Luxury performance athletic footwear brand, Athletic Propulsion Labs (APL), partnered with True Fit, the leading AI-driven fit platform, to achieve a +2% boost in revenue while reducing fit-related returns by -15% from those customers leveraging True Fit recommendations.

Based in Los Angeles, APL was founded in 2009 by former collegiate athletes and twin brothers Adam and Ryan Goldston.  Today APL is globally recognised as the pioneer and innovator of the ‘luxury performance’ category in athletic footwear.  Rooted in technology and innovation, APL revolutionised the footwear industry by offering the finest footwear that sits at the intersection of luxury and performance.  Offering comfort and style, its world-class patented technologies and unique, innovative designs, APL has become a celebrity and influencer favourite of sneakerheads and is now stocked in over 300 luxury retailers, including Nordstrom, Harvey Nichols, Selfridges, Matches Fashion, Net-A-Porter and Mr. Porter.

APL first began its partnership with True Fit as it scaled its Direct-To-Consumer (DTC) business, with the goal of offering its shoppers fit guidance to build confidence into their buying journeys.  APL now leverages True Fit’s Fashion Genome™, the broadest and richest global connected AI fit platform, to provide best-in-class fit recommendations powered by the demographics, fit preferences and buying behaviours of millions of global shoppers, and then enhanced by artificial intelligence (AI).

This data delivers high-fidelity size and fit guidance to 100% of traffic, from zero click product size guidance for all traffic to highly personalised fit recommendations to shoppers who register and create a True Fit profile.  APL also put data privacy protection at the core of its decision process.  In selecting a trusted partner, not leveraging personally identifiable information (PII) to make fit recommendations was important.  The True Fit platform met these requirements as part of its key value proposition to every consumer.

The partnership with True Fit increased conversions resulting in a 2% uptick in site-wide revenue.  APL has also significantly reduced returns, with a 15% reduction in returns from shoppers leveraging True Fit.

NJ Falk, Managing Partner at APL, commented:

“We know from the data that finding the right fit drives consumer loyalty and increases customer conversion.  We choose True Fit because consumers have a trust level with the brand.  It gives them confidence during the buying process as sizing can often seem complicated in the virtual world.  True Fit takes the guesswork out of the process making it easy for the consumer to determine their true size while reducing the likelihood of a consumer ordering and returning multiple sizes.  We’ve also been impressed with how True Fit is always at the forefront of the digital fitting room by continuously innovating and inviting APL to partner early and often as part of the True Fit inner circle and family.  It helps us keep pace with consumer expectations.”

William R. Adler, co-founder and CEO at True Fit commented: “Our latest research shows that behind jeans, footwear is one of the most difficult items to shop for online due to fit uncertainty.  Because APL is broadly sought after by many different types of customers – from sports performance athletes at one end to luxury shoppers at the other – fit guidance is very helpful.  By using the Fashion Genome and APL customer data, we’re able to leverage powerful AI to connect APL shoppers to the incredible APL styles, in many cases creating APL customers for life. The APL team is top notch and it’s our true privilege to be their trusted partner and part of their extraordinary story.”

Scurri, the next-generation delivery management platform, today announces a strategic partnership with ArrowXL – the UK’s largest and longest established two-person home delivery specialist – allowing retailers on the Scurri platform to deliver bulky and larger size online orders across the country.

With over 40 years of experience in the UK logistics sector ArrowXL make over two million deliveries on average each year.  Its network of hubs, outbases, and modernised vehicles provides delivery coverage to 98% of the UK population six days a week and it complements its two-person home delivery services with a variety of in-house services, such as wet connect/disconnect, WEEE recycling and packaging removal.

Rory O’Connor, CEO and Founder of Scurri commented: “Bulky and large items are often high-touch, considered and expensive purchases for shoppers and ensuring a hyper-convenient, customer focused last mile delivery experience into the consumer’s room of choice is the vital final step in ensuring the highest-quality customer experience possible.”

“We’re delighted to partner with ArrowXL to extend our offering and ensure our retail and brand partners across categories, including homewares, electronics and DIY, can be confident their customers will receive the best possible post-purchase and delivery experience driving increased loyalty and repeat custom.”

