The latest from Wilko, Very, and boohoo: RTIH’s biggest retail technology articles on LinkedIn right now
We’re big fans of LinkedIn and are busy building an amazing community of retail tech enthusiasts on the social media platform. These are the articles that are currently on their radars, including Wilko, Checkout.com, Ogury, Packfleet, Confer With, AiFi, and Compass Group.
Wilko unpicks legacy tech as it enlists UST, Cinchy, and Blue Yonder for Click and Collect roll-out
Wilko has rolled out a Click and Collect service to its 400+ stores.
Online purchases can be collected from stores in as little as three hours, at no extra charge.
This is an extension of a service that the retailer began offering from approximately 70 locations last year.
In a LinkedIn post, Simon Reeve, Head of Solution Delivery and Software Engineering at Wilko, said: “I’m hugely proud of the cross functional team here at Wilko that has recently brought Click and Collect to all of our 400+ stores, resulting in a great new way to shop and some terrific feedback from our customers and team members.”
Reeve noted that delivery went from sticky Post-Its to production launch in about seven months. “That short timescale belies the huge complexity of the challenge.”
He added: “For the Wilko technology team this involved unpicking lots of legacy tech; implementing the spine of a new tech stack based on MACH principles and composable architecture; taking our first steps into CI/CD and DevOps with UST; implementing a new data fabric with Cinchy; integrating OMS capability with Blue Yonder; and much more besides.”
The project involved Wilko shifting its thinking from e-commerce to omnichannel, and from project centric to product centric delivery.
Reeve concluded: “Still lots more to do on all of the above, and as a technology team we're excited to be pushing on and supporting our great business in accelerating our omnichannel transformation.”
AdTech firm Ogury appoints industry veteran Emily Barfuss as Chief Marketing Officer
Ogury, a specialist in personified advertising, has announced the appointment of Emily Barfuss as Chief Marketing Officer.
Barfuss has extensive experience building global marketing and communications organisations and brands of $300 million+ in revenue, both public and private.
She started her career at CBS Corporation, before joining advertising marketplace Index Exchange.
Most recently, she was Chief Marketing Officer at dynamic CTV and video first platform, Tremor International, where she led the development and execution of the company’s global marketing strategy.
E-commerce delivery startup Packfleet appoints Fern Wake as Chief Operating Officer
Packfleet, a London-based all electric courier that was founded by a team of early Monzo employees, has appointed Fern Wake as Chief Operating Officer.
She joins from UK-based online car retailer, Cazoo, where she led a team of 1,000 as Chief of Operations.
Wake has also worked at Amazon, LOVEFiLM, MedicAnimal, and Farmdrop.
Confer With selected for L’Occitane Accelerator to implement video shopping solutions in Middle East
London-based live video shopping platform Confer With has been selected to participate in the L'Occitane Accelerator programme in Dubai, hosted by luxury retail innovation hub, Greenhouse by Chalhoub Group.
Confer With was chosen as one of four startups out of over 180 entries.
The initiative enables it to enhance omnichannel engagement and leverage personalised experiences for customers within L'Occitane retail stores.
Confer With was selected due to its ability to make data driven recommendations based on customers' online and video behaviours, using the L'Occitane e-commerce platform.
Checkout.com inks payments deal with UK consumer credit specialist NewDay
Checkout.com has been appointed as the debit card payments provider for NewDay, the fifth largest card issuer in the UK processing £6 billion consumer credit products annually for retailers including Amazon, AO, John Lewis and Argos.
The partnership offers NewDay access to the complete suite of Checkout.com’s payment tools, accessed through a single technical integration.
Very teams with Constructor to transform product discovery experience with AI and machine learning
Online retailer, Very, which is operated by The Very Group, has announced a new product discovery experience partnership with Constructor.
The first phase will see Very implement new search, browse and autosuggest tools across its website and app.
Using artificial intelligence (AI), natural language processing, machine learning and data, these tools learn from anonymous individual interactions and collaborative behaviours, with the aim of optimising the product discovery experience and providing customers with faster, more personalised results.
Very will also roll-out other elements of Constructor’s product discovery solution, including its personalised ‘quiz’ functionality, in the longer term.
By answering a series of questions related to their preferences, interests and goals, customers will be able to use quizzes to discover the right items for them across all product categories.
Compass Group opens doors to AiFi technology powered bar at Aston Villa football club
Compass Group has opened a second checkout-free location in a UK stadium.
Situated at Premier League football club Aston Villa, this is a bar powered by AiFi technology.
The first bar can be found at Leicester City F.C.
In a LinkedIn post, dated 4th February, Peter Waugh, Digital & Data Director, UK/I, at Compass Group said: “I hate Q’ing, I don’t want to queue behind someone buying food and drink if I just want a drink, I want to maximise the time with my mates, just make it easy, half time is only 15 mins…”
He added: “OK, no problem…Compass’ second computer vision bar in UK stadia, this time Aston Villa launched today.”
“Tap your card, enter, pick your drink or food, and walk out. Plus if you want to order your beers and food for half time time, you can, with self-serve kiosks…no waiting. And if you fancy pouring your own - the Holte stand offers that as well.”
Shopping in a flash: Carrefour Argentina enlists startup Go2Future for autonomous stores first
The first autonomous Carrefour Flash store has opened in Latin America.
Tapping Go2Future miniGO technology and using cameras on the ceiling and sensors integrated into the shelves, this is a 50 square metre store located in Argentina, in the town of Pilar, a province of Buenos Aires.
Via an app, the products that customers choose are automatically loaded into a virtual cart and payment is made upon leaving, without the need to use a traditional checkout. It is also possible to buy online and pick up in-store or request home delivery.
“We are excited to be able to implement innovative purchasing alternatives in Argentina,” says Pablo Lorenzo, CEO at Carrefour Argentina.
“We listen to our clients and customers and we know that speed and simplicity are essential characteristics when going to stores. We seek to be up to the task and we hope that in Carrefour Flash they will find an ideal shopping experience.”
New Look taps parcelLab platform as it looks to boost post-purchase customer experience
New Look has partnered with parcelLab to improve post-purchase experiences for its online customers.
The tie up will enable the fashion retailer to provide messaging and personalised communications from purchase to delivery, and beyond.
New Look’s decision to invest in this area is part of a wider drive to boost its customer centric fashion credentials.
Leveraging parcelLab’s technology, it will be able to undertake direct communications with customers, including important information updates on the status of their orders.
It will also enable the brand to make personalised and relevant recommendations to shoppers on additional items they may be interested in based on previous purchase behaviour.
boohoo Group is now delivering to what3words addresses
Online fashion retailer boohoo Group and location technology specialist what3words have announced a new partnership.
In the UK, deliveries can be challenging. Addresses aren’t always accurate, street names are often duplicated, postcodes cover broad areas, and specific building entrances can be hard to find.
To tackle this, what3words has divided the world into a grid of 3m x 3m squares and given each square a unique combination of three words.
The integration of its technology into boohoo Group’s services has been launched on boohoo, boohooMAN, Nasty Gal, Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Wallis, Warehouse, Coast, Misspap, Karen Millen and Oasis checkout pages.
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