Innovation news

Retailers in Japan are exploring innovative ways to make shopping more convenient. Drone deliveries to support the elderly Lawson has teamed up with Rakuten to offer drone deliveries in Minamisoma. The town has many elderly residents who have difficulty getting around. The service will run for six months before the companies decide whether to make it permanently available. Nearly all of ...

JD will open its largest offline store on Singles Day in Chongqing in western China. JD E-space will operate 50,000 sq m The 50,000 sq m JD E-Space experience store will be powered by 5G technology. JD plans to enhance shopping by offering unique experiences, allowing customers to interact with the latest technologies, brand-experience zones and smart products from more than 1,000 brands in...

The duty-free arms of Shinsegae and Lotte have launched facial recognition payment technology at their stores in South Korea. After registration, Chinese customers can automatically settle payment by standing in front of a facial recognition camera, enabling shoppers to pay without cash, card, or a mobile phone. Shinsegae adds WeChat Pay facial recognition WeChat Pay facial recognition paym...

Walmart and Green Dot are partnering to establish a new fintech accelerator, TailFin Labs, LLC, to develop innovative products, services and technologies that sit at the intersection of retail and consumer financial services. Integrating omnichannel retail and financial services This new initiative builds on the existing relationship between the two companies. Green Dot is the issuing bank ...

Automated micro-fulfillment has emerged as one of the key trends in the US grocery ecommerce channel. We recently visited a site with Takeoff Technologies, the leading company in this space with multiple sites operational, to see its model in action. Range of fulfillment models The challenge of developing a profitable model for grocery ecommerce as it scales is underpinning much of the inno...

Loblaw’s drugstore business, Shoppers Drug Mart, is partnering with SmileDirectClub, Inc. to test the company’s SmileShop concept. This will be piloted within two drugstores initially in the Ontario market. Lowering healthcare costs SmileDirectClub operates SmileShops in 300 locations in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Ireland. It expanded into Canada last year, with Smil...

Loblaw has opened a new store-front, PC Express, in downtown Toronto where customers can pick up their online grocery orders. Over 700 pickup points across Canada Loblaw is the leading online grocery ecommerce retailer in Canada. Over the last few years it has developed a network of over 700 pickup points and launched an on-demand delivery service in partnership with Instacart. While most o...

Sobeys is partnering with Caper to test an intelligent shopping cart at a store in Oakville, Ontario. Removing customer friction The ‘Smart Cart’ has been developed to enable shoppers to bypass the traditional checkout lane, one of the key friction points within shopping trips. The cart’s technology scans and weighs products as customers place them inside. It keeps a running tally of purcha...

Following plans announced earlier this year, Walmart has made its ‘InHome’ delivery service available to 1m customers in Kansas City, Pittsburgh and Vero Beach, Florida. This enables customers to have their online grocery orders delivered directly into their fridge at home. Membership based programme Through this service, Walmart is aiming to make its customers’ lives easier by not requiring...

Walmart’s Sam’s Club business is launching the Care Accelerator to offer its members a series of bundled healthcare plans. Saving money and improving health outcomes Sam’s Club is partnering with healthcare companies Humana and 98point6 as part of a plan to make healthcare more affordable for its members and improve their long-term health. The retailer will offer a series of plans covering ...