Retail Tech: URBN Deploys Merchandise Planning, Optoro Offers Home Pick-ups, Radar Raises $30 Million

Glenn Taylor
·16 min read

The weekly Retail Tech Roundup compiles technology news across the supply chain, manufacturing, retail, e-commerce, logistics and fulfillment sectors.

Merchandise planning

Urban Outfitters/O9 Solutions

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URBN, the parent company of Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Free People, FP Movement, Anthropologie Weddings, Terrain, Menus & Venues and Nuuly, is partnering with enterprise AI software platform provider o9 Solutions to improve the brands’ merchandise planning, allocation and replenishment capabilities.

URBN will deploy o9’s AI-powered Merchandise Financial Planning, Assortment Planning, Demand Planning, Allocation and Replenishment capabilities to optimize decision-making and profitability. Using the solution, the company plans to adapt to trends, seasonality, stock positions, promotions and the unique demand drivers of the brands in its portfolio.

o9 will help URBN determine the optimal product mix across channels, regions and stores; integrate predictive analytics, assumptions visibility and collaboration; as well as utilize advanced allocation and replenishment optimization techniques to proactively position inventory to meet consumer demand.

“To position URBN for long-term sustainable and profitable growth, we embarked on an extensive review of the retail software market to digitally transform our end-to-end merchandising strategy,” said Rob Frieman, chief information officer, URBN. “It’s clear that O9 is a solution leader in fashion apparel planning. We look forward to working with O9’s superior technology and highly knowledgeable and experienced team to ensure we continue to meet the demand of our customers and grow market share across all of our brands.”

Retail management

JD Sports/Jesta I.S.

JD Sports, a distributor and multichannel retailer of branded sports and casual wear, has gone live with the Retail Management Suite from Jesta I.S. to advance digital transformation within its Canadian operation.

The retailer will be leveraging the Omnichannel, Point of Sale, Merchandising ERP, Warehouse Management, Analytics and Loss Prevention cloud technology solutions, including mobile functionality.

With more than 3,000 stores worldwide spanning the U.K., Europe, Asia Pacific and the U.S., JD expanded into the Canadian market in 2021 with retail and wholesale divisions, and has 23 stores in Canada under the banners of JD, Size? and Livestock. While the company plans to open 80-plus stores in the country within the next five years, it wants to improve its omnichannel retail strategy.

JD Sports Canada’s digital transformation strategy was driven by evolving shopping habits, and the changing expectations today’s digitally inclined consumer has for an omnichannel retail experience. Jesta’s digital-first approach to its end-to-end suites combined with 55 years of expertise in brand manufacturing, wholesale and retail enterprises, enabled JD Canada to deploy Jesta’s technology across multiple banners in “record time.”

“The Canadian marketplace has responded positively to JD and we want to give customers who shop in store and online the best possible cross-channel experience by leveraging leading technology that optimizes visibility, accuracy and speed,” said Gary Ochi, CEO, JD Sports Canada, in a statement. “We were impressed by Jesta’s ability to complete a significant ERP implementation within our tight timeline. We’re confident that we’ll see great returns by leveraging their technology.”

Jesta’s Retail Management Suite offers features, functionality and integrations designed to bridge gaps and ignite collaboration between the head office, warehouse, store, and e-commerce teams.

The suite includes Endless Aisle capabilities to expand product assortments, and optimize fulfillment from a warehouse, store, marketplace or vendor; order orchestration system with real-time inventory and order visibility that communicates with order capture and fulfillment about changes pre/post shipment; and an order management system that strategically routes cross-channel orders according to a retailer’s pre-defined enterprise rules and most optimal supply source.

Returns

Affirm/Loop Returns

Two years after acquiring Returnly for $300 million, Affirm is divesting the returns management platform and teaming up with another, the company wrote in a blog post.

The “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) provider will wind down the Returnly business by early October and enter a new strategic partnership with Loop Returns, which will become the returns provider for more than 1,500 merchants currently using Returnly. The two companies will work together to transition the merchants to Loop, which counts 2,200 merchants as users.

Affirm said the “vast majority” of Returnly employees have already been redeployed to other departments.

The Returnly acquisition comes at a time when online returns have skyrocketed in the wake of Covid’s e-commerce acceleration.

