Today is Thursday, and you know what that means: it’s time for a weekly recap of the retail nuggets you may have missed during the week. We have some interesting news items related to on-demand delivery, in-store beacon technology, social commerce and even 3D printing!
DSW Set To Bring 3D-Printed Shoes To Consumers: DSW has partnered with custom 3D printing company Feetz to deliver custom-fit, sustainably made, 3D-printed shoes to consumers. To ensure maximum comfort, each pair is available in 22 dimensions of fit, which customers can determine through a “Size Me” fitting system. Feetz guarantees each pair for 500 miles of walking, and when they’ve taken their last steps, customers can simply send them back to the company, which will recycle the old clogs and send the customer a new pair.
On-Demand Delivery… From A Convenience Store? GoPuff, an on-demand convenience store delivery service, has raised $8.25 million in Series A funding.
The Philadelphia-based company warehouses more than 3,000 products – ranging from snacks, drinks and ice cream to home goods, beer and electronics – and will use the funding to help expand the company into the Portland, Ore. and Houston, Texas markets. The round also will support the company’s construction of a new 40,000-square-foot warehouse headquarters in Philadelphia. Consumers can order products from the goPuff site or mobile app and have them delivered within a 12 p.m.-4:30 a.m. time frame.
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Marc’s Stores Brings Allrecipes Beacon Experience To Grocery Stores: Marc’s Stores, an Ohio-based grocery chain, is now providing its shoppers with a beacon experience that personalizes meal recommendations through the Allrecipes Dinner Spinner app. In-store mobile notifications are powered by payments provider Verifone, while the beacon technology was installed by Footmarks.
The hyper-local beacon triggered notifications are delivered to Allrecipes Dinner Spinner app users on their smartphones upon entering a Marc’s store, providing the shopper with meal recommendations trending among local home cooks, along with recipes featuring products on sale at that particular Marc’s store. The retailer provides further relevancy to retailers, with the app taking the season and local weather in consideration to determine appropriate meal ideas.
Sephora Makes Snapchat Shoppable: Sephora is furthering its foray into mobile social commerce, enabling its Snapchat followers to purchase products featured in live stories by taking a screenshot and downloading the ShopStyle application.
Last week, Sephora posted a story on its SephoraSnaps handle informing followers that they can now shop when browsing the company’s accounts. The brand asked users to take a screenshot of any of the showcased products.
Once consumers upload any screenshot into the ShopStyle app, the platform will pull up the product page for the item. Users can them select a color and size before completing the checkout process on their smartphones.
The RTP team hopes you all enjoy the rest of your week!