Craig Kavanagh, Sales Director at ArrowXL added: “This partnership will leverage the unique strengths of both companies, combining Scurri’s cutting-edge technology with our extensive expertise in two-person delivery services. “

“Scurri share our passion for innovation and commitment to exceptional customer experience.  Together we will address the challenges faced by retailers in meeting the evolving demands of customers in the fast-paced digital era.”

With over 1,000 carrier services and 97% carrier coverage in the UK, Scurri provides a robust and reliable last mile delivery service to retailers.  The company offers the highest level of flexibility in the industry for effective carrier management and shipment allocation, to improve speed and choice for shoppers, as well as maintain cost-effective and efficient fulfilment operations for retailers.

UK consumers are turning their sustainability efforts towards resourceful consumption, reducing food waste to shop sustainably while keeping food bills down, according to the latest data from Retail Insight, the leading provider of store operations execution software.

The latest data from WRAP suggests UK households throw away 4.5 million tonnes of edible food each year, costing almost £3.5billion to household budgets despite increased grocery prices and the rising cost-of-living.  However, original research of over 1,000 UK shoppers by Retail Insight revealed that, despite these pressures, 79% have tried to be more sustainable in their buying habits in the last 12months.

With the average UK household now spending £87 on groceries each week, 82% are trying to reduce food bills in response to the cost-of-living, up +16% year-on-year.

While disposable incomes remain squeezed, UK consumers’ desire to shop ‘green’ is prompting a shift in sustainability efforts, with shoppers now focusing on minimising food waste, helping them to protect their wallets as well as the planet.

Almost half (49%) now ensure they only buy the food they need to reduce waste – up +2% compared to 2022 – while 47% are turning to discounted groceries that are expiring to help retailers send less food to landfill.  A further 41% have started meal planning to cut down on overbuying food that could lead to food waste, up +5% year-on-year.

This shift towards green and economical food spending is also changing how consumers want retailers to evolve their sustainability efforts.  Eighty three (83%) said retailers could do more to improve their green credentials, rising +9% year-on-year and increasing to 90% of Gen Z respondents.  Meanwhile, almost three quarters (72%) felt retailers spent too much time championing ‘obvious’ green initiatives, such as recycling, and should do more to focus on reducing food waste.

Paul Boyle, CEO of Retail Insight, commented: “Our research shows that despite the ongoing squeeze on household spending, consumers want budget-friendly ways to shop green.  This is prompting more acceptance and demand for marked-down food that cuts costs and reduces waste.”

“Retailers will need to act to meet the increased demand for marked-down goods but will need to ensure that they are maximising their sell-through,” Boyle continued.  “Currently, 90% of retailers use static markdowns to sell-through fresh or ambient products nearing their best, which apply binary discounts at various stages leading up to the end of the product’s shelf life.  While this helps drive demand, these discounts aren’t optimised for volume or profit maximisation, meaning retailers miss out on uncaptured margin and create excess waste – a ‘lose, lose’ situation.  By adopting dynamic markdown models, retailers ensure they don’t leave margin opportunities on the table.”

Retail Insight’s WasteInsight cloud-based solution uses cognitive technology to put retailers in control of food waste through data-led, actionable insights that support their entire waste journey.  As well as enabling dynamic markdowns, Retail Insight addresses expiration management, more efficient donations to charity partners and improved forecasting accuracy to allow retailers to sell more while wasting less.

MoEngage, the insights-led customer engagement solution, today announced its strategic partnership with ThinkAnalytics, a market-leading AI content discovery and recommendation platform.  This partnership will give brands AI-based tools to experiment with strategies and techniques that optimise omnichannel marketing campaigns for increased user engagement and content ROI.

The strategic partnership will allow media and entertainment brands to hyper-target and personalise every viewer’s experience by blending ThinkAnalytics’ data sets on viewer preferences and audience segments, with a brand’s warehouse or customer data platform (CDP), and insights from MoEngage’s AI capabilities.  Brands can use this combined behavioural and CDP data to manage, monitor, and refresh the user experience, deepening the relationship with users across social platforms and emails.