Optoro

Retail returns platform Optoro is now offering Home Pick-ups., meaning retail clients can now offer box-less, label-less returns, without requiring customer to leave their homes.

Shoppers can use Home Pick-ups when returning purchases with retailers that use Optoro’s returns management platform. Home Pick-ups first launched in New York City, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C., and will be expanding to over 40 cities nationwide by the end of the summer. Optoro’s proprietary technology integrates with third-party pickup providers to serve markets across the country.

Home Pick-ups can help retailers and brands decrease time to restock, with Optoro saying the service can saves 15 percent on shipping costs through consolidation and fewer touches.

Data from Optoro’s Express Returns program shows shoppers who have used the service can have up to an 89 percent reuse rate with high customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores. Additionally, Express Returns improves processing speed by directly connecting return and pickup data to the warehouse, and returning inventory faster to stock keeps returns out of landfills too.

“Home Pick-ups offer the ultimate convenience to shoppers, making it easy for them to make returns around their busy lives and schedules,” said Emily Grayson at Tuckernuck, an apparel retailer offering Home Pick-ups to customers in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and New York. “At the same time, Optoro’s returns platform has transformed our returns process to delight customers (90 percent CSAT scores, or higher) and get 99 percent of our returned merchandise back to available-to-sell inventory fast. The impact is clear to us: smart returns are good business.”

To schedule a Home Pick-up, shoppers start a return through a retailer’s online returns portal and select exchange or refund. Customers can schedule a time for pickup, at either their doorstep or handing off to a courier. Shoppers then receive email or text updates, and are notified when the pick up associate has arrived.

Home Pick-ups is the latest addition to Optoro’s returns platform which has processed more than 125 million returns. Gap Inc., American Eagle, Best Buy, Staples, and Ikea use Optoro’s platform to minimize costs and enhance the customer returns experience.

RFID

Radar

Radar, a technology platform that combines RFID and computer vision technology to track and locate in-store inventory, has secured $30 million in Series A funding, bringing its total funding to date to $63 million.

The round was led by returning investor Align Ventures, with participation from RX Ventures, which is the corporate venture capital fund of South American retailer Lojas Renner, and several other retail investors.

The company plans to use the new investment to expand its customer roster, accelerate its product development efforts, and hire top engineering, product and sales talent.

Radar’s AI-powered inventory-tracking platform gives brand teams the inventory knowledge to elevate the in-store customer experience, ensuring store associates always know what product is available on-site and where it’s located. The solution drives efficiency and enables employees to serve customers more easily as well as replenish products on the sales floor and fulfill online orders that customers pick up in-store. In addition, the platform’s analytics help inform inventory decisions and equips brands to stock the right products in the right locations.

The company says inventory-tracking technology has delivered a sales lift of up to 12 percent in stores.

Other participants in Radar’s Series A round include The Ferrante Group, Future Archives and Leeds Holding.

Radar recently announced that American Eagle Outfitters is launching its inventory-tracking technology in approximately 500 American Eagle stores across the U.S. Radar is also piloting its platform with two other Fortune 500 retailers.

Visual merchandising

Stylitics/Wide Eyes

Stylitics, an AI-powered digital merchandising and styling technology, has acquired another visual AI solution provider for fashion brands, Wide Eyes, for an undisclosed sum.

In integrating Wide Eyes’ technology, Stylitics says it can enhance its inspirational commerce platform with image recognition and artificial intelligence technology that drives easier product discovery and faster conversion. The Wide Eyes platform was built to make visual content shoppable, enabling visual search and image-based shopping on the front-end, while expanding computer vision-driven product attribution and data enrichment on the back-end.

This deal further expands Stylitics’ growing presence in Europe and the U.K., adding local teams in Spain to service growth with retail industry clients across the E.U.

To date, Stylitics says it has driven more than $4 billion in incremental revenue for its customers with 200 million plus additional units sold from more than 4,500 brands and retailers. The platform includes a solution to build outfits and bundle products at scale in over 50 billion shopper sessions a year, resulting in increased product discovery and basket size, with an average 23 percent increase in units per transaction and a 21 percent increase in average order value for its partner brands and retailers.

CEO and co-founder Luis Manent and other key executives will join the Stylitics leadership team. Stylitics also announced that the Wide Eyes team of engineers and customer success professionals at its headquarters in Barcelona will join the team.

