Solutions & Innovations (September-October 2024)

Schnuck Markets announced in late July that it was rolling out Instacart's Carrot Tags "pick-to-light" functionality chainwide. Carrot Tags is a software solution that integrates into a retailer's electronic shelf label (ESL) hardware. When a pick-to-light system is enabled, Instacart workers and a store's associates can select an item on the Instacart shopping app, and the item's corresponding shelf label will flash, making it easier and faster to find products and complete their pick lists. Carrot Tags can also display key information such as dietary or merchandising data. Carrot Tags software works with many leading ESL hardware vendors.

In July, Meijer introduced a digital "School Supply List." It enables parents to enter their ZIP code, search through school/teacher-curated lists from more than 5,000 school districts, and add items requested by specific teachers to their cart with a single click. The technology can be accessed via a QR code in the store, the Meijer app or Meijer.com. Meijer also introduced its own brand of school supplies alongside a coupon that gives teachers 15% off school and home office equipment.

In August, Best Buy announced a new AI-driven live-tracking feature for the delivery and/or installation of large items like big-screen TVs, refrigerators and washer/dryers. By partnering with Accenture to use Google Cloud’s AI platform, Vertex AI and Gemini models in its customer support services, Best Buy can use predicted demand and real-time traffic pattern data to optimize routes and provide a live ETA that's said to be “down to the minute." Customers can also access a real-time tracking map of where the driver is that zooms all the way into the street view.

In July, San Francisco-based Dryftwell launched version 2.0 of Capsule, an app that lets consumers shop screenshots taken off of Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest and other e-commerce sites by turning them into shoppable links. The company says it can show "every retailer, both new and used, of any item," and that its results are not biased by advertising or brand-sponsorship considerations. The company also says that while Google Search or Lens skew toward popular websites, Capsule will direct a shopper to the most accurate website, no matter how small or obscure.

Fakespot by Mozilla, which uses AI to analyze reviews, product info and seller data to identify unreliable ecommerce activity, recently released a back-to-school list that noted a high level of problems with backpacks, earbud headphones and device chargers. A browser extension, the "Fakespot Engine," is said to include dozens of machine-learning models, joined by algorithms, that gather metadata from ecommerce websites including Amazon, Best Buy, Flipkart, Home Depot, Sephora and Walmart. The company will not reveal its methods beyond saying that its AI is trained to "pick up on patterns" that are suggestive of fake content.

In June, Field Agent acquired Shelfgram, a "virtual store walk" platform that uses AI to optimize shopper-submitted photos. Field Agent can crowdsource photos from its 3 million connected shoppers who are capturing visual data including in-store prices, product availability and display compliance. Once fed into Shelfgram's platform, it filters the images to create price check reports, predict shopper attention and provide other summary information to brands via its analytics suite, reducing the need for store visits.

Boulder, Colorado-based Goodie Bag, a 1-year-old platform for selling unsold food at discounted prices, recently expanded to Charlotte, North Carolina, as well as Phoenix and Columbus, Ohio. Shops list their unsold items as "goodie bags" at discounted prices (typically 60-70% off retail value) for pickup. Users get a general description of what to expect — from bagels and pastries to full-sized meals — which are distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. To date, the company says 20,000 of these "mystery" bags have been sold through the platform. 

If you worked construction or in a factory in the 1970s or ‘80s, you probably still shudder at the term "Roach Coach," those notoriously unsanitary food trucks that too often were the workers' only lunch option. In July, Fort Collins, Colorado-based Healthy Smart Mart, an "unattended retail environments" provider, launched a fully contactless shopping experience for workplace break rooms. This "micro market" features a self-serve kiosk and an app-based, contactless payment system that maintains hygiene by reducing physical contact points. BTW: Cameras monitor the process to reduce theft. 

Debuting in July, San Francisco-based Reshop is touted as a platform that will "redefine refunds" for consumers and merchants. Reshop cuts wait times after a return by offering nearly instant cash that can then be spent anywhere; the refund is not tied up as a store credit. Reshop works with post-purchase provider Narvar, which has 1,400 partners including Sephora, Levi's, Sonos, Warby Parker, LVMH and L'Oreal, and serves 90% of U.S. adult consumers. While in the Reshop app users see offers tailored to them with pitches such as, "Nora's – $10 off. 2 hours 38 mins left."

In mid-August, Shop with Google launched a "back-to-school college tour" featuring a dorm-design-inspired pop-up experience. The pop-up focuses on ways students can use Google Lens to visually shop by snapping a picture using their camera phones. The tour visited four campuses: The University of Miami, Howard University, George Washington University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Partner brands included Dyson, Google Chromebook, Pottery Barn Teen, and The North Face. 

ShopUp, an app launched in early 2024 by Los Angeles-based Card Edge Technologies, says it can use AI to analyze a shopper's preferences and spending habits and then tell her "what sales are near you and the best credit card to use." This digital platform will send real-time notifications and personalized deal alerts about location-based deals and card-specific rewards from both local and national retailers. ShopUp's home page listed offers from a range of companies including Walgreens, The Home Depot, Lowe's, Gap, Kroger, Costco, Best Buy, Dollar General, Apple, McDonald's and Starbucks. 

In July, San Francisco-based Simbe launched a "Virtual Tour" feature that lets retailers see high-definition, 360-degree views of their store interiors that can be navigated remotely. Simbe’s platform uses Tally, an autonomous item-scanning robot to capture detailed snapshots and time-lapses of each aisle at multiple heights, enabling retail teams to optimize store layouts and make strategic decisions remotely. Simbe Mobile, a complementary mobile app, can assist store teams with near real-time data analytics, alerts on planogram compliance and a priority list of inventory and pricing tasks. Retailers using Simbe technology include Wakefern, Schnucks, Giant Eagle, SpartanNash, BJ's and Carrefour. 

In August, Newark, New Jersey-based National Retail Solutions (NRS) launched a new Self-Ordering Kiosk, designed specifically for small and mid-size independent retailers and bodegas as a way to reduce wait times and minimize order errors. The kiosk has an intuitive interface that encourages customers to explore more items and ensures precise order processing, and its centralized management system synchronizes sales data and inventory with the POS.