The Latest Retail Technology News – NFT Week And The Metaverse , Reckoning In Delivery Economics And The Future Of Mall Marketing
Every week we cover the top retail technology news in the industry. Brick-and-mortar retail has often been overlooked and is experiencing a technology renaissance from the ways products are sourced, managed, inventoried, merchandised, marketed, sold and delivered. New technologies are being delivered from computer vision, QR codes, RFID, loyalty programs, lift and learn sensor technologies, smart shelves and electronic shelf labels, supply chain management, in-store analytics, personalization and payments. We believe in the bright case for the future of brick-and-mortar retail, and we highlight the technology underpinning it all. And if you are looking to the future check out our annual Retail Industry And Technology Predictions from our CEO Trevor Sumner.
This week was NFT week and so to no surprise, NFT and metaverse announcements dominate this week’s roundup of retail tech launches. We will cover even more next week as NFT week concludes.
McKinsey estimates that the metaverse could create $5 trillion in value by 2030, with an estimated $2 to $2.6 trillion impact specifically on e-commerce. “There continue to be questions around the longevity and potential of the metaverse, with an extreme view regarding it as merely a rebranded gaming platform of little wider interest. We do not share that skepticism and believe the metaverse has the potential to be the next iteration of the internet,” the report’s authors wrote.
Facebook (aka Meta) is showing off a new fashion marketplace that is selling high end virtual goods from Prada, Balenciaga, Thom Browne and more. Your avatar never dressed so expensively. Balenciaga CEO Cédric Charbit in a release. “Web3 and Meta are bringing unprecedented opportunities for Balenciaga, our audience and our products, opening up new territories for luxury.” Meta is now hiring digital fashion designers to create goods that can be used on IG, Facebook, Messenger and Oculus Quest. (Vogue Business 6-12-2022)
Simon is bringing the products out of mall stores and into the hands of shoppers with a new search engine that leverages product stock data in a mobile app called Simon Search. Retailers supporting the launch include Aeropostale, Anthropologie, Athlete, Banana Republic, Gap, J.Crew, JC Penney and Old Navy. It is being tested at 29 Simon retail centers currently. Will it help May’s 3.9% decline in Mall traffic since 2019?
eBay has acquired NFT marketplace KnownOrigin. eBay announced the support of buying and selling NFTs nearly a year ago, but didn’t get traction without the dedicated tools for management and payment.
Walmart has inked an exclusive partnership with Roku to create stoppable video ads “to make TV streaming the next e-commerce shopping destination.” Roku in turn will use its OneView technology to measure the ads.
Everyone is getting in on NFTs as we predicted in our 2022 retail and technology predictions. Lowe’s has released a limited edition NFT collection for builders. Lowe’s offers more than 500 free 3D digital assets like lighting, patio furniture or kitchen accessories to use in their Open Builder metaverse hub. Think a minecraft of creativity for designers and consumers to express their dream homes and portfolio work. Lowe’s also announced wearable NFTs for Decentraland users.
I admit it. I went to Apefest here in NYC for NFT week. Wow. It’s mad swirl of creativity, financial engineering and wealth fronting. Owning a Bored Ape is the ultimate status symbol and now Tag Heuer watches support a a watch face with your own Bored Ape or NFT. It’s like the old adage says, “if you got it, flaunt it.”
Yves Saint Laurent Beautè has opened up its first foray into web3 and NFTs with a token gated hub. It’s first NFT drops today to coincide with 2022’s edition of VivaTech, the Paris, France-based tech conference. The NFTs can be claimed within a YSL Beauty Wallet app powered by Arianee. “We are delighted to enable YSL Beauté to enter into web3 with our end-to-end solution. From minting NFTs and distributing them to the brand community, to leveraging them with token-gated content, utility and a new generation of digital relationships, the brand uses our platform to its full extent,” said Pierre-Nicolas Hurstel, CEO of Arianee.
Kroger is continuing to expand its partnership with automated fulfillment and robotics company Ocado. They will be opening a 300,000 square foot customer fulfillment center (CFC) in the Dener area. They have announced 17 CFCs with 4 currently operational (Ohio, Florida, Georgia and now Denver).
