News Briefs

Luxury mattress brand Saatva has seen a notable uptick in exposure rates, conversion rates and overall engagement through their new digital experience analytics investment. 

Over the last 10 months, Saatva has been working closely with digital experience platform Contentsquare, running A/B tests, conducting zone-based heat mapping to pinpoint certain trends, carrying out merchandising analysis and looking into customer journeys. 

[See Also: Saatva Brings Its Online Retail Experience to Brick and Mortar] 

Contentsquare is now also the primary platform Saatva uses for digital analysis and quantitative/qualitative testing. The mattress company says they have gleaned particularly useful insights from Contentsquare’s “Session Replay” tool, which essentially recreates an individual user's visit time on a webpage. Using this information, Saatva can look into visitor engagement with certain design elements and rearrange the page based on these findings. Data gathered on key metrics such as hover, clicks, time spent, scroll rates, and bounce rates have also helped Saatva optimize their conversion rates, the company said. 

“Based on Saatva’s 3-5 year trajectory goal, Saatva needed tools that were able to handle our growth while simultaneously adapting to our growing digital landscape,” said Natalie O’Flaherty, vice president of analytics, Saatva, adding that Contentsquare’s capabilities integrated well with their existing tech stack and has allowed the company end-to-end visibility into the consumer journey. 

 

The Kroger Co. is inviting submissions to their first-ever Our Brands Innovation Summit. In launching the event, the grocer hopes to expand their offerings, bolster their product roster with new brands and remain up-to-speed with evolving market trends. 

Applications are open to private brand suppliers in a range of segments, including food and beverage,  general merchandise, hard goods, textiles and apparel, packaging and health and beauty. Submissions open October 10th, 2022 and close October 31st 2022. The two-day summit will take the form of virtual meetings, held in the new year between January 24 January 26, 2023.  The plan is for accepted brands to showcase their services, connecting directly with potential buyers to discuss their products and build up their networks. 

[Read more: How Kroger Revamped Loyalty Program Following Expansion] 

In 2019, Kroger unveiled a new logo along with an updated tagline — “Fresh for Everyone” — and the messaging around the Our Brands Innovation Summit seems to align with the underlying vision of this recent rebrand.  

“At Kroger, we're constantly innovating, studying customer data and working to stay ahead of trends so we can provide customers with the highest quality products they're looking for at affordable prices,” said Juan De Paoli, Kroger's vice president of Our Brands, adding that the initiative would help the store to “find fresh ideas and innovative products to expand our portfolio of offerings and support the growth of new businesses we bring into our supplier network.” 

As part of their plan to expand omnichannel fulfillment capabilities, Walmart has acquired robotics automation developer Alert Innovation. The goal is for Alert Innovation to help the retailer to streamline their warehouse space and reach more customers, faster.  

The two companies have been working together since 2016, with Alert Innovation developing autonomous bot technology specifically for Walmart’s market fulfillment centers (MFCs). In 2019, Alert Innovation rolled out their Alphabot System in Walmart’s first MFC in Salem, NH. The investment will bring Alert’s tech capabilities in-house, with a view to reaching customers faster through the deployment of MFCs with greater speed and agility. Alert’s bots also take up less space and are able to move vertically and horizontally without lifts or conveyors. 

“Further investing in this technology will enable us to leverage our store footprint — 4,700 stores located within 10 miles of 90% of the U.S. population — for storage and fulfillment,” David Guggina, senior vice president of innovation and automation at Walmart U.S., said in a post on the company’s website. “For customers, this means orders can be fulfilled quickly and conveniently through pickup and delivery, giving them the items they want, when and where they want them.”

In a press release, Alert said they will continue to work in the Boston area under the Alert Innovation name. 

“Our mission to improve people’s lives through innovation will now be dedicated to Walmart customers and associates which is an inspiring undertaking,” said John Lert, Alert Innovation Founder and Executive Chairman.

Woodman’s Markets, which owns 19 retail stores throughout Wisconsin and Illinois, is leveraging autonomous robots across its grocery stores to improve processes across pricing and inventory. 

Using Badger Technology robots, Woodman’s Markets has been able to cut down on timely tasks, such as verifying prices at each store. So far, the grocery company has shaved the 40-hour-per-month task to just eight hours. Additionally, the company is leveraging the tech to automate shelf scans to ensure price compliance. This is helping to cut down the time required to hang price tags in half. 

Also, through robotics and retail automation, the brand has been able to improve on-shelf availability, helping to relieve the burden from staff who are struggling with increased constraints due to labor shortages. 