Founded in 2013, Wide Eyes has retail partners in more than 100 countries, with millions of unique users per day.

Fulfillment

Warp/Davinci Micro Fulfillment

Warp, a tech-powered freight network specializing in middle-mile solutions, has partnered with Davinci Micro Fulfillment, a micro fulfillment-as-a-service company, to provide customers with country-wide next day and two-day shipping through enhanced inventory management.

With the partnership, the company also aims to improve middle-mile visibility for carrier injections and warehouse to-warehouse transfers.

Prior to partnering with Warp, Davinci was able to offer same-, one- and two-day shipping within a 90-mile radius. But now, the company says it can offer one- and two-day shipping within a 600-mile radius.

With its fleet of 53-footers, box trucks and cargo vans, Warp aims to offer customers a vehicle for every load based on their speed, price, and service preferences. By pairing proprietary tech with a broad network of carriers and cross-docks, Warp automatically optimizes middle-mile routes through a single integrated platform, giving shippers better visibility of their loads. Whether it’s a direct store delivery, warehouse-to-warehouse transfers, or linehaul injection into last mile carriers, Warp customers receive real-time tracking and status updates along with dedicated support.

Backed by machine learning and AI, Davinci’s suite of technology includes micro fulfillment, front-end merchandising and network optimization that ultimately provides an Amazon-level experience for brands and their customers. But, prior to partnering with Warp, Davinci had to rely on national carriers like UPS, FedEx and USPS and was subject to their volume minimums and schedules.

Warp stepped in to provide middle-mile optimization and visibility in order to reach an extended network of regional and local carriers. With these two pieces in place, Davinci’s customers can how receive faster and more cost-efficient shipping options. Both Warp and Davinci’s customers will benefit from physical consolidation solutions powered by the freight network, thus lowering the cost of transportation for all parties involved.

Using their DirecTrack technology, Warp provides Davinci’s shippers with visibility on not only a pallet or truck level but individual parcels as well. This means that products being transported from Davinci’s micro fulfillment centers to last-mile delivery partners gain access to status events including the first parcel scan as well as injection time giving them better control of their overall supply chain. Davinci customers also gain better insight into where their inventory is within Davinci’s network.

Davinci currently has hyper-local, micro fulfillment centers in Fresno, Calif.; Dallas; Cincinnati; Jacksonville, Fla.; and Central New Jersey, with plans to launch a new location in Denver in November.

Demand forecasting

Feetures/NetSuite

Performance sock brand Feetures is leveraging the NetSuite Analytics Warehouse platform from Oracle NetSuite to improve demand forecasting and gain actionable insights to expand its retail footprint and sell its products in over 50 countries.

Founded in 2002, Feetures produces technically advanced socks designed to help runners perform at their best. It operates an e-commerce business, works with retailers including Dick’s Sporting Goods, Nordstrom and REI, and has a wholesale business that works with running, golf, and tennis specialty stores collectively generating $45 million annually.

To meet increasing demand and simplify its operations, Feetures needed to replace its QuickBooks and FishBowl systems with an integrated and scalable business platform.

“We operate a complex business with multiple distribution channels and over one thousand SKUs of high-performance socks customized for practically every runner and activity,” said Daniel Roath, IT manager at Feetures, in a statement. “With NetSuite Analytics Warehouse, we have been able to consolidate all sources of data into a single repository and it helps us analyze and glean actionable information while saving time and eliminating manual tasks. With years of historical data, we are excited to finally be able to uncover product patterns and customer insights to drive better business decisions.”

With NetSuite, Feetures has been able to consolidate, automate and enhance its operations on an integrated business system. NetSuite Analytics Warehouse enables Feetures to process data from Google Analytics, NetSuite, Shopify and SPS Commerce and tease out near- and long-term trends in customer behavior, inventory, and financials. In addition, NetSuite Connector automatically transfers data between NetSuite and Shopify, making it easy to experiment with different SKUs and track trends to fuel sales strategy. To build on the success it has achieved with NetSuite, Feetures is exploring NetSuite Planning and Budgeting to further increase efficiencies by automating labor-intensive planning and budgeting processes, so that its finance team can quickly and easily produce budgets and forecasts.

