Featuring Wayfair, Amazon, Walmart: RTIH runs you through the week's coolest retail technology plays — Retail Technology Innovation Hub

Mar 28, 2024

Mochara

Equestrian and leisure brand Mochara and influencer Billie Shepherd have announced a partnership, leveraging technology provided by Stored.

The pair say that, unlike traditional brand-influencer collaborations that often rely on affiliate link interruptions and third-party cookies for tracking and measuring performance, Stored’s payments solution ensures a smoother, uninterrupted shopping experience.

Tapping the firm’s platform, Shepherd can curate her favourite Mochara products behind a single link, which leads her 2.6 million followers directly to a two-tap checkout.

Victoria’s Secret

Victoria’s Secret & Co. reports that The Victoria’s Secret World Tour will be available to stream on Prime Video on 26th September.

Part fashion event, part documentary, this celebrates the mission of Victoria’s Secret – to uplift and champion women around the world.

It will take Prime Video viewers on a journey through the creation of The Tour, with behind the scenes footage and intimate stories of the VS20 – a group of 20 creatives who will conceive four fashion curations from the cities of Bogota, Lagos, London and Tokyo, alongside custom Victoria's Secret designs.

"We are delighted to continue to expand our relationship with Amazon," says Greg Unis, Brand President at Victoria’s Secret and PINK.

"This collaboration creates an unparalleled viewing experience, bringing the magic of The Tour directly to audiences far and wide. Through this collaboration, we are reinforcing our commitment to delivering captivating content that celebrates our heritage and resonates with our customers."

Streaks AI and WeShop

Streaks AI, a provider of AI-based conversational technologies headquartered in London, is entering into a partnership with WeShop, a platform that combines shopping with social media and has a network of over 1,300 influencers with a combined reach of 50 million+ followers.

The aim is to provide shoppers with enhanced and personalised customer services using AI powered chatbots modelled after the aforementioned influencers.

Amazon

Hello from the Motor City! 👋 So excited to officially launch our new robotics fulfillment center in Detroit.The 823,000 square-foot facility supports the 10 fulfillment and sortation centers and 13 delivery stations servicing Michigan, and has created more than 1,200 jobs. pic.twitter.com/1Muz8k8ZHJ

DFS Group and Ant Group

DFS Group and Ant Group have announced a partnership which will see the former leverage Alipay+ to engage with its customers pre, during and post shopping, across 36 stores in 15 markets, and 12 online shops in four markets.

This will involve: increasing visibility of DFS directly within Alipay and Alipay+ partner wallets' apps and mutually offering more targeted, personalised and relevant rewards for shoppers, including exclusive offers.

Amazon (again)

Amazon has selected CLARA Analytics as its technology partner for a new programme aimed at improving health and claim outcomes for its corporate workers’ compensation claims.

The US e-commerce giant will implement CLARA’s platform, including the Triage, Litigation and Treatment modules, which use generative AI and machine learning technologies to provide insights that detect claims at risk of escalation and identify the best path toward resolving claims involving injuries.

Vinted

InPost has announced an expansion of its Vinted partnership, with the launch of InPost Shop, a new parcel pick-up service in the UK.

The C2C online second-hand fashion marketplace led an initial trial earlier this year.

The service gives its members the option to collect parcels from participating stores, providing an additional OOH collection option alongside InPost's 5,000 strong locker network.

Downtown Spirits

Downtown Spirits, a Seattle-based beer, wine and spirits retailer, is gearing up to open the doors to its new, 4,200 square-foot location on 7th Avenue between Olive and Stewart, across from Pacific Place, featuring a fully checkout-free shopping experience powered by Amazon Just Walk Out technology.

This will take place on Thursday, 10th August.

Downtown Spirits is the first ever beer, wine, and spirits retailer to implement Just Walk Out technology made possible by artificial intelligence like computer vision and deep learning techniques, including generative AI, to accurately determine who took what in any retail environment.

Guests enter the store by using the Downtown Spirits app at the front door.

The technology detects what shoppers take from or return to the shelves, and creates a virtual shopping session.

When people have completed their shopping experience, they are able to leave the store without having to wait in line, and their choice of payment method will be charged for the items they took with them.

Walmart

US college students are getting ready to head back to campus – and Walmart is looking to make it easy and affordable for them to create the perfect dorm room.

