last week’s biggest retail technology plays at a glance — Retail Technology Innovation Hub

Amazon

A new Amazon Just Walk Out store is now live at the University of British Columbia in Canada.

This offers a 24/7 cashier free shopping experience to students, staff, faculty, and visitors. A variety of products are available, including sweet, salty, and savory snacks, gourmet hot beverages, cold drinks, ice cream, fresh and frozen meals, and personal care items. 

Overhead cameras and shelf sensors track when items are picked up or returned. Products are automatically added to or removed from a shopper’s virtual cart, ensuring customers are charged only for what they take. 

To access the store, customers swipe a valid credit card to open the secure gates. Once inside, they can shop and exit when done. Their credit card is automatically charged for the items they take upon exiting. 

In a LinkedIn post, Garett Buchholz, Account Executive at Gallery, which specialises in building concession and retail experiences with a focus on offering convenience, simplifying transactions and blending into environments, said: “This is another step forward in reimagining the student experience – offering a smarter, more efficient way for the UBC community to fuel up and keep going.”

Asda

Earlier this year, we reported that Rob Barnes was exiting Asda and the role of CIO. Barnes, who joined the UK grocery giant from Marks and Spencer, has now completed his last working day there.

In a LinkedIn post, he said: “It has been a privilege to serve a business during such a pivotal period of change, and it has taken me a few days to reflect and consider what we’ve achieved in this time. Looking back on the last 18 months, the team have achieved the impossible.”

This included rolling out NCR Voyix to all assisted and self-service tills in stores, converting over half of stores onto new SAP, Zebra Technologies and other store systems/processes including new shelf edge ticketing, and launching a new e-commerce platform, now serving all of George online and over half the grocery home shopping stores via Salesforce and Blue Yonder.

Carrefour

Pacvue has announced a partnership with retail media platform Unlimitail that kicks off this summer in France with Carrefour, marking what is pitched as the first self-service tech integration of its kind with a top three European grocery retailer.

The European collaboration will enable brands and agencies to activate campaigns across Unlimitail’s network via Pacvue’s commerce operating system. It also opens access to global and regional budgets through Pacvue’s platform.

“Our mission is to make omnichannel retail media simpler, smarter, and more impactful for brands. Partnering with Pacvue, the worldwide leading commerce platform, does exactly that, by allowing us to expand the accessibility of our retailer’s inventories to more global agencies and advertisers,” says Thibault Hennion, COO at Unlimitail.

“This global connectivity, powered by Pacvue tools, is a significant step in steering the European markets towards the most mature countries in retail media. More than ever, we are committed to lead the way in helping brands put retail media at the core of their marketing and commerce strategies.”

Brookshire Brothers

Cognira has announced a new partnership with Brookshire Brothers, an employee owned grocery retailer in Texas with more than 100 stores. The latter will implement PromoAI, Cognira’s AI powered platform for promotion planning, optimisation and analysis.

“We’re pleased to announce our partnership with Cognira on the implementation of its PromoAI solution,” says John Alston, President and CEO at Brookshire Brothers.

“After extensive research it was clear that the robust capabilities of the Cognira solution were the answer to solving for our promotion management initiatives. Their collaborative approach to understanding our organisation and charting a path for success has been exemplary and we look forward to working together as we continue to innovate in the future.”

B&Q

B&Q is now offering a Click & Collect service for items sold by third-party sellers on the retailer’s B&Q Marketplace offering.

In what is claimed to be a UK first, a pilot has just kicked off and will be followed by a wider, phased roll-out across 300 B&Q stores by October.

In a LinkedIn post, Aimé Matondo Fundani, Marketplace Director at B&Q, said: “Our customers can now order an even broader range of products online and choose to collect them at their local B&Q store, making shopping on our marketplace more flexible and convenient.”

COSMOS Pharmaceutical

Japanese drugstore chain, COSMOS Pharmaceutical Corporation, is working with RELEX Solutions to improve its supply chain operations with AI driven forecasting and replenishment capabilities.

RELEX is looking to help it boost product availability while reducing inventory, and build a scalable platform to support continued growth.

COSMOS operates across Japan with its “Everyday Low Price” strategy, offering daily necessities, medicines, and food items through its mega drugstore format. The company manages a wide assortment across its retail network and logistics centres, requiring accurate demand forecasting and replenishment planning to maintain product availability while keeping optimal inventory levels.