[Read more: Levi’s Works Smarter With Automation Bots, Shrinks Manual Workload]

By also tapping into the power of product location data through BRdata’s enterprise software, Woodman’s has been able to expedite order fulfillment and warehouse management and improve pick-list management. 

“Our automated shelf scans have not only improved Woodman’s inventory strategies, but we also gain critical trending insights to better forecast and manage third-party suppliers,” said Kristin Popp, executive vice president at Woodman’s Markets. “Combining the data gathered by the Badger robots with the capabilities across the BRdata cloud ecosystem will enhance our mission to provide the widest variety of grocery items at the best prices.”  

The combined technology from these solution providers allows Woodman’s to gather actionable data and aggregated analytics that improve store profitability, operational efficiencies, and shopping experiences. 

Woodman’s will be showcasing its use of robots at the BRdata World user conference.

“We are excited to collaborate with BRdata to provide grocers with a comprehensive view into what’s really happening on their store shelves every day,” said William “BJ” Santiago, CEO of Badger Technologies. “Independent grocers, in particular, will benefit from the integration of our robot-collected data and dashboards with BRdata’s enterprise retail software to maximize sales and profits.” 

John Abbene, president of BRdata Software Solutions, said that through its collaboration with Badger Technologies, the company can “ingest the latest pricing and product data into our software to quickly identify and easily resolve product and price discrepancies across order fulfillment, warehouse, inventory, POS and e-commerce systems.”

Walmart is creating a new digital experience surrounding limited-edition figures and collectibles that can be purchased, sold, and traded on a dedicated platform. 

The brand is partnering with NECA (the National Entertainment Collectibles Association) for the experience, which can be found on Walmart.com and in stores. The platform, called AutoT, allows consumers to purchase an AutoT box and then enter a digital code found on their Walmart receipt to reveal which collectible item they received. The collectible is redeemable by creating a personal account at AutoTVault.com. 

[Read more: Walmart Jumps Into Immersive Experiences With Metaverse Project]

The platform leverages patent-pending blockchain technology that can track the history of AutoT collectives as well as identify if items are authentic. From the platform, customers can also buy, sell, and trade their items, with the ability to store their digital collectible for up to two years at no charge or have the physical item shipped to them. 

The new initiative is launching with iconic pop culture figures from shows such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and lithographs from Bob Ross Inc. 

“At Walmart, we are always finding new ways to bring innovation and one-of-a-kind offerings to our customers,” said Laura Rush, SVP, electronics, toys and seasonal, Walmart U.S. “NECA’s unique collectibles and inventive AutoT platform offer a new type of shopping experience to shoppers, ensuring that Walmart is bringing the best in tech and entertainment to customers nationwide.”

“NECA is the world leader in pop culture figures and collectibles,” said Joel Weinshanker, managing partner of NECA. “Partnering with Walmart, we are excited to bring exclusive NECA merchandise featuring today’s hottest IPs into the digital world.”

The first AutoT sale starts October 6 online at Walmart.com and in select stores nationwide on October 15. New products will be launched at regular intervals. 

Charleys Philly Steaks is expanding their delivery capabilities to include drone services in Durham, North Carolina. Under the new initiative, orders are placed through an app and delivered via drone with an average flight time of three minutes. 

The goal is to create a more seamless, efficient and affordable service for customers. 

The process for ordering drone delivery will remain the same as in other stations – using an app, customers can select Charleys menu items, as well as products from other participating local restaurants, cafes and stores. Customers then track their order status and await the arrival of their food, lowered directly by wire into their properties. 

The development is powered by a partnership with B2C autonomous delivery service, Flytrex, and represents another critical step towards Charley's aim to engage more with customers across multiple channels. Other digital innovations on the franchise's agenda include updated menu items, integrating accessible technologies and driving greater enrollment in their loyalty program, which already has over one million members. Ultrafast delivery via drone will also allow Charleys Philly Steaks to differentiate themselves in the rapidly-growing quick-service restaurant (QSR) industry.

“The future of delivery is here, and we couldn’t be more excited. I can think of no better way to receive a fresh cheesesteak delivered hot off the grill to my yard,” said Brian Hipsher, Charleys’ CMO. “We look forward to expanding our partnership with Flytrex to create a more cost effective and quick delivery service for all our guests.”

“We are thrilled to spread our wings once again in North Carolina and bring delicious cheesesteaks to our new customers in Durham. This partnership with Charleys and its accompanying expansion brings us one step closer to a future of affordable, ultrafast delivery that is both safe and green. We look forward to continuing growing our delivery service nationwide to reach the tens of millions of backyards across the country,” said Yariv Bash, CEO and co-founder of Flytrex in a press release.