Payments

Tulip/Stripe

Tulip, a provider of cloud-based retail solutions, forged a strategic partnership with financial services and payments processing platform Stripe.

The collaboration brings together Tulip’s expertise in retail POS solutions and Stripe’s payment technology.

With this integration, Tulip and its customers gain access to Stripe’s enterprise-grade payment infrastructure, including extensive support for various payment methods, including buy now, pay later and Payment Links. Stripe allows modern retailers to accept in-person payments with flexible developer tools, pre-certified card readers and cloud-based hardware management. These features can enhance the payment experience by ensuring a frictionless and secure transaction process for Tulip clients and their luxury fashion, accessories and other retail customers.

The onboarding and integration experience is designed to ensure that retailers can integrate the Tulip and Stripe systems into their operations, enabling them to leverage the benefits of this collaboration efficiently.

Printemps/Alipay

French luxury department store Printemps has integrated Alipay+, a suite of global cross-border digital payment and marketing solutions, to offer Asian consumers a more convenient, seamless checkout experience with their local digital wallets.

Through an integration, South Korean payment service Kakao Pay and Hong Kong-based payment solution AlipayHK are now accepted at Printemps Paris, enabling shoppers in the respective countries to make payments using their most familiar payment apps.

Alipay+ also supports other partner e-wallets, including GCash (the Philippines), Touch ‘n Go eWallet (Malaysia), and TrueMoney (Thailand).

Printemps is among the first batch of major high-end retailers in France to leverage Alipay+ solutions to improve the payment journey for consumers from the Far East. Asian e-wallet users would experience a more transparent and real-time in-app display of their payments in both euros and their local currency.

Printemps will also leverage Alipay+ marketing solutions to engage consumers with a variety of shopping experiences and promotions through their payment apps. As part of the launch campaign, consumers can redeem a discount throughout summer 2023, with more perks and offers to follow.

The partnership with Alipay+ is expected to boost Printemps as a prime spot for Asian tourists who seek a unique shopping experience. France was the top European destination for premium Asian consumers, and during the first six month of the year, France was the fifth most popular global destination for overseas Chinese travelers, according to Alipay statistics.

Printemps’s collaboration with Ant Group began in 2015 when it added Alipay, China’s payment app that serves over 1 billion consumers, to its accepted payment options. The pair partnered to introduce instant tax refund services to Alipay users for more convenience.

Developed by Ant Group, Alipay+ offers unified global mobile payment and marketing solutions that connect merchants with multiple digital wallets and payment methods. Consumers can use their preferred local payment methods while transacting in a different market and receive marketing offers from merchants through Alipay+.

“We have already been a pioneer with the successful integration of Alipay in 2015. Since 1865, Printemps has always been at the forefront of innovation so partnering with Alipay+ is a no-brainer for us,” said Emmanuel Suissa, chief partnership officer at Printemps, in a statement. “Alipay+ is a great new solution since it enables us to create 360-degree campaigns targeting the Asian market to engage customers on a regular basis, promote Printemps’ unique selling points, and encourage them to visit Paris and shop at Printemps.”

IoT

Identiv

Identiv, a global digital security and identification company, has recently completed an initial multi-million unit order of Internet of Things (IoT) Pixel tags for IoT-enabled product tracking SaaS company Wiliot. Identiv has since begun production of a follow-on order from Wiliot.

With stamp sized IoT Pixels, end customers can track food and product transport through their supply chains, including location, temperature, humidity and other conditions. By identifying inefficiencies due to poor storage and handling, Wiliot customers can significantly improve their supply chain productivity and sustainability.

IoT Pixels are being used to identify product mis-shipments and track cold chain items in transit in real-time, enabling food waste reduction, as well as bolstering inventory accuracy required for world-class omnichannel distribution.

Wiliot recently opened an office in Dallas to provide additional support for customer deployments.

Identiv’s connected ecosystems are built to put the IoT in motion, creating digital identities for every physical object. The innovative RFID team handles research, design, development and manufacturing. The company embeds tags, inlays and labels in billions of everyday objects, including medical devices, pharmaceuticals, luxury brands, specialty retail, athletic apparel, industrial applications, smart packaging, library media, toys, wine and spirits, mobile devices, cold chain items and perishables.

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