As viewers’ entertainment choices and adoption have grown with the proliferation of streaming channels and digital media, personalisation has become increasingly vital for success.  And this means that the end of the process of publishers instinctively deciding and serving content they feel best fits the customer because consumers not only have more choice, but they have also become used to sleek and sophisticated algorithmically-generated content recommendations.  Personalising customer’s viewing experience right from the start is a strategy that will help increase engagement and conversions.

For instance, NBC found that by tailoring its app homepage to customer history, day seven retention increased two-fold.  Personalised recommendations often lead to high engagement rates and loyalty between the provider and customer.  According to Deep Dive into Netflix’s Recommender System published by Towards Data Science on Medium, Netflix achieves 80% of viewing through personalised recommendations.

The MoEngage-ThinkAnalytics partnership arms brands with the capability to optimise the customer and viewer experience right from onboarding all the way through to re-activation.  During onboarding, it enables brands to build a 360-degree profile for its anonymous users on web and app.  This in turn helps them serve personalised, dynamic, on-site and in-app messages to nudge the anonymous visitor to complete the subscription process.  The rich insights available to brands, like viewing behaviour and preferences, in addition to demographic data, helps them personalise engagement, increase platform usage, and even re-engage dormant customers.

Raviteja Dodda, CEO & Co-Founder at MoEngage, commented:

“Today’s customer is used to having options available to them for everything. This isn’t just true for the retail and ecommerce brands but also for the over the top (OTT) and Entertainment industry.  Providers have to fight… to get their customer’s attention and keep them coming back in this race of digital-first, highly-personalised consumer experiences.”

Samuel Sweet, International CEO at ThinkAnalytics, added:

“The combination of our AI personalisation and content discovery with MoEngage’s analytics and omnichannel engagement gives customers the power to increase engagement and drive loyalty. With common customers – such as Britbox International, Sony and Deutsche Telekom –  we can now demonstrate how such brands can benefit from our combined solutions to hyper personalise cross-channel communications and targeted marketing campaigns.”

To help brands understand the value of this partnership, the two companies will be at IBC 2023, Amsterdam, 15-18 September, with the ThinkAnalytics booth situated in Hall 5, Stand B82.

With UK shoppers now demanding more ‘blended’ product recommendations, both from traditional ad channels, as well as from brands and retailers they already trust, retail businesses will need to evolve their channel-mix for consumer engagement, the latest research from ADvendio, the leading omnichannel advertising solution provider, suggests.

Original research of over 1,000 UK shoppers by ADvendio revealed that product recommendations from retailers customers already shopped with had over taken content from traditional media channels, including TV, print and social, when it came to offering ‘trusted’ content.

Recommendations from the retailers shoppers were already loyal to was the top most trusted source of product recommendations for 41% of UK shoppers, followed closely by traditional TV ads (40%).  Curated content delivered by trusted and familiar brands also topped traditional print and social media sources (26% versus 20% and 18% respectively).

UK shoppers’ top 5 ‘trusted’ sources for product recommendations

1. Recommendations from retailers I am already loyal to (41%)
2. TV ads (40%)
3. Curated content from brands I already shop with (26%)
4. Traditional print media ads (20%)
5. Social media ads (18%)

The need for a more cross-channel approach

And this shift towards wanting to be served ad content from already trusted brands calls for a greater cross-channel approach to shopper engagement, according to ADvendio, prompting retailers to consider a blend of 1^st party and 3^rd party channels within their ad strategies to deliver increased interaction, conversion and sales.

Bernd Bube, Founder and CEO of ADvendio, commented: “These new consumer demands and the strategy needed to meet them changes the inequities in the relationship we have traditionally seen between retailers and brands around advertising.  Retailers continue to own and control their own data, without any privacy fears because it is not shared.”

“In addition, the ability to influence shoppers before they start shopping when they get to the store or website and at the virtual or real shelf – or ‘prime, prompt, purchase’ as Tesco puts it – is a powerful one as it enables brands to focus marketing spend on particular groups such as current shoppers, lapsed shoppers, competitor shoppers or possible shoppers,” he added.

