January 18, 2022 | GroceryGeniuses Blog

Albertsons partners with Picadeli, a European food tech platform, to roll out AI-powered salad bars

GroceryGeniuses January 18, 2022

Albertsons has teamed up with a European food tech firm named Picadeli to pilot Artificial Intelligence-driven salad bars. As the prepared and Deli food section continues to thrive, the grocer works with innovative tech solutions to offer the best service to customers. Consumers can use the internet-linked, self-service salad counters to enjoy healthy meals. Picadeli stocks and replenishes the salad items after analysing consumer consumption patterns from various grocers. Picadeli’s sensors are attached to the counters to notify and remind the staff about uncovered food and other safety measures. To read more visit GroceryDive

JD.com, a Chinese e-tailer, rolls out its first-ever robotic stores in Europe

GroceryGeniuses January 18, 2022

JD.com, a Chinese luxury e-commerce brand, is giving tough competition to Amazon after launching two robotic stores in The Netherlands. The robots will prepare, pack and deliver customer packages after the brand receives online orders from its e-stores called Ochama. JD.com will let Ochama customers use its online app to order a broad range of products. The brand further plans to launch two new retail stores in the European cities of Amsterdam and Utrecht in the Netherlands. The brand operates a virtual shopping site named Joybuy.com for international customers and has a joint e-store in Thailand. To read more, visit CNBC

Covid-19 vaccines helped Walgreens grow in-store and online sales of beauty essentials

GroceryGeniuses January 18, 2022

Walgreens offers a beauty range as wide as its pharmaceutical category, and the COVID halo effect helped the firm grow its sales. The pharmacy store chain reported a revenue boost to $33.9 billion from $31.44 billion a year earlier. The sales of beauty and personal care went up by 16.6% and 11.6%, respectively. The brand’s retail same-store sales rose 10.6% — the biggest increase in more than 20 years. Walgreens attributes this growth to increased in-store foot traffic in its stores as customers roamed about casually and made purchases. The firm also introduced personalised features to its digital app and achieved growing sales as its outcome. To read more, visit ModernRetail

Saks.com rolls out its digital Wellness Shop offering a wide range of wellness products

GroceryGeniuses January 18, 2022

Saks Fifth Avenue’s virtual shop is up and running. The luxury fashion brand now offers around 600 wellness products covering the sexual, relaxation, and men’s and women’s fitness categories. After raising $500M from venture capital company Insight Partners, Saks has split its luxury brand into two sections to offer products like Vitamax blenders, Tangram jump ropes, and sexual gadgets. As per Wall Street Journal’s report, the brand wishes to bag $6B in value and is currently in talks with several underwriters for an initial public offering. To read more, visit Glossy