Top Things You Missed IN Retail

The luxury goods market is expanding at a lively pace. Products once aspirational and out-of-reach for most are now topping wishlists, particularly among younger demographics.

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The Kroger Co. is upgrading its targeted advertising offering for CPG brands. Kroger Precision Marketing (KPM), a division of Kroger focused on connecting brand partners with shoppers and supported by its 84.51° data analytics subsidiary, is rolling out a new in-house-developed advertising platform.

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PepsiCo is collaborating with the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence to advance research, education, policy and best practices for responsible AI adoption, the company announced Thursday.

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Pilot Co. and Bridgestone Americas have successfully brought their service network for commercial fleets to more than 300 Pilot and Flying J travel centers. The combination of Pilot's extensive network and Bridgestone Fleet Care mobility solutions provide more convenient, frequent and accessible fleet tire intelligence to as many customers as possible.

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Prince Retail Group recently announced their collaboration with RELEX Solutions to automate demand forecasting for its 70+ supermarket stores nationwide. The technological investment by the homegrown retail chain strengthens its position to strategically expand its reach in remote areas across the Philippines.

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Commuters needing something to eat or drink, or even a pack of cigs, at Berlin's Ostbahnhof Deutsche Bahn railway station can shop and check out 24/7 without interacting with a cashier at a store featuring AiFi's unattended retail platform, according to a press release.

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Rituals has rolled out Yoobic’s mobile platform for frontline employees across its European stores.

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OZNaturals teamed with cloud integration provider Celigo to automate standard transactions.

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After first piloting the program at the end of last year, all Staples locations will now accept Amazon returns as of July 31. Nearly half of Staples’ almost 1,000 stores currently accept Amazon returns.

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Parcel delivery company DPD has announced plans to expand autonomous robot deliveries to ten UK towns and cities in the next 12 months, following a trial in Milton Keynes, starting with Raunds in Northamptonshire.

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Jernigan Oil, operator of the Duck Thru Food Stores brand, launches lottery management solution LottoShield across its 56-store network. The move was intended to leverage cutting-edge technology to streamline operations, the company stated.

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Kimberly-Clark partnered with ProvisionAI to become the first end user of the supply chain solution provider’s AI-enabled tool to automate the distribution planning and deployment process, as well as improve scheduling.

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L’Oréal is bolstering its presence in North America’s innovation ecosystem by partnering with University of California Berkeley’s Bakar Labs, a biotech incubator, with the aim of furthering biotech innovation.

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Near Intelligence has announced a partnership with Aldi France and CoSpirit Media. The retailer, which currently operates 1,300 stores in the country, will utilise Near’s data solutions to generate traffic to its online catalogue.

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Petco has implemented Teamwork Commerce’s omnichannel solution to manage its more than 118 stores in Mexico and Chile. The project includes Point of Sale (PoS), loyalty programme and inventory control, all integrated with its CRM and online store.

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Pilot Co. partnered with fintech company Relay Payments to launch a digitized diesel payment platform across its network of more than 800 travel centers.

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HotWax Commerce announced that ADOC, a leading retailer of high quality fashionable shoes, selected HotWax Commerce’s Omnichannel Order Management System to expedite last-mile delivery and reduce shipping costs by leveraging their store network as fulfillment centers.

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The company sought to improve its understanding of its consumers — a particular challenge for the small, early-stage company. It teamed last year with Native, a market intelligence provider that’s leaning into generative AI, to research and create digital twins of its target consumers, with the ultimate goal of deriving insights to refine marketing personalization capabilities and the development of new products.

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Teriyaki Madness has been piloting Radius Network’s Flybuy technology in eight Colorado locations. The technology “enhances the whole curbside experience,” explains CMO Jodi Boyce.

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InMoment announced today that Jack in the Box has recently expanded its relationship with InMoment to include InMoment Spotlight, advanced artificial intelligence (AI) analytics software, to more easily uncover valuable guest insight from their over 500 million annual guests.

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Quick-service restaurants are constantly seeking ways to improve the drive-thru experience and increase guest traffic. One of the most effective ways to do this is through the use of digital reader boards, which can display a variety of information to customers, including menu items, pricing, promotions, and directions.

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Checkpoint Systems is working with McDonald’s France to incorporate RFID technology into the fast food giant’s new reusable containers.

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Recycling tech firm, Polytag, and sustainable waste management company, Biffa, have announced a collaboration with Ocado Retail, Co-op, and Aldi.

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CarMax has adopted an omnichannel operating model to cater to the shift in the used vehicle retail market from offline to online. Despite facing tough competition from digitally native operators and franchise dealers, CarMax is well-positioned to drive profits through its innovative strategy for sourcing vehicles and omni-channel shift.

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Luxury childrenswear retailer, Childsplay Clothing, has announced a partnership with Akeneo, a specialist in product information management (PIM) and product experience management (PXM) solutions.

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We are delighted to add Dollar General to the 2023 Cross Talk agenda. This year we are bringing the retail community together in Charlotte, NC, July 17-19 for this exclusive industry forum that delivers authentic content, cultivates connections, and celebrates comradery.

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GNC is testing an expansion of its delivery services with the launch of delivery by drone in select markets across the U.S. Teaming with Zipline the retailer will offer drone delivery this summer in Salt Lake City.

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Ingka Group, the largest Ikea retailer, has reported on how 8,500 co-workers are being supported by the company’s artificial intelligence (AI) powered Billie chatbot.