Half (50%) of UK shoppers now want to receive highly curated, personalised advertisements and brand communications from the retailers they already shop with, rising to 65% of Gen Z and 62% of Millennials.

Moreover, two fifths (38%) of consumers say they would be more likely to buy from a product recommendation they received from a retailer they already regularly shopped with, highlighting the importance of building in first-party data and audiences into omnichannel ad strategies.

The world economy has seen better days. The World Economic Outlook forecasts growth to fall from 3.4 percent in 2022 to 2.8 percent in 2023. Inflation isn’t expected to fall to its target before 2025. The rise in central bank policy rates to curb inflation continues to weigh heavily on economic activity and burden both businesses and households.  In our latest guest post, Dan Wagner, CEO of Rezolve, delves into why retailers must adopt artificial intelligence (AI) in order to build resilience within the economy:

“Retailers are in a precarious position, as they face the challenge of trying to keep prices competitive whilst simultaneously optimising margins to stay afloat.  There is only one solution to combat this trying economic period – and that is to embrace new technology and innovation.  By implementing technology and embracing recent advances in AI, retailers can stay ahead of the curve, optimising efficiencies, enhancing customer experiences and fuelling business growth.  By leveraging the power of technology and innovation, retailers can optimse supply chains, answer customer queries more quickly, and build out loyalty.

Generative AI – retail’s future

Customer expectations have rapidly changed over the past few years and, with stubborn inflation, they now expect more from their experiences and interactions with retailers.  Ecommerce has elevated the importance of effective consumer interactions, and so businesses have had to rethink strategies and embrace a customer-centric model.

AI is the secret ingredient which has enabled retailers to react to this shift rapidly.  With its ability to provide immediate and personalised responses to complex customer inquiries, AI can be used as a tool to re-engage customers who are reducing their spending.

However, if retailers wish to keep pace with the continuously shifting expectations of customers, they need to take things one step further. To meet the concerns of economic instability, retailers are now adopting generative AI-powered personal shoppers, who work smarter and faster.

Utilising cutting-edge AI and GPT models, these personal shoppers are accelerating the process of product search, discovery and purchase.  This next generation of search acts as a mirror – becoming a personal, conversational, and efficient shopping assistant.

By harnessing proprietary sophisticated algorithms, advanced machine learning, and natural language processing, generative AI can behave as a highly knowledgeable sales assistants, armed with unparalleled product information and insights. Its ability to process natural language means that many retail processes can be automated, so that retail staff can focus on more complex enquires and value-add tasks.

Certainty in seamlessness

In a digitally saturated world, there is no room for error when it comes to ecommerce – websites need to be sleek and easy to navigate if retailers want to ensure customers follow through with their orders.  Shoppers will take their custom elsewhere at even a minor inconvenience.

To keep hold of customers, retailers need to invest in generative AI to optimise their on-site search engines.  By having a highly functional search which can give customers the results they want easily, staff won’t need to spend as much time helping customers and can redirect their time to other tasks.  In fact, Generative AI could enable labour productivity growth of 0.1 to 0.6 percent annually through 2040, depending on the rate of technology adoption and redeployment of worker time into other activities.

By adopting a highly skilled GPT assistant to optimise search engines, ecommerce businesses will transform customer experiences.  Customers can simply ask their personal shopper a question through voice or keyboard, and the AI will deal with the rest – quickly helping customers find what they want, and armed with advanced product knowledge. By improving the quality and effectiveness of interactions via automated channels, generative AI can help retailers keep customers engaged, ensuring they follow through with their purchases.

The need for hyper-personalisation

Customers searching for an item using AI will get more than a list of product results, they will be given detailed recommendations. For example, say you are looking for a new mobile phone for your daughter. You can ask the AI, and give details on what she would be using it for, and the type of phone she is after. The platform will provide customers with personalised suggestions. Additionally, customers can compare products, and request more specific information as and when they need it. This will assist the buyer in making an informed decision and boost sales.

Generative AI can take this personalisation even further. Every time a customer searches, the AI engine collects and processes the data and browsing history. Customer behaviour can be monitored to produce insights and analytics, creating a personal profile based on each individual customer’s preferences and spending habits. Through this valuable data, retailers can create a personalised experience, forming specific algorithms tailored to each person, so that the products they are most likely to need come up first on their shopping feed.