Happy Nation, a sub-brand of Victoria Secret targeting children 8-13, has launched their themed obstacle courses on Roblox. For each player that completes the trio, Happy Nation is donating one pair of underwear and will give a virtual tote bag to the players.
After closing $1 billion in funding last October and then quizzically deciding to start a record label among other excesses, ultra-fast delivery startup Gorillas is back-tracking with cuts as venture funding has dried up. Last year, delivery services raised $4.5 billion and this year – just $248 million. Gorillas has responded by cutting office staff by half, limiting service in geographies, and trimming excesses. I guess no music label?
Ultra fast delivery startup Jokr has decided to exit the US market amidst mounting losses, increased competition and a failure to prove out delivery economics. It will instead focus on its Latin American markets. Both the Jokr and Gorillas news is further proof that 2022 is the year of reckoning of delivery economics, which was one of our 2022 retail predictions.
Macy’s has launched a free NFT collection of 10,000 items for July 4th fireworks, which is a far cry from the Thanksgiving Day Parade NFTs that were more limited and fetched 6 figures for collectors to buy. “As we commemorate our Independence Day with the nation’s largest pyrotechnic celebration, Macy’s wanted to take the fun into the Web3 frontier bringing the revelry to a digital landscape,” says Will Coss, Executive Producer of Macy’s 4th of July fireworks.”
Reckitt Benckhiser has selected Stravito for its internal knowledge management system. Stravito Founder and CEO Thor Olof Philogéne said, “Using AI powered smart search, which is personalised to Reckitt’s brands and industries, Stravito helps users to pinpoint exact pieces of research, highlighting relevant sentences and paragraphs. This allows users to find and use critical information on everything from customer behaviours to customer preferences, across multiple verticals and markets.”
FREE WEBINAR JULY 12TH – The Meteoric Rise Of Retail Media Networks And The New In-Store Digital Opportunities For Brands And Retailers
Join Trevor Sumner, Rethink Retail Top 100 Influencer, Retail Tech Innovation Hub’s Top 50 Leader, and Corporate Visions Most Influential CEO In Visual Merchandising Tuesday, July 12, 2022 at 2pm EST, for a FREE, LIVE 1-HOUR webinar, designed to provide insight into the meteoric rise of retail media networks, and the profitable future of store as media. In 1 hour, our goal is to improve your understanding and provide actionable next steps to digitize your in-store experience, maintain brand loyalty, and drive meaningful revenue growth.
Shopper marketers and sales teams at brands and merchandising, customer experience and marketers at retailers should join this webinar to learn about:
How retailers like Walmart, Macy’s, CVS Health, Albertson’s, and Dollar General are leveraging their media networks to include in-store digital touchpoints
Why RMNs are more than just another price tag for brands doing business with retailers. How advertising and shopper marketing budgets will align for 2023
The net new investments being made by brands in retail media networks, and the content driving ROI
The organizational pivots from individual channel buyers (online vs in-store) into a holistic broader front to drive meaningful 4.3% increases in revenue
Using retail media networks to enhance customer loyalty and personalized experiences to drive omnichannel journeys
Stories To Share At The Retail Water Cooler
Source: Flickr
Stolen goods from retailers are finding their way online to be sold on Amazon, eBay and Facebook. Retailers say a total of $68.9 billion of products were stolen in 2019. New US legislation is being proposed to protect retailers, but there are a litany of schemes to avoid the protections in place.
Lego added its name to the list of American companies that are onshoring its manufacturing back to the US in an effort to be more resilient to supply chain issues. Lego is investing $1 billion and will create 1,760 jobs over 10 years with a new factory in Virginia. “Our new factory in the U.S. and expanded capacity at our existing site in Mexico means we will be able to best support long-term growth in the Americas,” COO Carsten Rasmussen said in a statement. “We are fortunate to find a location where we can begin construction quickly and create temporary capacity in under two years.”
Source: https://freesvg.org/cartoon-tequila
2022 will be the first year that mezcal and tequila sales will top whiskey sales in the US. By 2023, it will surpass vodka at $13.3 billion. Tequila is having its hey day, in part from the establishment of higher end brands like ultra-premium Casa Dragones, whose Anejo I can’t recommend highly enough.