Toronto, equipped with advanced security features that benefit both shoppers and the retailer. The latest Aisle 24 store at 21 Ordnance Street is considered a “hyper-urban” store designed for a quick, convenient and secure shopping experience.

Full Article ›

The department store retailer has rolled out a self-pickup service for eligible Kohls.com orders at its more than 1,100 stores nationwide. Timed for the start of the 2022 holiday shopping season, the service, which has been in a test mode, is designed to offer a faster, more convenient in-store pickup experience for online customers.

Full Article ›

McDonald’s, along with its partners Pactiv Evergreen, INEOS, Neste, and LyondellBasell, will trial clear plastic cups sourced from post-consumer plastic and biobased materials such as used cooking oil, using a mass-balance approach to produce the recyclable solution.

Full Article ›

Chico’s FAS, parent company of Chico’s, White House Black Market and Soma, has entered two new partnerships to continue its digital transformation. Headless commerce platform fabric has been selected as the company’s new commerce technology partner, and digital experience consultancy Bounteous will aid with the fabric implementation and creation of a new “connected commerce” platform.

Full Article ›

SNA Displays, which supplies LED video walls and more than 200 digital signage kiosks to the American Dream mall and entertainment center in New Jersey, chose the Netgear M4500 Series of AV-over-IP switches to power the digital signage, according to a company press release.

Full Article ›

Starbucks Corp., in partnership with Volvo Cars, has announced the first Starbucks store offering electric vehicle chargers powered by ChargePoint Holdings Inc. in in Provo, Utah. Additional charging stations will be positioned along a 1,350-mile route that winds through national forests and major community hubs from the Colorado Rockies to the Starbucks Support Center in Seattle.

Full Article ›

Perfect Corp. has announced a partnership with Argentinian cosmetic brand, ACF (Advanced Cosmeceutical Formulations). The latter will integrate its AI powered Skin Diagnostic technology that enables an assessment of key skin concerns, including wrinkles, moisture, and redness, and provides each customer with a regime customised to their individual needs.

Full Article ›

Oneview Commerce, a technology company helping retailers improve store and customer experience, announced that it has been working on a series of digital programs for Kroger. The solutions utilize the tech company’s Unified Commerce Platform, an ecommerce tool.

Full Article ›

After listening to a podcast about it, the owners of the Mount Robson Inn decided to explore Oracle NetSuite. The Gulevich family selected NetSuite with Amplify Advisors as the implementation partner to give the business a scalable foundation for the future and to consolidate its financial data and automate processes.

Full Article ›

Philly Pretzel Factory has partnered nationwide with Too Good To Go, a tech company that sells surplus food. Select Philly Pretzel Factory locations in New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Boston, and more will now be selling their extra, unsold pretzels, hot dogs and dips to Too Good To Go app users at the end of each business day, according to a press release.

Full Article ›

Revel Systems, the market leading cloud-native point of sale (POS) and complete business management platform, today announced that Pizza Ranch is deploying Revel Enterprise chain wide to drive increased revenue across all of its ordering channels and better manage its hybrid business model.

Full Article ›

As restaurants’ labor challenges continue, leading brands are leveraging kiosks to drive in-store sales without the cost of face-to-face service. Shake Shack, for one, announced Thursday (Aug. 4) that the company plans to have self-service kiosks in nearly all of its locations by the end of next year.

Full Article ›