Solutions & Innovations (September-October 2022)
Over the summer, Simon Property Group launched “Simon Search,” a new platform that lets shoppers not only find items at participating retailers within a mall, but also determine which ones are actually on shelves right now. A beta version, accessible via browser or through Simon’s app, is being tested at 29 U.S. retail centers with a wider rollout planned for late 2022. Participating retailers include Levi’s, JCPenney, Old Navy and Banana Republic, with Finish Line, Macy’s and Nordstrom coming online soon.
Shoppable recently released “Instant Shop” in a full-production beta launch. Shoppable is a suite of e-commerce technologies that lets content creators embed a commerce experience into their websites and mobile apps. Instant Shop is said to let them “effortlessly” choose from a 200-million-product catalog representing pre-integrated merchants and brands (such as Target, Walmart, Walgreens and Best Buy) due to its frictionless checkout technology and inventory shipping from its partners.
In August, GoMacro announced that its MacroBar wrappers can now be recycled “from anywhere” through a partnership with recycling platform TerraCycle. GoMacro joins companies, ranging from Colgate-Palmolive (toothbrushes, tubes, caps) to Taco Bell (sauce packets), that let customers mail in certain items of packaging at no cost and earn points that can be redeemed for donations to charities and schools. Once collected, TerraCycle processes the wrappers back into raw materials to produce playground equipment and other items.
In August, T-Mobile invited weR — a “deep tech” company with an AR/AI platform for monetizing retail spaces — into its Accelerator to build immersive experiences for smart glasses. The goal of weR is to connect the physical store with the digital channels via an AR and VR cross-platform that will enhance a shopping experience in an intuitive way: Shoppers can see what’s around them, with a compass that will highlight the most relevant, promoted and featured products in relation to the user.
Over the summer, fashion-tech startup Mys Tyler launched a “Daily Inspiration” prompt through its app that shows styles for women of different heights, shapes and sizes. The new venture-backed social-shopping app says it has 3,000 partner brands and retailers. It combines AI and human-based recommendations to match users with body-relevant content creators from across the globe. Once a user sets up a profile and completes a body quiz, the app’s “FIT algorithm” will let her automatically see posts from women who match her dimensions.
Birdzi recently announced Visper 2.0, a tool that enables grocers to automatically create promotions customized specifically to individual shoppers. Instead of using a preset list of vendor deals, it chooses products from the store’s entire catalog using KIC Scores, a shopper quality index. Images, text and discounts are matched in ways most likely to intrigue the individual. One chain saw a 6% improvement in customer retention, Birdzi reported.
After initial testing in Beverly Hills, California, H&M Group began rolling out tech-enabled shopping solutions in selected COS stores over the summer. The new technology includes fitting rooms equipped with smart mirrors that can recognize products (item, size and color) and offer personalized styling recommendations. Other types of smart mirrors are being deployed on the sales floor for virtual try-on.
In August, Attentive, a conversational commerce platform, launched a “text-to-buy solution” with Shopify’s Shop Pay checkout flow. It lets consumers purchase directly in response to a promotional text message from a brand — without having to navigate a website or a checkout page. Attentive sees an opportunity here as the mobile e-commerce conversion rate is only 2%, compared to desktop e-commerce’s rate of 3%. Text ideas include reminders when supplies are running low or limited-edition product drops.
In late August, Chamberlain Group announced that Walmart would be using its myQ smart ecosystem of automated access products to offer Walmart+ InHome deliveries through garages. According to Chamberlain, one in five households using smart garage technology have chosen myQ. Full-time, tenured Walmart associates will be making the deliveries, having one-time access to the garage via a myQ connected device. Amazon announced a similar service, also using myQ, in mid-2021.
Energous, a wireless power network, announced the first retail deployment in Sydney of Flagship’s Wiliot smart tags. These sensors can monitor light, humidity, proximity and temperature. This “Massive IoT technology” pilot demonstrates that over-the-air power can be transmitted wirelessly to thousands of in-store IoT spots. Wireless power lets you monitor inventory 24/7 without any interruptions, which reduces shrink while offering merchandising insight into, for example, which items are being tried on together.
In August, Columbia Care announced that its cannabis shopping and loyalty mobile app, Stash Cash, is available across its retail brands, including Cannabist, The Green Solution and Project Cannabis. The Stash Cash platform lets patients and customers build loyalty rewards and order remotely through integration with Forage, a tool that makes a recommendation based on mood (“energetic, relaxed, tingly, giggly”), plans (“partying, managing pain”), occasion (“concert, workout, sleeping”) and mode (“smoke, vape, edible, dab”).
In late August, TikTok announced Shopping Ads — three formats for brands becoming “gradually available for testing.” Video Shopping Ads place shoppable videos across a user’s “For You” page. Catalog Listing Ads promote a brand’s product catalog at scale. LIVE Shopping Ads drive users from their “For You” pages to a brand’s live events. Brands can begin testing with the “Ads & Campaign Partner” (Smartly.io) and “Commerce Partners” (Shopify, Big Commerce, Ecwid and Woo Commerce).