The retailer is unveiling the next phase of its View In Your Home offering, with new features.

This helps customers visualise how furniture and home décor will look in their space. The new features are rolling out now on iOS for AR enabled items on the latest version of the Walmart app.

It is now possible to place, add and swap multiple items in a room at one time, without limit, to curate and visualise the entire space.

People can also view an expanded selection of 7,000+ AR enabled home products across indoor/outdoor furniture, electronics, lighting and more.

And complete the look of a space with complementary item recommendations based on what products work well together.

They can swap items with recommended substitutes via a ‘Similar Item’ feature, enabling customers to visualise size and fit of a comparable item before they choose what works best in their space.

And they can purchase an entire room of furniture with a single tap for a quicker and more efficient checkout experience – whether they want fast delivery or curbside pick-up on the way to campus.

Habbo and Juniper Creates

Virtual world and chat room Habbo has announced a user generated content in apparel and toys partnership with Juniper Creates, a custom merchandising solution for online creators.

The aim here is to enhance the digital collectables and community experience within the metaverse.

Unlike traditional merchandise, where designs are determined solely by brand or company, this partnership invites the Habbo community to design and select lines of apparel and toys.

These will be linked to in-game digital collectables crafted by the Habbo team. Users can submit their designs, participate in the community selection process, and own and showcase their creations in both the real world and the digital realm.

🤝🎨@Habbo partners with @junipercreate for user-generated merch in the Metaverse! 🧸 Submit, select, and showcase your designs in-game and real world! https://t.co/1AXtDsRI1v🌈 #Habbo #Metaverse #NFT #Gaming pic.twitter.com/57nwU3YU52

M&S

SideChef, a US-based mobile app and platform with over 20,000 shoppable recipes, has announced a partnership with Marks & Spencer.

Customers will now be able to find 150 original recipes featuring signature M&S ingredients, save them to a personal cookbook or shopping list, and create meal plans for their households within any budget.

This launch was done in alignment with the Cooking With The Stars show, which airs on ITV.

Viewers will be able to find all the recipes that the celebrity chefs and contestants cook, and recreate them in their own homes. The feature is available on the M&S website and its app.

The tie up marks SideChef’s first European retail partner.

Zenni

Online eyewear retailer, Zenni, has launched FL-41 lenses to help those with light sensitivity due to migraines, post-concussion relief and other conditions.

These can be added to a select number of Zenni frames and are designed to filter out the most visually painful spectrum of light to help mitigate the risks of a migraine and relieve one in progress.

“Migraine lenses are a game changer for anyone who suffers from chronic headaches, migraines or other conditions due to light sensitivity, as they filter a majority of blue and green light that can create glare and cause eye pain,” says Zenni Head of Optical Product, Dr. Steven Lee.

“Our newest lens offering will provide many migraine sufferers with an affordable solution that actually works. The migraine lens is our latest in a series of technological innovations that provide the best possible product and price for our customers.”

“We are pioneering a new era of accessible technology. By streamlining the process, we’re driving costs down and passing those savings directly to you. Innovation and affordability, hand in hand, that’s in our DNA.”

Need It For Tonight

Need It For Tonight, which is pitched as London’s first on-demand fashion delivery app, has announced a partnership with Gophr to offer customers a 90 minute delivery service.

Fashion brands in the capital that have signed up with. Need It For Tonight include Wild Swans Boutique, Rejina Pyo, Cult Mia and Blue Nude.

Gophr’s real-time delivery tracking is embedded within the venture’s app.

Its network of couriers also allows users flexibility to select delivery options without rigid time limitations.

While Need It For Tonight caters for those who want items on-demand, the partnership also has sustainability in mind, with deliveries available via push and cargo bikes.

Wayfair

Wayfair has launched Decorify, a new way for shoppers to reimagine their spaces and hone in on their style preferences.

In a pilot application, this uses a generative AI model that creates shoppable, photorealistic images to enable consumers to envision their own homes in new styles by uploading a picture of their space.

"Anything we develop or deploy for our customers, including GenAI, must support our mission to help everyone, anywhere create their feeling of home," says Wayfair Chief Technology Officer Fiona Tan.

"Viewing generative AI through this pragmatic lens enables us to prioritise where and when we deploy development resources and ensure applications like Decorify delight our customers."