Generative AI can also provide customer sentiment analysis. AI algorithms can analyse customer feedback, reviews and social media posts, and if a customer is unhappy, they can be offered an exclusive discount or offer. This will help to boost customer retention and maintain a loyal base – something that will be essential to ensure business resilience.

A new age for retail

The world of retail is morphing into something entirely new.  As consumer behaviours evolve and competition intensifies, remaining resilient requires innovation and adaptability.  Through embracing the power of generative AI, and prioritising seamless interactions and personalisation, retailers will drive business growth during a challenging economic time.  Generative AI is more than just a product; they are a catalyst for a new era of business efficiency, empowering organisations to harness data and deliver superior customer experiences.

With retailers facing continued supply chain disruption – from the long shadow of covid-19 to Russia’s war on Ukraine and climate change – shoppers are reporting increased levels of out-of-stock products, according to the latest data from Retail Insight, the leading provider of store operations execution software.

Original research of over 1,000 UK shoppers by Retail Insight revealed that 82% have experienced out-of-stock products in-store in the past 12months, up +11 percentage points year-on-year, while 60% have experienced the same issue online, an increase of +6% since 2022.

Seven in ten (71%) say product availability has become more of a problem since the pandemic, with three quarters of shoppers (75%) now experiencing more out-of-stocks since the start of the cost-of-living crisis.  Sixty (60%) of customers reported that their favourite brands have been less available in-store across the last 12months, while 45% had noticed more items are missing from their online grocery orders.

With retailers still reporting covid-related disruption to supply chains, supermarkets have also come under pressure from climate challenges, political unrest and macroeconomic forces.  From the ‘salad crop shortage’, which saw shelves stripped of fresh produce due to unseasonably cold weather, to soaring energy prices and avian flu hitting poultry farmers and prompting egg shortages, retailers have faced a myriad of supply chain challenges.

While macroeconomic factors impacting product availability hit the headlines, UK shoppers polled by Retail Insight blamed poor product availability on the cost-of-living, with 57% citing the growing cost of food production and a further 56% pointing to inflation as the biggest factors impacting stock levels.  Meanwhile, 43% said the increased costs of logistics were liable for the problem of rising out-of-stocks, and a further 40% blamed Brexit.

Paul Boyle, CEO of Retail Insight, commented: “Regardless of the causes – of which there are many and, rather unjustly, a great number of which remain outside of a retailer’s direct control – poor product availability doesn’t just impact customer experience at the shelf edge.  It can cost retailers lost sales and, even more detrimentally, long-term loyalty.”

Over a quarter (27%) of UK consumers would question their loyalty to a grocer if out-of-stocks became a regular occurrence and a further 21% would abandon their shopping mission and leave the store without buying other items in their basket if they experienced a gap on shelf.  Meanwhile, 27% would switch their allegiance to a competitor supermarket.

“While the figure varies from grocer to grocer and from category to category, the accuracy of availability of product on the shelf can vary significantly, with inventory records usually only 50-60% accurate,” Boyle continued.  “When items are unavailable, hidden or damaged, the resulting lost sales can be as much as 8% of revenue – an opportunity retailers can ill-afford to leave on the table.  By leveraging ‘live’ data, retailers can build a more accurate picture to ensure better product availability, putting the right product on the right shelf at the right time to keep their customers happy and encourage shopper loyalty.”

Retail Insight’s AvailabilityInsight solution takes retailers’ data and, powered by cognitive technology, quickly turns it into actionable alerts that show where, when, and why items are not available.  This enables grocers to make smarter decisions, minimise out-of-stocks and grow customer satisfaction to boost sales and loyalty.

Scurri, the next-generation delivery management platform, today announces a strategic partnership with OCS Worldwide – the specialist cross-border courier, logistics and shipping provider – extending the global reach of brands and retailers on the Scurri platform.

OCS has a 24/7 UK hub, with its main International Gateway facility and Head Office strategically located close to Heathrow Airport. From here, OCS departs daily trucks to the EU and leverages its direct airline relationships for fast and controlled direct despatch worldwide. The OCS in-house Customs brokerage completes HMRC UK export processes to ensure fully compliant export of goods.

