Technology news

Woolworths in Australia is testing a new app that will allow customers to reduce the amount of time they need to queue at their supermarkets. See real time queue info and book a slot via your phone The app, known as Q Tracker, uses tech that was originally designed for smart car parks. It allows users to both see predictive information on the wait time of a queue at a store, as well as allo...

A.S. Watson is introducing Watsons GO contactless payment system in Watsons stores in Hong Kong and Singapore. Digital initiatives accelerated by COVID-19 Watsons GO was recently launched in Hong Kong, allowing customers to scan the bar code of a product with the Watsons mobile app and pay for it directly through Alipay HK. Watsons GO payment system was originally scheduled for release at t...

Amazon is launching a smart shopping cart, Amazon Dash Cart, in its grocery store in Woodland Hills, CA later this year. Amazon Dash Cart The grocery cart is designed to make the shopper experience quicker in store, allowing customers to skip the checkout queue. It uses a combination of computer vision algorithms and sensor fusion to identify items shoppers put in the cart. There will be...

Ocado's retail revenue grew by 27.2% in the first half (26 weeks ended 31 st May), whilst Group revenue (Retail, Solutions and logistics) was £1,086.8m up 23.2%.  Unprecedented, sustained demand for UK online grocery Ocado has 639,000 active customers, which is a significant decrease of (14.1)% year-on-year (YoY), as it’s had to prioritise loyal and vulnerable shoppers. These customers are...

Woolworths has announced that it is testing cashless stores, as well as plans to launch a dedicated B2B online platform. Metro stores switch to cashless payment Woolworths has revealed that 11 Metro stores across Sydney and Melbourne have been converted to accept cashless payments only. The move is designed to make shopping even more convenient and seamless, particularly for stores in trans...

Aeon has been introducing its Everywhere Cash Register Regi Go service at some of its stores in Japan. The solution was launched in February, allowing shoppers to checkout more efficiently.   Available at 20 stores Currently, around 20 stores across AEON and AEON STYLE banners in Tokyo, Chiba and Kanagawa have made the service available. An increasing number of customers are seeking faster ...

From its launch of a voice grocery service with Google to enabling shoppers to self-scanning via smartphone and the introduction of its online marketplace Carrefour is driving its online and digital innovation in France. Carrefour launches voice grocery shopping with Google Assistant As part of the partnership created by the two companies in June 2018, Carrefour is to launch a voice-activat...

To understand how autonomous warehouses allowed JD.com to respond quickly to uncertainties and fluctuations in product availability and consumer demands during the COVID-19 crisis, IGD conducted a collaborative research project with JD.com. Extracts from the full report are shared here in this article. Technical advancements that enabled JD.com to respond quickly during COVID-19 JD.com’s ...

Coles has launched a new online payment method inconjunction with its loyalty scheme partner Flybuys. A more seamless checkout experience Flypay is a new digital payment solution that allows shoppers to more seamlessly pay for their goods, but also ensure that they collect points at the same time. The payments system was co-developed by Coles and Bell Identification, a Visa business. Flypay...

Co-op is rolling out robot deliveries to further communities across Milton Keynes and surrounding towns and villages in response to increased demand for convenient delivery services during coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions.  The convenience retailer was the first to trial same-day autonomous robot deliveries in the UK when it teamed-up with Starship Technologies in April 2018 , extendin...