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The drive-thru has always been a key feature of limited-service restaurants, but with consumers growing increasingly impatient, as noted in a worldwide survey, speed at the drive-thru is more important than ever.

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Following January’s approximately 30-store expansion across the Midwest, Schnuck Markets Inc. has increased the availability of its Flexforce employment option to three additional locations in Columbia, Mo.

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Driving into the parking lot of Walmart’s innovation hub, Store 100, near the company’s home office in Bentonville, Ark., shoppers might focus on the flying machines in the sky: large white drones lifting off a platform near the curbside pickup area, carrying rotisserie chicken or ice cream for customers in the neighborhood who want 30-minute delivery.

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Auchan Retail Poland has launched the first fully autonomous store within its Auchan Go concept. Located in Warsaw, the cashier free location is open 24/7 and features an AI powered solution from Trigo.

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Chick-fil-A leads the fast-food industry – and all restaurants – for the ninth straight year, rising 2% to an ACSI score of 85. The chain continues to set the standard with its exceptional combination of food, service, and technological quality, according to the report.

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When Estée Lauder decided to focus on making technology more inclusive for employees and consumers, the IT team adopted it as a big part of its agenda, according to Michael Smith, chief information officer at Estée Lauder Companies.

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Hapi announced that Sage Hospitality Group has experienced remarkable transformation in CRM capabilities with the help of Salesforce technology, powered by Hapi. By leveraging Hapi’s Salesforce expertise and Hapi Guest for Salesforce, Sage has seen accelerated results and maximized their utilization of the Salesforce platform.

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Sam’s Club executives list member experience as their top priority, and as such the retailer is investing in technology which gives shoppers positive vibes when it comes to advertising, reports media company Talk Business & Politics.

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Loyalty is about knowing and rewarding customers, and the more intimate the purchase, the more you need to know about personalization.

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The discount retailer has partnered with AI retail tech company AiFi to offer the cashierless technology in Banner Elk, N.C., reports Business Insider. AiFi is a startup that positions itself against Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology, and currently has systems in over 100 stores globally.

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Virtual try-on – or VTO – refers to the use of augmented reality (AR) to view digitised versions of an object, most often seen in the overlay of an image that aims to give an idea of what something may look like in the ‘real world’. It is this technology that is at the forefront of Perfect Corp’s B2B offering, sitting alongside other artificial intelligence (AI) powered resources and tech-backed retail enhancements.

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The new Kum & Go mobile app features a new loyalty program and an e-commerce experience with enhanced mobile ordering capabilities. To elevate the experience even further, it will feature a new personalized interface, customized to display unique information relevant to each customer — including shopping recommendations based on past activity and the ability to designate a favorite Kum & Go store location.

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The Webster, a luxury fashion retailer, is deploying Expeto's NeXtworking enterprise mobile networking platform to harness the power of mobile connectivity for a consistent next-gen shopping experience and streamline operations.

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InnSpire has inked a global channel distribution partnership with CNN International Commercial (CNNIC). The new partnership will provide seamless access to the news channel and other content from across the Warner Bros.

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King Arthur Baking Company is investing in its omnichannel capabilities as it prepares to scale into new retail channels. The manufacturer has partnered with order management solution provider DataXstream to leverage its OMS+, a certified SAP app that’s designed to facilitate multichannel sales through process automation and data aggregation.

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The biggest gas station in the world has opened in Sevierville, Tennesse, courtesy of Buc-ee's. The 74,000-square-foot station, which officially opened last week, boasts 120 pumps and is run by more than 350 workers.

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Employee-owned Woodman's Markets is teaming up with tech platform InMobi Commerce to up its retail media game. Through the partnership, InMobi will provide the Midwest chain with video ad experiences and deliver AI-powered campaign automation and optimization tools.

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Cradlepoint reports that GAIL's Bakery will be using its 5G connectivity in stores to support IoT devices like smart ovens, fridges and cookers. The latter recently announced the opening of its 100th bakery, along with locations around Manchester.

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The John Lewis Partnership, parent company of UK retailers John Lewis and Waitrose, is using Salesforce technology as it looks to transform its customer experience and self-service data culture.

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Amazon said it has more than 520,000 robotic drive units currently, a feat made possible by its 2012 acquisition of robotics company Kiva. Now it’s revealing its first fully autonomous mobile robot, Proteus. Amazon said Proteus can operate safely alongside humans on the warehouse floor.

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Sports brand PUMA India is partnering with Salesfloor, a customer engagement platform, to bolster customer relations by integrating and elevating its online and in-store experience with a personalized shopping service.

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Big Lots business model revolves around offering brand name products at discounted prices, which has helped it establish a loyal customer base over the years. Their strength in merchandising, purchasing, site selection, distribution, and cost-containment drives their continued expansion and profitable growth.

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Spanish startup, GoodNews Coffee, has boosted 20 of its in-store Point of Sale systems in Madrid, Barcelona and Paris with nsign.tv’s digital signage platform

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Technology has played a role in helping Snipes get its community-driven message across. The retailer has been developing its product description pages (PDPs) using generative AI tools for the past seven months, and these solutions have proven particularly useful for a company with regular product drops.

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Instacart is empowering grocers to manage their food service business with its FoodStorm order management system and expands its Caper Cart tech to more stores with a new slimmer, lighter, higher capacity model.

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MAPCO, a convenience store chain with over 300 locations throughout the Southeastern region of the US, has launched a new mobile app experience for its customers.

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