OCS directly contracts with brokers and last-mile partners in the destination country for the most cost-effective and customer-convenient consumer delivery and return of tracked e-commerce parcels. As a service provider rather than a reseller, OCS directly manages the collection, conveyance, cross-border formalities and final-mile delivery. As such, flexibility is built into its offerings to match the exact requirements of each retailer. OCS can also provide 3PL pick-and-pack services for retailers.

OCS brand partners include Charles Tyrwhitt, Boden, FatFace and Hawes & Curtis and it is a registered Authorised Economic Operator effecting the import and export of goods from the UK.  Post-Brexit it has built out a specialist European fleet and trucking network across France, Germany and the Netherlands, supplementing its offer in its core global markets of the U.S., Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

Rory O’Connor, CEO and Founder of Scurri commented: “Cross-border commerce has never been more important for UK brands and retailers as they look to mitigate against difficult domestic trading conditions.  However, consumers still expect the same excellent customer experience regardless of whether they are purchasing internationally or in their own domestic market.”

“By securing this strategic alliance with OCS Worldwide, Scurri’s retail and brand customers can confidently offer their customers a seamless cross-border experience, complete with trackable deliveries and returns – which are both critically important as they are known conversion drivers and pave the road to repeat purchase.”

Phil Rees, Commercial Director at OCS Worldwide, commented: “We’re delighted to announce our integration onto the Scurri platform.  OCS is well known within the industry for building long standing client relationships offering our retailer partners a very agile and responsive solution that works flawlessly to deliver internationally 12 months of the year.  With already shared mutual clients with Scurri, we look forward to offering our cross-border solution to its extended network of retailers and brands.”

With over 1,000 carrier services and 97% carrier coverage in the UK, Scurri provides a robust and reliable last mile delivery service to retailers.  The company offers the highest level of flexibility in the industry for effective carrier management and shipment allocation, to improve speed and choice for shoppers, as well as maintain cost-effective and efficient fulfilment operations for retailers.

UK shoppers propensity to be influenced by ads at the shelf-edge is growing, as consumer demand and retailer adoption of retail media networks in-store increases, the latest research from ADvendio, the leading omnichannel advertising solution provider, shows.

Original research of over 1,000 UK shoppers by ADvendio revealed that over half (51%) would be more likely to buy a product if they were served digital ads in-store, rising to 62% of Millennials.  Almost two fifths (36%) said immersive digital adverts in-store would make them more likely to try a product they hadn’t bought before, driving up confidence, consideration and conversions at the shelf-edge.

UK grocer, Tesco, for example, has invested in its closed-loop grocery media platform, including media screens in 500+ stores, powering over 6,500 campaigns a year.  Across the pond, Walmart – already a first-mover in the retail media space  – announced it would extend its in-aisle ad capabilities, with Ryan Mayward, SVP at Walmart Connect, describing being able to deliver “Super Bowl-sized audiences”, based on the footfall its drives to its stores each week.

38% of those UK shoppers polled by ADvendio said they had already bought something in a supermarket as a result of seeing it advertised on a digital screen.   This was 6 percentage points higher than the 32% who had bought products advertised on Instagram, and 10 percentage points higher than those who had bought items as a result of TikTok advertising (28%).

Bernd Bube, Founder and CEO of ADvendio, commented: “We often talk about consumers in the store being more ‘conversion-ready’ compared to online  – and that’s because they are in ‘operation buy’, rather than ‘operation browse’, mode at the point of purchase, making in-aisle and shelf-edge engagement all the more effective.  Add to this the sizeable footfall of these conversion-ready shoppers, and it’s easy to see why many retailers are now looking to invest in leveraging their store estates to open up new revenue and shoppers engagement channels.”

“However, whilst highly effective, it is important to remember that the store is not the silver bullet for building a successful retail media network,” he added.  “As with other engagement strategies, an omnichannel approach is needed, bringing in digitally owned platforms and ecommerce sites as part of the campaign, to effectively drive up higher levels of engagement and ROI.”