Visit our other websites:    On CE ... eSP ... Mobile Channels ... ECI news ... rAVe Europe ... Digital Signage News EMEA

Retailer News

Amazon Debuts Checkout-Free Supermarket

E-mail Print PDF
Amazon Debuts Checkout-Free Supermarket

After all but conquering online shopping Amazon takes on the challenge of brick-and-mortar retail-- presenting a supermarket with no cash registers and associated queues in its home town Seattle.

The "Amazon Go" store sounds like a science fiction vision of shopping in the future. Customers tap their smartphone on a turnstile when they walk into the store, logging into the store network and their Amazon account. Then they pick up their groceries and, once done, simply walk out, with the Amazon online shopping system handling the required monetary transaction. Amazon calls it "Just Walk Out Shopping," and while details are hazy the company says the technology behind it is derived from that powering self driving vehicles.

Thus, the company throws a bevy of buzzwords to describe how the system works-- computer vision, sensor fusion, deep learning. Apparently Amazon has a combination of sensors and AI sophisticated enough to determine what individual customers are looking at (even in a crowd!), identify partially blocked labels and remove an item from one's virtual shopping cart if it is removed from the real one.

Continue reading...

Carphone Warehouse Trials Concept Stores

E-mail Print PDF
Carphone Warehouse Trials Concept Stores

Carphone Warehouse is testing out a new store format in the UK, with two outlets in Stratford and Swindon featuring a more flexible layout allowing easy fixture and fitting updates when required.

The trial layout accommodates more change, more quickly, be it adding a smartphone range or display upcoming technologies. It also gives more prominence to accessories, a device category the retailer says is going "from strength to strength," and Carphone Warehouse's own MVNO iD Mobile carrier service.

Continue reading...

Best Buy Sets Space to Startup Projects

E-mail Print PDF
Best Buy Sets Space to Startup Projects

In what is perhaps a sign of the times Best Buy launches Ignite-- an initiative dedicated to promoting products from startups and smaller companies, including crowdfunded devices.

Through Ignite Best Buy will hook up select startups with multinational product innovation company PCH, providing help with product development, marketing, packaging and inventory management. Once the products are finished they will appear on a section of the best Buy website dedicated to startups, a move similar to Amazon's Launchpad initiative.

In addition, the Best Buy store in Silicon Valley has an Ignite space housing a selection of crowdfunded gadgets-- including the Tangram Smart Rope, Flic smart button, RoBo 3D printer, Zuli smart plug and the Noke Bluetooth padlock. Also making an appearance is the Under Armour UA Healthbox fitness wearable, the Muzik connected headphones and the Bragi wireless earpods.

Continue reading...

Dixons Carphone: Looking for Profit in All the Right Places

E-mail Print PDF
Dixons Carphone: Looking for Profit in All the Right Places

reprinted with permission from IFA INTERNATIONAL

Profit is up 17% before tax at Dixons Carphone plc. The profit picture tells a story of success despite a mercurial market and a merger (Dixons and Carphone Warehouse merged two years ago and many pundits had predicted failure.)

This year Dixons Carphone’s ambitions include re-making every one of the former Dixons stores into one of their newly-designed 3-in-1 shops, introducing a new e-commerce platform to Carphone Warehouse, opening Europe's most Continue reading...

Authorities Approve Fnac Darty Takeover

E-mail Print PDF
Authorities Approve Fnac Darty Takeover

The saga of the Fnac acquisition of Darty comes to a close, as the French competition authority gives the go ahead for the creation of the largest CE retailer in the country.

Combined Fnac-Darty sales total nearly €8 billion, allowing the company to better compete with the online likes of Amazon. However approval from the authorities required the sale of 6 stores-- specifically 4 Darty stores in Paris, 1 in the Parisian suburb of Vélizy-Villacoublay and 1 Fnac store.

"The divestiture of these six stores to one or more retailers of electronic products will guarantee realistic choices to the consumer, capable of maintaining pricing and services conditions competitive at a local level," a statement from the competition watchdog reads.

Continue reading...

Dixons Carphone Shows Growth Amidst Brexit Concerns

E-mail Print PDF
Dixons Carphone Shows Growth Amidst Brexit Concerns

Dixons Carphone reveals post-EU referendum contingency plans as it announces "record" profit growth of 17% for the fiscal year ending April 2016.

Overall sales for the chain covering Currys, PC World and Carphone Warehouse in the UK, as well as Elkjob and El Giganten in the Nordics and Kotsovolos in Greece, total £9.74 billion, while pre-tax profits reach £447 million, up from £381m a year earlier.

Boosting growth for the retailer in the UK are the Rugby World Cup spurring TV sales and strong demand for fridges and freezers offsetting weak PC sales. Dixons Carphone also found an opportunity in selling technology to other retailers through the Connected World Services division-- a US trial with Sprint revenues reach £152m with 26% growth during the 12-month period.

Continue reading...

Darty Board Recommends Fnac Offer

E-mail Print PDF
Darty Board Recommends Fnac Offer

The war for Darty appears to be winding down to an inevitable conclusion, as the board unanimously recommends shareholders go for the "fair and reasonable" Fnac takeover offer.

“In evaluating the Fnac offer, the board of Darty has considered various aspects, including execution risk, and considers the final offer to represent a superior offer for Darty shareholders, as compared to other offers,” a statement from the retailer reads. Further cementing the board's decision is advice from Morgan Stanley, Lazard and UBS suggesting the final Fnac offer is “in the best interests of Darty shareholders as a whole.”

The acquisition of Darty has been dragging on for a while-- specifically since November 2015, when Fnac announced plans to buy the French retailer for £558 million. However such plans were set back in March 2016 with the appearance of Conforama, the French furniture chain owned by S. African conglomerate Steinhoff. The result was 2 months of intense bid-based sparring (one week saw 6 bids entered in a single day!), until Steinhoff threw the towel early in May 2016 with a final offer of 160p per share.

Continue reading...

San Francisco Gets Flagship Apple Store

E-mail Print PDF
San Francisco Gets Flagship Apple Store

Retail senior VP Angela Ahrendts presents a new flagship Apple Store in Union Square, San Francisco-- one replete with new features, such as impressive 13 x 12m sliding glass doors and an open "Forum" area.

“Fifteen years ago today Apple opened its first two stores and we’re thrilled to mark the occasion with the opening of Apple Union Square in San Francisco,” Ahrendts says. “We are not just evolving our store design, but its purpose and greater role in the community as we educate and entertain visitors and serve our network of local entrepreneurs."

Co-designed by Ahrends and design boss Jony Ive, the store is 100% renewable energy powered and connects San Francisco's Union Square to an "art-filled plaza" complete with seating, public wifi, a giant 6K video wall highlighting store events and products, and occasional music concerts.

The Plaza will find use for community events, and features sculptures by Ruth Asaw and Laura Kimpton.

Continue reading...

Judge Decides: Staples-Office Depot Merger No More

E-mail Print PDF
Judge Decides: Staples-Office Depot Merger No More

The $6.3 billion Staples-Office Depot acquisition is no more-- a federal judge agrees with objections raised by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and brings the merger to an end, saying it would create an unrivaled giant.

"There is a reasonable probability that the proposed merger will substantially impair competition in the sale and distribution of consumable office supplies to large business-to-business customers,” US district judge Emmet Sullivan writes in a 3-page order.

In turn, Office Depot states “while we are respectful of the Court’s decision to grant the FTC’s request for a preliminary injunction to prevent our merger with Staples, we are disappointed by this outcome and strongly believe that a merger would have benefited all of our customers in the long term."

Continue reading...

Page 6 of 42